Chaichara

One other thing, when you finish back washing, do a short (30-90 seconds) cycle with the filter on waste before you put the filter back to the filter position, this runs the water through the filter normally and the out the waste, it settles the filter media that has just been shaken up with the back wash and gets rid of any stray fine stuff before you start filtering again.

This is false. After backwashing the valve is put into the RINSE position to reverse thr flow through the filter medium to the waste pipe. The WASTE position of the MPV bypasses the filter material completely - you will just be throwing good water away. SiamConsulting used to have a downloadable PFD on their site which you could print and laminate for your pumphouse. It doesn't seem to be there now but you could ask them. It was free.

KHon Kaen - Udon Thani: there are basically two firms that operate in this area, one is the Thai firm Interwater which tends to be very expensive , the other is SiamConsulting, a British consultancy in Isaan that designs pools then builds them for a reasonable price using local labour and their own techies. A lot depends on the distance, but it is nearly always much cheaper than getting a BKK or Pattaya firm to come.

If a pool system has been designed and constructed correctly according to standard practice, there will be at least TWO valves in the pumphouse.

One will be the arrival from the skimmer/maindrain, the other will be from the vacuum port. To obtain maximum suction when using the vacuum head, you close the valve from the skimmer/maindrain, and open the valve for the vcuum line. When you have finished you revert the valve positions.

Of course, if your pool does not have this facility, then you should be able to claim some money back from the constructor - it's like selling a new car without without a braking system .

6 - 8 hours per 24, is about right. Where most people come unstuck is miscalculating the size of the pump and the filter. generally a 22 - 24" filter with a 1.0 - 1.5 HP pump will do for most pools up to 100 m3. Pool firms however have a habit of installing equipment that is wickedly over engineered for the size of the pool, in order to maximise their profit.

I've just read this thread and to be honest I've rarely been more disapointed at such a collection of uninformed comments. Whoever said "there's one born every minute" hit the nail on the head.

If you live in an area with a high percentage of well-to-do farangs you ARE going to be paying 150 - 200% more for your pool equipment and salt-water chlorinators., and make no mistake about it.

My PoolRite chlorinator cost 29,000 baht, it is a complete automated pool management system for a 4 x 10 pool, and saves me all the chemicals. It had covered its cost on pool maintenance in the first year. But that was a couple of years ago, and I would have expected the prices to have gone up a little bit since, but NOWHERE in the region of the prices you guys are quoting!

With a chlorinator there is absolutely no smell of of chlorine at all, and the salt in the water is imperceptible.

I buy my salt for 125 baht for 50 kg sack - in Pattaya the pool shops sell it for 250 or even 500!

PM me if you want to know where I get my pool supplies. I am in Nong Bua Lamphu, but I fetch it from Pattaya believe it or not.

Oh, and BTW, it takes just over an hour to install a saltwater chlorinator, although I have heard of firms that will whack you 10,000 baht or more for fitting it.

The acid they are talking about is hydrochloric acid. You can buy it it from a pool shop or get it for a quarter of the price anywhere else. I clean sandwash with a high pressure cleaner (like a Kärcher). You can buy them cheap for about 2,500 baht now. No chemicals, just water.

What part of Pattaya are you in?

Pool cleaning folk tend to be territorial and will not travel very far.

Hi,

My house in in Mabprachan area.

As I will not be there I really only want it cleaned once per month and when I am there I can do it myself but still pay the person to keep them on.

I also need the grass watered every couple od days and cut cut once every 2 weeks - same deal.

It'll be a good little job for someone 0 easy to do, easy money.

Also, where si the cheapest place to buy th epool cleaning gear? Anyone know and what price it is?

The difficulty in Pattaya is finding somebody that isn't going to sell your address to the oraganised burglars.

Give these pool people a call, they have an agent at the top end of Soi Country Club. German/British owned and very reasonable prices. They saved me nearly 50% on materials and a saltwater clorinator and it paid for itself inthefirst year. if you haven't got a pole, a net , a brush and a vacuum hose, those accessories could set you back about 8,000 baht.

When you go to the border,and fill out the application forms for the visa,you simply write "business" instead of "tourist" ...

I have been told the business visa is NOT available at the land crossing.

Rather conflicting information - and what gets ThaiVisa.com a bad reputation.

Lekathai, are you speaking from PERSONAL experience?

Phuketrichartd, WHO told you?

Tdayvidst, bottom line is: why don't you just go along to the Cambodian embassy in BKK and ask them yourself? You could then come back here and give us all some factual info

Whatever happens, do please repost on this board when you get home so that we can all learn from your experience.

