Siam_Sam

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

 

No problem of course, you would get a wider spread of opinion by posting on the open forum but no worries if you want to keep it private ???? 

Doh! I didn't realise this was the private part of the forum either! 

On 1/3/2022 at 11:48 PM, sirineou said:

 I don't know the particulars .Crossy is our resident electrical expert in this forum , and a real nice guy, He is the moderator in the  moderator in the  Electrical sub   forum, and he has a solar cell system  installed in his house. I am sure if you PM him he would answer  any questions  .If you hover your cursor over his name that I typed, it will give you a link to him

There are also a number of threads about solar cells running , you might want to read through a few of them .

 

On 1/6/2022 at 11:59 PM, Crossy said:

@Siam_Sam

For solar stuff come over to the Alterative Energy forum https://aseannow.com/forum/319-alternativerenewable-energy-forum/ this thread may be of interest https://aseannow.com/topic/1228023-whats-all-this-on-grid-off-grid-hybrid-stuff-all-about-solar-systems-demystified/

 

For boreholes, ponds etc. Farming might be your best bet https://aseannow.com/forum/104-farming-in-thailand-forum/

 

Many people have done what you want to do and most are very willing to assist.

 

EDIT Just as a taster, this is our electricity log for Jan 2022, the actual start point is Dec 19th 'coz that's when the PEA bill comes.

 

Blue line is overall electricity consumption, Green line is the energy generated by our 10kW hybrid solar system, Red line is our top-up usage from PEA. As you can see we get about 75% of our electricity from the solar on our car-port ???? 

 

Thank you so much for your replies and links guys. Perhaps it would have been better if I'd have started a thread in the appropriate part of the site! I will have a read through the relevant threads and if it's ok Crossy I may well ask you some questions via PM? 

18 hours ago, sirineou said:

 Britman is saying that he uses the grid as his storage device.

In another words, when he is over producing electricity during the day, his meter is running backwards and he sells it to PEA and when he needs it, he gets it back from PEA .

In essence PEA  is his storage device (battery),

but he says that if you are in an area where electricity is not available. (my uncle's farm is too far away from the power lines) then you would need Batteries.

In his farm  my uncle has a solar cell setup (two panes) that he uses to run the well pump, and he charges batteries that they use when it gets dark, when someone stays at the farm overnight or late . 

Thanks for clarifying things. Now I understand. Where we are planning to live would be on a main road (or just off of one) that will have access to the PEA grid so it sounds as if we will have a similar setup to BritManToo. I had no idea that you can exchange electricity with PEA which is very interesting compared to the system that we have in the UK. Do you have any experience or further advice with this? 

11 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Storing electricity is expensive, most of us use the grid as our battery (winding the meter backwards in the day).

But if you don't have the grid, you need to buy batteries to store your electricity for the night.

To store 10 units of electricity, a battery would cost 50,000-70,000bht.

Another 20,000bht for the off grid hybrid inverter.

Add 30,000-50,000bht for 15x solar panels.

I'm sorry but you have completely lost me. You must live in a very isolated part of Thailand if you're using batteries to store electricity but you say that you also use the PEA so I'm confused? I have much experience of Thailand and have lived in both cities and Isaan but can't say I have ever heard of anyone storing their electricity in batteries or seen this system anywhere in Isaan? 

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I have 5 panels and 2 GTIs, they provide about 140 units a month but need the PEA electricity to work.

Cost around 20,000bht.

 

If I was off grid I'd need to spend more like 100,000bht, batteries are expensive.

If you have to hire someone to install it for you, double the price.

Thanks for the reply but I don't understand any of it. What is a GTI? 140 units of what? If you need the PEA electricity to operate the solar powered electricity, then what's the point in having solar panels? Could you also explain what you mean by the 100k baht please? If you were off grid you'd have to spend the 100k baht on what? 

On 10/1/2021 at 4:42 AM, Farma said:

We had a 4" bore drilled earlier this year. Expect to pay around 5 to 6k baht. Same price if they find water at 6 or 36 metres. They found my water at 36 metres.

 

Been told in my area any bore deeper that 40 metres requires a licence. 

