Chaichara

Having recently purchased an expensive pool robot in Thailand after considerable shopping around, I have checked out the info in that post above by a pool company and found it to be correct in every way. There is indeed a customs tarif for pool supplies which a company importing by the 20' container load can hardly get around, plus all the other agency fees. Remember that clearing agents often work in cahoots with the customs especially at maritime shipping and inland container ports. It's nevertheless easy enough to get a small parcel sent by UPS, DHL, or TNT to a private address and avoid all those costs (I've done it myself), the customs officials hardly glance at such tiny shipments because for one thing there is no money to be made in big backhanders and checking every individual parcel on the manifest of an aircraft groupage container would take days.

A genuine pool retailer or wholesaler has to calculate how much gross he would need to add to the price he paid in order to cover his running costs and other taxes even before he makes a net profit and a living. End users buying stuff in Australian and bringing it back on the plane or buying online from Australia have none of those costs and retail sales and service are not their source of livelihood.

Finally, buying goods from a specialised genuine retailer, gets also his knowledge and service. Most Australian exporters of pool equipment will NOT provide warranty cover if the product was not bought from or distributed by their accredited local importer. Things like quality chlorinators and pool cleaning robots come with very long guarantees

On the cost of genuine replacement chlorinator cells, the same principles apply. There are [plenty of cheap 3rd party generic cells on the market for most brands of chlorinators - even on Amazon and eBay - but if you receive it and it doesn't work, or gives up the ghost after a short time, what exactly are you going to do?

PS: Zodiac pH LARGE is on sale in Thailand for prices ranging from Baht 71,900.00 (with possible additional discount) to Baht 102,600.00, including VAT.

A somewhat older thread, but looking for stuff about regrouting pools I just came across it.

Baht 70,000 to regrout a pool that size is excessive, even when taking into consideration the cost of the expensive Weber or Crocodile pool grout, labour time, labour salaries, and corporate overheads & profit for a bona fide pool firm. Do they all quote that much in Pattaya? Sounds as if there is some kind of cartel in operation.

It is a proven fact (there is a university study about it somewhere) that many expats in many countries have nothing better to do than hang out on expat internet forums. It doesn't matter whether they are general interest, pure banter, or subject-related sites (such as for example the one for building houses or the one with the wooden door), some people it seems have nothing better to do than sit at their computers all day (or perhaps even all night) just waiting for an opportunity to add some short, barely relevant comment to almost every single post.

Those people, I would say without thinking further, need to get a life. On the other hand however, perhaps forums such as ThaiVisa are their life; I suppose it's better than being a beer-swilling Steintischsaufer.

Over the years, (I well remember the days when this really was a new forum only about visa advice) I've made very few posts to ThaiVisa, but the forum answers my needs perfectly, I get a notification of anything that 'might' interest me - and the threads and various forums I follow here are very few, in fact as a retired swimming pool professional, I probably post more on the pool forum than anywhere else, and even then only very sparingly. To post a message such as this one hardly takes three minutes.

Used sensibly, ThaiVisa is absolutely not a waste of time, but now with extremely cheap streaming of all your home TV programmes, there are more things to do with one's time.

Happy upcoming holidays!

I would NEVER use anything but a salt-water chlorinator (SWC) in my pool. I have had excellent service with my SWC for 19 years. Compared to chlorine, my SWC system cleans my pool much better, I have to flush my pool filter 60% less, is much cheaper, and much less work. I would never in a million years go back to using chlorine.

Don't believe the stories that SWC systems don't work well ... or that they don't work with big pools. Make sure you buy a high quality unit and one that is big enough for your sized pool. SWC units are relatively cheap when compared to how much you'll spend over the years on all the different chemicals needed to maintain a chlorine chemical system. Also, you can swim in the pool all day with never a problem with burning eyes, the smell of chlorine gas, dried-out hair and skin.

So no harsh, environmentally harmful chemicals to swim in .... it's a lot cheaper ... and it's a lot less work. Talk about a no-brainer.

I'll second that. I couldn't have put it better in my own words.

For the skeptics: there is certainly no need whatsoever to drain a pool once a year if it is correctly maintained. For those using salt water chlorination, adding the occasional T.C.C.A pool chlorine tablet or an occasional shock treatment with T.C.C.A pool chlorine granules or powder will add all the CYA you need. Even cheaper, do your pumping/filtering in the evening after sundown and the SWG chlorine will have all night to do its work before the sun comes up and burns it off.

At the end of the day, if your university is unable to provide this information and you have to resort to asking an expat forum, then I would seriously question the professionalism of the university that is supposed to be going to employ you. At least take time to study your employment contract very carefully indeed.