<br />I apologise if my comments lean towards childish winging, but I have a couple of issues with <i>any</i> site of this kind. I'm sure they are all made with the best intentions, ...

I would like to congratulate you on what is probably one of the most objective statements about TEFL forums that I have ever read. Your post deserves greater exposure.

Time to go home and come back with another new 12-month multiple visa O or B.

Not really an inconvenience. Like living here too much.

I have been in Thailand a long time on a mix of Work Permits, Visa B, tourist visas and 30 day entry stamps.

Two recent 90 day tourist visas in a row, entry for 60 days, then each extended at Pattaya immigration for a further 30 days. On 28 April, for the extention to the the third one at Nong Khai immigration office I was given only seven days. Reason: No return air ticket. Cost for the seven day extention: 1,900 baht.

So a warning to anyone who believes that the return air ticket is only a condition for people arriving withot a visa.

That quoted price is truly extortionate. Unless there is some particularlr engineering difficulry for building a poolon your property, a quality, fully tiles, concrete in-ground pool that size costs less than a third to build, including a handsome profit for the contractor. This coorganisation gives free advice on howto avoid these scams.

We have a 12x6 metre chlorine type pool, we have a monthly service contract & he comes 6 times per week including all chemicals it costs 2000 baht per month. At that price it's not worth doing it yourself, he even has the key to our gate, the guy is as good as gold

Depends how rich or how lazy you are.

A good many crooks are confidence tricksters. Pool maintenance firms generally are unfortunately not known for honesty and good work and have brought the practice in Pattaya into disrepute. Choose one with extreme caution, and get references. Firms have been known to sell copies of the keys to organised bands of burglars, or the addresses of properties of well endowed occupants. Others do cut corners on the chemicals and the work. They often prey on the naïvety of the majority of pool owners: on complaints that the water is less than perfectly limpid, they fob their clients off with a statement that 'it is perfectly normal for the tropics'. Consider yourself very lucky to have such a good service - based on the frequency (more than necessary) of his visits. If he came less often it could be cheaper, a factor which would interest many a retiree.

Checking the stability and the hygiene of your pool water is such a totally simple task it is hardly worth running the risks of using a pool maintenance company, unless:

• the firm charges under 2,000 baht per month (for a pool under 100 m3)
  
• will explain and demonstrate to you exactly what they are doing and why
  
• you frequently need to be absent of ten for periods of longer than three or four days
  

Pool maintenance is a Pattaya & Phucket phenomenon. In most parts of the country you will have to do it your self anyway.

interesting! any advice where these filter media are available? i am not quite happy with my sand filter (until now all my pools were D.E. filters) and it's a hassle to add once in a while D.E. to a sand filter for a true fine filtering.

Diatomatious Earth is good too but Zelbrite is better and apparently never needs to be changed. It's not cheap but well worth the investment. I got mine in Hua Hin at this British owned pool shop.

I was quoted 5200 baht for 4 months supplies. The cost for staff to clean the pool was an additional 2000 baht for 3 times a week service.

It's a complete, total, utter rip-off. Even the criminal pool constructors in Pattaya don't (usually) have the cheek to charge that much - but they often do NOT add the chemicals they say you are paying for, and they call when they know you are out and get a signature for the visit from your neighbour.

You could consider getting a salt-water chlorinator fitted, maintenance will be almost entirely automatic and all you will need to do is occasionally check the ph, scoop the leaves off the surface, and backwash the filter.

The cost and fitting will be about 35,000 baht, (any more and you are being rippd off again) and after that the chlorine is free. Go figure

Flocculant should be avoided if possible, it's a radical cure for water which has become very cloudy due to suspended solids or rampant algae. It eventually clogs up the filter as back washing won't remove all of it. Algicide is nothing other than copper sulphate (CuSO4), also sold at a 1000% mark up when packed and marketed as a 'special' product for pools.

For best filtration results, replace the sand with Zelbrite or a similar brand of volcanic mineral. The performance is 30 times better than sand.

Yes, a 40,000 litre pool that gets 30 swimmers a day, will need a fair bit of attention. A private pool that size, which has 2 or 3 clean swimmers, with bodies not smeared with sickening beauty and health products, will need a lot less attention. These products, sweat and microscopic skin particles are mostly what affect the ph, needing it to be stabilised more often. Piped city water supplies are aready stabilised at a ph of around 7.2. The level is critical though as only a little more or a little less will cause thbe eyes to smart.