 

Had a double solar panel and 3" pump installed. Cost 32k baht. Enough flow to easily run 4 to 6 sprinklers depending on cloud cover.

 

Generally I find sunlight is strong enough to run between 0800 to 1600 each day. 

On 10/1/2021 at 5:02 AM, Horatio Poke said:

I have no specialist knowledge but I do have considerable experience re boreholes and ponds in Isaan.

 

We had a bore drilled earlier this year.  The guy charged 15,000 baht for the first 45 metres then 500 baht for each additional metre for a 4 inch bore.  This is quite cheap.  A lot of guys charge twice that amount...., and more.
A 6 inch bore would have cost 50,000 baht for 45 metres.

The pump and ancillary items cost a further 10,000 baht or so, including labour.

 

Drilling the bore took 4 or 5 hours, fitting the pump took another hour or so but not on the same day.  Apparently it is best to allow the bore to settle before fitting the pump.  I don't know exactly why.

We had the same guy (family actually) fit the pump as drilled the bore.  This was to avoid any possible merry-go-round of blame if one or the other didn't work properly.

 

A borehole will work well for up to 10 years.  When they're beyond their best they start dragging up lots of grit and dirt which will damage your pump, silt up your taps, deposit copious amounts of grit in your shower tray, etc.  You can have the bore cleaned but in my view it's best to write it off and have a new one drilled.  Cleaning and drilling a new hole cost about the same price - cleaning is usually only re-drilling anyway in my experience.

 

The diameter of the borehole, the distance from ground level to the water surface, and the type of pump used will determine the yield.  The depth of the bore is only critical if the water is a long way below ground level.
Our old bore was 2 inch and 42 metres deep - most of our neighbours' bores were double that depth.  Our old bore with a Lucky pump consistently pumped 6 or 7 litres a minute - more than enough enough for domestic use and some plant watering, but pond-filling took ages but was  still doable.  Most of our neighbours used cheaper pumps and their bores often didn't yield at all.

Our new 4 inch bore can fill a 7,000 litre pond in just a few hours so my guess is that it pumps at 20 or so litres a minute (that is only a guess) and might work faster if we pumped through open ended pipes without taps - but I am only guessing here.

 

in my experience nobody will make any guarantees about how much water you will b able to pump.

 

I hope that the above is helpful.
I will be happy to answer any further questions.

On 10/1/2021 at 3:21 PM, kamalabob2 said:

The OP would save money if he had access to PEA at the road. He would save money for a HOUSE to build and live in if he had dependable PWA water at his road. However, all too often people have land a bit farther from PWA water pipes, and a bit farther than a good voltage supply of PEA electric. EVERY town has several shops that will sell the OP a submersible DC brushless well pump to be connected to solar panels. VERY COMMON, even Thaiwatsadu | Global House | Do Home, not to mention Mom and Pop stores. Not rare, not hard, and not expensive to buy DC brushless 4" submersible well pump and solar panels and controllers. It will be less money when the OP is ready to drill than it is today.  Getting power "off grid" and the batteries is also sold in EVERY town.  The OP can see a well documented installation, on this non commercial blog written by a UK expat.   https://ecohousethailand.com/    The Op can see actual costs in Surin Province on that blog. He can check REFERENCES before he spends a single baht. He can ask to see the REPAIR department of where he is thinking of buying solar pumps.  If he can not see the repair department he might think twice about that supplier., EVERYTHING breaks over time in Isaan, and who can and WILL fix things does matter in my 15 years of living in Buriram Province. The OP can see the posted prices at his local PEA office and if he is lucky at his local PWA water office. There is not trick on the prices for service or per unit of water or unit of electricity if he goes in person to the office. They post prices on the wall. 

I am trying to devise a water system for our house and land but I am a layman so please forgive me if my questions seem a little stupid. Perhaps if I explained our exact requirements it will help people answer my questions more accurately. What we will require is two large ponds on our land, one for breeding fish and the other one for all of our watering use on the farm, which will be extensive as we are planning to grow a diverse range of fruits and vegetables. The water supply to our house that we will be using for cooking and washing ourselves will need to be filtered as my wife and I both have sensitive skin and wouldn't be able to use water direct from under the ground or a pond to clean ourselves. It doesn't need to be clean enough to drink as we always drink bottled water. The water for flushing the toilets and the two taps that I plan to have on both sides of the house obviously doesn't need to be filtered, neither would the water that would be used for watering all of the crops. 