I always fly into Thailand with a full 30 Kg allowed by Emirates. I have never had to pay any excess to TG to get up to Udon Thani on a connecting flight.

There seems to be a lot of speculation in this thread. It remains to be seen from the experience of members who will have gone through the process at Thai consulates to obtain various forms of Non-Imm visa.

That process has certainly also been sharpened up and Non-Imm visa applications in the UK, for example, will now first be submitted by the local consulate to the Thai embassy in London for approval. As a consequence, such applications will no longer be processed while you wait (which used to take only 10 minutes in Birmingham). Visa B applications, whether for working or non-working commercial purposes now need to be supported by a whole host of corporate documents.

See Thai Cosulate, Birmingham.

If you have a contract with a government school, the school should be perfectly capable of organising everything for obtaining your work permit. It should not be necessary to engage the services of a 3rd party agency for any part of the operation. Any government school that is not competent to do this or at least find out quickly how to do it, is probably not worth working for - and the caveat is that not even all government schools are competently managed, especially regarding the employment of foreign teachers.

If I remember rightly (I retired from a teaching position in Thailand some years ago), you will need a proper visa (not a 15/30 day stamp) that can be converted to a Non-Imm visa B, but only at a Thai embassy. You will almost certainly need a bachelor degree in a related discipline, failing which you will probably need to do a Thai government recognised course to obtain a teacher's licence irrespective of any TEFL/TESOL certificate which you may have.

At least these were the requirements in force in 2008 and if anything, they will only have become even stricter.

Moral of the story: don't believe everything the installers tell you

I think that union is an Emaux union but they are pretty universal - you just need to know if it's a 1.5" or a 2" one. The company you provided the link to could send you one by EMS - you'd get it in about 2 days if you order fast enough. These unions should be only screwed hand-tight (they have an O-ring).

In many cases individual multi port valve parts can indeed be purchased. There are also many filters on the market that are either a copy of the original manufacturer's design, or rebranded under licence and therefore use the same MPV.

As fdimike suggests, the way to go is to contact those who have web sites and ask them. Perhaps sending them a photo of the broken part might help.

Sand filters all work on the same priciple. Apart from imnor changes in design they have used the same principle for decades. Technological advances are usually limited to to the materials used in construction: fibreglass, polyester, thermoplastics, etc for the tanks, and various platsics, usually ABS for the laterals. i'm still running a filter in Europe that is so ancient it has stainless steel laterals. Some very cheap tanks have been known to split, and some brands - even well known ones - of multiport valves tend to wear out quicker than others, and the spider gaskets may not always be easy to obtain. Basically however, sand filters do the job they are designed for.

The choice of filter media is important and so is its maintenance. I've seen filters filled with all sorts of rubbish, but only genuine graded silica sand is guraanteed to provide a reasonably long working life and provide the correct level of filtration.

Zeolite, generally marketed here in Thailand as Zelbrite has excellent filtration properties and various studies claim it to be as good as D.E. In any case, it's my personal choice. D.E. is messy, needs constant attention, while Zelbrite will last for years and will certaily outlast sand by a long time before it comes to the unenviable task of changing your filter media. D.E/.filters are also expensive, and it's my guess that they are destined to goslowly out of fashion.

Crushed glass is also offered as a filter media for use in sand filters. It's more expensive than Zelbrite, but FWIW, I am not aware that it out-performs Zelbrite.

Leaking overflow gutter: a common problem. Consider Crocodile Flex Shield waterproofing cement - search for it on the Internet. On sale at most larger builders' supplies stores such as Thai Watsadu, HomeMarkt, GlobalHouse, Home Hub, etc. Expensive, but it does what it says on the bag.

PeterPool is not a pool constructor per se.

Operates from a private house in Udon Thani. Specialised in distribution of imported pool products - mainly DIY vinyl pool kitsbut offers an assembly service for some of the larger models. Offers some branded products and accessories from Emaux and Hayward, and other garden products.

As this is mainly an importer/distributor/retailer there is no reason to doubt that their products do not live up to the manufacturers' claims.

I would not think building one's own vinyl pool from scratch to be particularly easy. A DIY in-ground fully tiled concrete pool would be more expensive on materials and fairly labour intensive but probably easier to construct.

Depending on location and and type of pool, regular constructors offer complete tiled concrete pools prices at anything from Baht 12,500.00 to 28,000.00 baht per square metre of surface area; prices do not necessarily reflect quality and/or professionalism. Some kinds of tiles and finishes, and automated systems such as salt water chlorination, would add to the cost.

Try one of the other web sites. Shipping costs for the quantity you need are probably lower than the diesel driving around trying to find someone who stocks it.