Note that if ever you can smell chlorine in a swimming pool, paradoxically it is often because there is not enough - not too much.

There is also this alternative if you don't live too far from a border and can do a utrn around every 90 days. It does mean that you will have to go home every 15 months though - but that's ok innit?

You get yourself a statement on a Thai ompany letterhead that they reqauire you to attend meetings throughout the coming year. You'll get a 12-month multiple entry. You won't need a work permit because you are officially here just for a meeting.You should do this at a Thai consulate in your own country although I know that it does work for Brits in Oz. Anyone who is brave enough could put it to the test in Penang or Singapore.

Just for your info, I am back from a recent trip to Penang where I could get a Multientry NON IMMIGRANT B. So far I got only a 3 months NON B and had to go to Penang every 3 months. They started to issue since 10 days. The fee jumped to 550 Ringitt from 500. Same for the Tourist visa: now 2 months cost 110 ringitt.

This is the first time in 10 years that I ever heard of such a thing as a Multiple Entry 3 month visa - what good is a 3 month multiple entry visa anyway?

Now if what you got was a 12-month multiple entry visa, that would be nice. But not extraordinary. It depends however what paperwork they wanted. usually they want quite a lot, practica&lly all the articles of incorporation, tax statements, and slists of shareholders of the company who says they want you. After all, a visa B is for business, oder?

If it's as easy as you make it sound, I will be there like a shot next week - but full details please , you posting just leave a stupid person like me even more confused...

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t it's just rumour, and his school doesn't know what it's talking about.

It's most upsetting to expats who teach in Thailand, to be told first one ignorant thing and then another, by expert educators who don't know the first thing about what applies to foreigners.

As an expert educator and teacher recruiter of many years in Thailand, I can assure you that any males applying at a Thai embassy or consulate abroad for a Non-Imm Visa B, based on accompanying documentation for the employment as a teacher in mainstream primary and secondary schools, they will be required to produca a Police Clearance Certificate not older than six months. That is the ruling even if some consulates or their clerks decide not to insist on it.

Not the closest, but Freindship bridge at Nong Khai definitely does NOT ask ny questiuons about ongoing travel arrangements.

Trains and busses to Nong Khai or fly to Udon Thani.

Dozens of excellent guest houses from 300 baht.

Of course Mac fails in the gaming department - it's a machine and a platform for professionals, not a toy

Nevertheless, the most successful games are often written on Mac before being ported to Windoze.

All versions of Windows will continue to be poor copies of what MacOS can do.

Udate:

Visa applications at the Thai embassy in Vientianne must be lodged berfore 12 noon, and cannot be collected until 1 pm (1300 hrs) the following day. It is extremely important to get the the embassy early - if it's a busy day and there is a long queue they will slam the door in your face at noon and tell you to come back tomorrow, it happened to me last year.

This means that the Thai embassy is your first stop when you get over the border, it's in the suburbs. When you'ver handed you application in, share a tuk-tuk with someone on the same mission to go into town to get sorted out with a hotel or guesthouse for the night.

Get back to he embassy early the next day for the 1 pm collection, remembering that all the people who were in the previous day's queue will also be doing the same thing. Share a tuk-tuk again with someone to returne to the border crossing.

If the pumping and filtration capacities have been calculated correctly, and you are using, prefereably, a far superior filter medium than sand, such as Zelbrite or equivalent, the slight amount of cloudy water will be quickly treated by the filtration plant. It will not be stinking or contaminated as groundwater at that depth has already undergone a huge amount of natural filtration - like well water.

Remember that the hydrostatic valve is also an integral part of a modern maindrain unit (1,500 baht complete) and the cloudy water will be sucked into the filtration system immediately. Be sure to use common sense and follow the new Western regulations on pool design and incorporate TWO interconnected maindrains spaced at least 1m apart to avoid any lightweight bathers or small children getting sucked onto the grating.

There is a vast resource of excellent free advice on DIY pools on this free, non-commercial , no ads, forum contributed voluntarily by DIY and professional pool experts on this site which also gives links to the best sources for materials in Thailand. 99% of the technical equipment used here is imported from Australia, the world's leading manufacturer of pool equipment. The cost of a pump and filter will not exceed around 35,000 baht. There are some cheap Chinese copies arriving recently on the Thai market. One avoids these of course.

I would just reiterate what I posted earlier, a maindrain unit is sold nowadays almost always with an intergral hydrostatic valve. The injection moulded unit is ridiculously simple and is already overpriced at ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED BAHT.

WE install these as a mater of course in all in-ground pools whether the owner wants it or not.