I have some idea about filtering systems through watching videos on You Tube but what I don't understand is how the water pressure is generated before it enters the house if it has to pass through a filtering system? In my wife's village there is a water tower like most villages in Isaan but if the water then has to pass through a filtering system before it comes into the house surely it won't be under pressure any more? How is a sufficient water pressure then achieved? Is this done with pumps? We are planning to buy land on a main road that is quite isolated and a least a few hundred yards from other houses so will I have to install some sort of mini water tower or a suspended tank to achieve the desired water pressures because the mains supply isn't strong enough? And how do I split the water supply if I have both my own water and don't wish to use the mains water that often? Or do I not bother with the mains water supply at all if I have my own supply? 

My other questions concern the actual water supply from the bore holes. Does the water supply for our house come straight from the bore hole via the filtering system and/or water tower/tank? I'm guessing that it wouldn't and that it would have to come from the pond because then that way once the water from the bore hole has run out you still have the water in the pond to use before you completely run out. Then you can get another hole drilled before you have used all the water in the pond. 

If there is anyone that can answer any of these questions or give me any advice at all with this I would appreciate it so much as I am having difficulty finding English speaking people on You Tube that have a system that is the same as what we require. There are a myriad of videos on You Tube made by Thai people but not only can I not understand them, none of the Thai people seem to have a system like the one we want as they are more resilient than us farangs and aren't bothered about having a filtering system! 

Thank you so much for all these wonderful replies which are very helpful, especially Bandersnatch as that blog is fantastic and exactly the sort of thing that I was looking for. I'll have a read through this and I'm certain there will be many questions to follow! 

My Thai wife and I are planning to live in Isaan and are hoping to become as self sufficient as possible. The plan is to drill for water on the land that we eventually buy so that we can fill a large pond and maintain a constant water supply. We would also like to install solar panels to generate an electricity supply. I have done a fair amount of research but the majority of videos that I've watched are in Thai and I have to get the wife to translate. If there is anyone that has experience with any of these things and would like to offer me some advice then I would be very grateful. What I'd like to know mainly is the costs involved, how much water you can expect to access based on the deepness of the drilling, how much water they can guarantee you, how reliable solar panels are and how they are maintained and fixed, and the actual processes involved with drilling for water and installing solar panels. 

On 10/1/2017 at 10:51 AM, KittenKong said:

 

I have no issue with owning collectable media and also keeping a digital copy. That way if the original media fails you can still view the content from the copy, and you still have the original media/box to look at. Seems like the best of both worlds to me.

You have a point. 

On 10/3/2017 at 1:56 AM, johng said:

Thailand's high humidity  climate can be very harsh there is also the DVD eating fungus to ne wary of.

That's also a good point. 

3 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Yes, you can use a UK DVD player here. You can also buy region-free DVD players here. For best picture quality look for something with an HDMI output and connect to a modern HDMI TV.

 

If you love your DVD collection you should give serious consideration to ripping it to a hard drive as DVDs can (or even will) fail over time.

I was pretty sure that I could do this as I couldn't see any reason why a device using a plug converter wouldn't work, although I'm sure there are probably places in the world where this wouldn't work. I lived in Spain years ago and we took electrical devices purchased in the UK with us and they worked fine over there. 

You're correct when you say that DVDs will fail over time but that depends on lots of factors, mainly how well you take care of them. Hopefully they should last for the rest of my life. What collectors don't understand is that having copies saved on computer hard drives defeats the whole purpose of collecting and is considered sacrilege by serious collectors, especially when it concerns rare and expensive DVDs. 

There is a strong possibility I may be moving to Thailand in the next few years. I have an extensive DVD collection that I don't want to part with so I'd want to take them with me to Thailand if I move there. I know that they wouldn't work if I tried to play them on a DVD player in Thailand because it is a different region in Thailand so my question is - if I took a DVD player purchased in the UK would I be able to change its plug in Thailand and use it to watch my DVDs or would that not work? 