Quality salt water chlorinators certainly do not need their cells changing every 2 or 3 years.

I know of Zodiac (fully guranteed 3 years), Hayward, and Emaux units that have been in operation without any problem whatsoever for at least 8 years. Any problems are usually associated with very incorrect pH balance that builds up calcium deposits in the cell at a rate that the self-cleaning feature cannot cope with.

To add CYA to a salt water chlorinated pool, it will often suffice to occasionally add some powdered, granular, or tablet chlorine which already includes CYA. The retail price of CYA here in Thailand (if you can get it) is disproportionately high for the requirement. Be sure to use T.C.C.A which is chlorine specially marketed for pools.

There has to be an error in the size.

I know of a water park near Khon Kean this size. It needs a full time in-house team of four to maintain. Total salary cost around Baht 50,000 per month. Electricity and maintenance materials about as much again.

Calculate at least double the salary if outsourced to a 3rdparty organisation.

Even if it's 500 m2 and not 5,000, it would still be a big pool.

Example: Pattaya 200 m2 pool: maintenance outsourced including chemicals, Baht 22,000 per month. Owner has just installed salt water chlorination and trained his gardeners to do the maintenance: Saving? Around Baht 15,000 per month.

As a retired pool pro, I watch the market here very closely. As far as I know, the current sponsors have been around a very long time, answer enquiries promptly, and honour their warranty obligations. You are welcome to PM me if you have any concerns.

I can't see anyone wanting to lay back a huge stock of CYA at those prices. 6 drums is probably more than the entire demand in Thailand for one year (or even more). For those using salt water chlorinators, for a medium sized pool just adding the occasional TCCA tablet or some granules will probably supply all the CYA that's needed. It's also a good idea to set the pumping times during the evening. Be better to invest in a cheap CYA test kit first and see what is really needed.

Do not use 'standard' PVC plumbing (pipes & fittings) or glue under any circumstances. Standard plumbing is 8.5 grade while the high pressure PVC pipes are 13.5 grade.

13.5 may not be available in stores such as HomePro, or small local hardware shops but will certainly be available at most more professional builders supplies depots such as Thai Watsadu, GlobalHouse, Home Hub, and HomeMart.

You must also use HD glue which is not so easy to find. I believe one of our sponsors (over there on the right) sells the stuff.

But you are that sponsor!

We don't mind the pro's coming on here giving proper advice - no need to hide

I'm not actually the sponsor, but I'll admit to having a very close connection (due to our locality we may even share the same IP address) and occasional collaboration. That's why I never directly shill for them. If they want to post, they can. But I am a retired pro from the pool industry.

Do not use 'standard' PVC plumbing (pipes & fittings) or glue under any circumstances. Standard plumbing is 8.5 grade while the high pressure PVC pipes are 13.5 grade.

13.5 may not be available in stores such as HomePro, or small local hardware shops but will certainly be available at most more professional builders supplies depots such as Thai Watsadu, GlobalHouse, Home Hub, and HomeMart.

You must also use HD glue which is not so easy to find. I believe one of our sponsors (over there on the right) sells the stuff.

A farang owned professional fitness centre in Udon Thani has closed down and the hardly used professional equipment (as described by the OP) is being sold off. This is a genuine offer - the owner is a close friend. See: http://www.biggymcity.com/

Most pool shops don't stock sodium bicarb because so few pool owners are aware of what it is for that there is little demand for it. If they do, it's sold under some proprietary name at a grossly inflated price. The best sources are bakery wholesale suppliers or direct from TFAC Group, 103 Soi Lasalle 43, Sukhumvit 105, Bang Na, Bangkok 10260. Price baht 475.00 per 25 Kg bag, but there may be a minimum order quantity. Compare that with pool shop and supermarket prices.

Interesting comments all. However, the BisCs and Tescos in my area don't stock anything palatable. Perhaps because there aren't enough farang punters in the area.

There is no 'best' tea in my opinion.. If you're British and plain middle class, you'll basically drink anything that's blended for the British market - it's what you grew up with. Some brands are stronger than others, but as a formidable tea drinker (around4,000 tea bags a year) I have found nothing at a reasonable price here in Thailand. The nearest I get to real tea in Thailand is those awful dangly things on a string from Lipton. I'll generally drink PG Tips, or TyPhoo so on my yearly trip to the UK I purchase catering quantities and bring back a year's supply in my luggage.

If anyone here can offer me real English tea bags in quantities of 4,000 at a reasonable price, I'm interested. Very interested. It will have to be cheaper than I would have to pay here in Thailand for that Lipton stuff though.