I would really appreciate it if anyone can give me some advice with this, in what is an unusual set of circumstances. My Thai wife has been living with me in England for nine years and has ILR but doesn't yet have a passport. When I first met her she had recently lost contact with her daughter who was basically taken from her by the father. It's a long story but she lost contact with her daughter for about nine years until she finally discovered where she had been living all those years with the father. Last year while we were living in Thailand for six months my wife was finally reunited with her daughter as the father no longer wanted to look after her. She stayed with us for a while and now that we have returned to England she resides at my wife's mother's house in Isaan where she will stay until we can resolve the situation. She'll be fourteen next month. My wife and I have now decided that we would like to bring her daughter to live with us in the UK but we appreciate this may be difficult as my wife had no contact with her for so long and only has proof of a relationship with her since last October. We have also heard that once she is over the age of sixteen it may be even harder for us to get a visa to bring her to England so the clock is ticking. We have also heard that getting her name changed to mine is a difficult process and instead of doing that we stand a much better chance of obtaining a visa for her on compassionate grounds as we are basically the only people who genuinely want to take care of her now.

My wife is going to Thailand on Saturday and during this visit she will change her name to my wife's maiden name (another long story but this was never done before and her daughter's name is still in the family name of the father) and will then obtain a passport for her daughter. We plan to take her to England for a holiday to begin with next March as we feel this will support our visa application in the future. We are also worried that if the father finds out about our plans he could easily prevent us from obtaining a visa even though he doesn't want to take care of her anymore. Is there anyone who can give me any advice with this? Have you been in a similar situation yourself? What does the process involve and what do we have to do? What can we do in the meantime to improve our chances? If my wife get herself a British passport does that mean her daughter is entitled to one? Please help me as this is obviously a very stressful situation and it's taking its toll on my wife. 

16 hours ago, akirasan said:

I used to date a thai girl named Nan, so I can understand the confusion. 

I can help you with Thai translation if you want, but one thing I have noticed, is the tattoo ink they use here is not the best.  

If you can get it done in another country I would strongly recommend it for longevity of your tatt.  

A decent artist will have no issue following thai script accurately.  I've had tattoos done here and in Australia and the Thai ones are fading quicker.

I appreciate what you are saying but the problem with getting it done in a country other than Thailand is that the tattoo artist will not be familiar with the Thai script as it means nothing to them and are therefore much more liable to make a mistake.

On 11/12/2016 at 9:16 AM, tgeezer said:

Well that was "well received' wasn't it?


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

Yes that was a little disappointing, I hope that making this reply and bumping the thread to the top might might help me to get some more replies. 

I have the word "nan" tattooed on one of my forearms in Thai. I got this done the first time I came to Thailand in honour of my nan who took care of me after my mum died when I was a child. Back then I had no idea that this was a girls name in Thai. I've probably been asked by Thai girls if this is my girlfriend or wife in excess of a thousand times! Last year my nan died and I would like to honour her memory further by adding the words "in loving memory" and the dates that she lived to the tattoo. My Thai wife is unsure what is the most appropriate way of writing "in loving memory" for your grandmother as she believes that there are two ways of doing this, one for you wife and one for other family members. Please could someone tell me the correct and appropriate way of writing "in loving memory" for my grandmother in Thai and also tell me what the dates of her birth and death would be in Thai? I'm not sure whether I should use the dates according to the Buddhist calendar or the Gregorian equivalent? The dates are - 06-11-1918 to 09-02-2015

Please help, I would appreciate this very much. 

They should demolish this real-life nightmare as soon as possible, this building creates VERY negative energy. But I seriously doubt if there is expertise to demolish a steel inforced monster like this...

Some people have already touched on the reasons why it hasn't been demolished. Anybody who wishes to build a new structure on the same site would have the added cost of demolishing the building first which wouldn't make it cost effective. That's also why the existing building has never been finished, the costs involved in making it habitable again would be astronomical, not only that but you probably wouldn't find any Thai people that would want to live there given their beliefs and what they know about the place. Even if a company did demolish the existing building and erect a new one it's doubtful you'd get any Thai people to live there, they would probably think that the whole site is haunted. I think Thai culture is very much to answer for it not being knocked down because I think that Thai people just accept that some things are never completed. I don't think it creates negative energy either - there are much worse things than that in Bangkok. In my opinion it adds another dimension to the quirky, haphazard nature of Bangkok which is one of the reasons why I love the city.

Why anyone would want to traipse to the top of the smelly and unsafe Sathorn Unique Tower is beyond me. Walk around the corner to the Lebua State Tower and say you're going to the Sky Bar for drinks and up you go in a high-speed lift for free. Take your photos with far superior vistas and come back down without having to buy a drink or indeed stop for drinks, albeit quite expensive, and enjoy the view some more.

There is a whole subculture of people that enjoy this sort of thing and they are known as "urban explorers." I for one am completely fascinated by this building and made it to the top a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately I managed to get in for free, the security guard wasn't even around when I entered and my wife actually spoke to him while I was inside before he disappeared again. I went there thinking that it would be harder to gain access since the discovery of the Swedish man and that security measures would have been increased but that wasn't the case, as I say I managed to get into the building without being challenged by anyone and the door in the fence wasn't even locked. I think I was there at the right time but I'm quite confident if the security guard had been around a few hundred baht would have got me inside. I'm planning to go back there soon to have another more detailed look at the building, I think it's absolutely fascinating and the scene you are presented with when you reach the top is like some sort of dystopian film set with some amazing views of Bangkok. That's me sat on the very edge right at the top.

2015-01-20 15.03.07.jpg

this is very much on my to do list. I would think i you cant understand the appeal, you never will.

that said, the attempts at humour i have read on this thread only confirm that thai visa is increasingly frequented by morons.

It's a wonderful experience but if you are going to go inside then be very careful. Take a torch with you because even in the daytime the stairways are very dark in places. Watch where you are walking because there are no guard rails at all and one slip could be fatal. As you approach the top of the building there is a lot of debris on the stairs. Once you make it to the top there are also holes in the floor where the lift shafts were meant to be so you need to be extremely careful. I've pretty much done every tourist attraction in Bangkok so I'm always looking for new and unusual things to do like this, the other day I went to see an abandoned 747 airplane in Bang Kapi that you can actually get inside of. Bizarre. Up until a few weeks ago there was a derelict shopping mall near Khao San Road that had flooded and was full up with thousands of fish, mainly koi carp. Unfortunately they have taken all the fish away and drained it now so I didn't get to see it. I have located another empty condo building on Phetchaburi Road too but so far I haven't been able to get to the top of that one. There are more on the Rama III Road too.

No I'm still in Bangkok, if I can extend my visa here then I won't bother going to Buriram. Where is the closest immigration office to Sukhumvit Road where I can do this?

Chaneg Wattana immigration is the only place you can do it.

Map and info on how to get there http://bangkok.immigration.go.th/en/location1.html

I went to the immigration office in Chamchuri Square today but they said they could only give me an extra seven days' extension. They have given me a map so I can go to Chaeng Wattana tomorrow. Thanks anyway.

No I'm still in Bangkok, if I can extend my visa here then I won't bother going to Buriram. Where is the closest immigration office to Sukhumvit Road where I can do this?

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Thai reference grammar is a great one,and it's a must have for grammar. http://www.amazon.com/Thai-Reference-Grammar-James-Higbie/dp/9748304965

Thai for beginner,intermediate and advance are mostly used and easy to find,they're also great.

http://www.amazon.com/Thai-Advanced-Readers-CD-Set/dp/1887521089/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/Thai-Beginners-Benjawan-Poomsan-Becker/dp/1887521003/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-Learners-Benjawan-Poomsan-Becker/dp/1887521011/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

(they cost like 200-300baht in a shop)

Other than that,thai language is so fcking hard and it takes years to learn on every day basis,huge dedication and motivation,learning tones(you need to learn each tone for every word),reading books(it's a good way to remember tones),vowels,tone rules,grammar...etc.

In the end,is it worth it? Hell yeah. Been learning for 3 years and my life has changed dramatically.I'm seeing country on a whole other level,culturally and socially speaking,and i'm only an intermediate level speaker.Good luck

Thank you for that. I am very determined because I know that it will open a whole new world to me, I am going to be moving here permanently at some point in the future so I know that this is something I have to do.

No one learns Thai to the level of fluency from books and tapes. For one thing, you don't get corrected for errors in pronunciation, grammar, and usage. Yet for some reason posters continue to believe that that method must work somehow. Beats me why people think that.

Better for the OP to do lessons by skype with a competent teacher, if he can find one.

I am fully aware that there is no substitute for learning around Thai people. I want to get the ball rolling though and I know that if I show some willing and start my studies now, by the time I move to Thailand permanently I will already be in a good position. I'm sure that once I get to a certain level my wife will be a great advantage to me and help me to learn more.

What type of entry do you have now?

Do you have a visa that you want to get another entry for?

If you have a visa exempt entry you can extend it for 30 days at an immigration office.

I'm married to a Thai and have the non immigrant O visa with multiple entries. Can I extend it for 30 days? Probably only going to be here another month so that would be great, it would save me the visa run.

You can extend for 60 days at Immigration. 1,900 Baht

Where can I do this in Bangkok?

I've been coming to Thailand for nearly ten years and although I speak basic Thai and know more than nearly everyone I know I think it is time I made a concerted effort to learn Thai properly. I've been in Thailand for the last few months but will probably be going home in a month or so which means I can't have any lessons over here as I don't have enough time left. In England there is nowhere I can learn Thai in my home town and the wife doesn't have the patience to teach me because we have already tried. I was in a shopping mall in Bangkok recently and I saw a book accompanied with two DVDs for about 1800 baht which looked very useful, I can't remember the name of the company that publish it though. Is their anyone that can recommend a good book that has a DVD to accompany it as I feel this would be the best way for me to learn the language, or failing that a CD? I think learning from a book isn't as good as learning in this was because you don't get to hear how the words are pronounced in a book.

What type of entry do you have now?

Do you have a visa that you want to get another entry for?

If you have a visa exempt entry you can extend it for 30 days at an immigration office.

I'm married to a Thai and have the non immigrant O visa with multiple entries. Can I extend it for 30 days? Probably only going to be here another month so that would be great, it would save me the visa run.

I have to do a visa run by the 11th of February and it looks as if I'm going to be back in Buriram by then. Is it still possible to do a visa run at Chong Jom? Has anyone done this in the last few weeks, or even better, days? Any information would be welcome please.

My Thai wife has been residing in the UK for six years and had ILR for the last four. She has recently obtained a new passport from the Thai Embassy in London in my name. This has meant that she has now had to change her residency permit which is in her old passport in her maiden name. We seriously underestimated how long it takes for the Home Office / UK Visa and Immigration to process the application and we have been told that it can take up to six months. We applied six weeks ago but obviously it could be a while before the permit is issued. We had planned to be in Thailand for the end of September and need to be there as soon as possible.

I have considered cancelling the wife's application so that she gets her passport back and can travel to Thailand but this is the problem that I have. Will my wife be able to travel without the new residency permit? I'm sure leaving the UK would be fine but would she need to show this when she re-enters the UK? Or would her old residency permit in her maiden name be suffice?

The letter that we received back from the Home Office to say that they had received the application and her biometric details contradicts what the accompanying notes on their website state too. In the letter it says that you can cancel the application if you need to travel in an emergency but you won't get the fee refunded. However, on the website it says that you will need to show your residency permit when you re-enter the UK, meaning that it wouldn't be possible to "travel in an emergency" because you'd need it to re-enter the UK.

Is there anyone who has been involved in a similar situation and travelled without incident, using their wife's old residency permit? Or are we going to have to wait for the new one to arrive? I would be very appreciative if someone can give me some advice with this as we need to be in Thailand by the end of October at the latest and this is causing us a lot of problems. If I had some idea of how long the application is going to take it would be a start!