canopy

Would like to know the best place on the wall behind the toilet for the pipe that will have the bum gun attached. which side of toilet? How high and how far away from toilet?

I was watching an electrician splice a cable to extend the length. What he did was push the stripped wires into either end of a (aluminum?) tube then crimp both ends of the tube. Then he wrapped electrical tape around it. Is this a sound approach? Is there a more preferable way?

The majority have been made from plastic for decades. You only noticed now? I also see them using needles as fasteners, ouch. Watch for news stories after loy kratong on how many tons of kratong plastic the government skim off the rivers.

Tesco sells colorful kratongs made from bread for many years. No plastic and it's food for the fish. Unfortunately not popular. Get a few extra and donate to neighbors explaining why they are good.

True story. I went to a marathon in northern Thailand. The event was to start at 5am so having to get up at 4am is not usual or pleasant thing to do but everyone did it. Everyone was lined up and ready to go and then an announcement came: the race would be delayed because...drum roll...it was still dark. Unbelievable, what? They decided the best thing to do was make everyone stand there at the starting line shivering with nothing to do and never knowing exactly when they would start which turned out to be 6:30 when it was full on daylight.

Ok, that's good to know. If going with a 3 phase main, is the size in amps computed the same way? For single phase I would want to select a 63A mcb. I'll also check a bigger province electrical store for a single phase main.

The reason for this panel is it is an upgrade from a smaller single phase square d panel. So the idea is staying with square d all the mcb's can be reused. After working in cramped space in the small panel, couldn't resist their beautiful and spacious panels.

I had not considered an ELCB (?). Do I need one in this case? Here is a bit about the install. The ground is two 3/4" diameter x 2.5M solid copper rods spaced in a row away from the house connected using 25mm2 wire and also connected to the house slab rebar (UFER). In the panel I have a MOV and rcbo mcb's where advisable.

I have a new Schneider square d panel and installed the 3 phase to 1 phase conversion accessory (see photo). However, the store only sells 3 phase main circuit breakers for this box and they cost close to 4000 baht. Is there a single phase main offered that fits this box? If not, is it possible / advisable to use a 3 phase breaker?

Artificial rainmaking has been in the news over and over this year. And every time they tell us how successful it is and how they need to do more of it. Yet 2015 has been the driest year in recorded history in Thailand and dams never filled up. I wonder if it will ever cross their mind that their artificial rainmaking could be contributing to drought. Meddling with mother nature is almost never good.

After more experience it just works like a champ. I determined only the very first few minutes of the clothes washer cycle needs constant pressure which I achieve by turning on the vat tap. From then on the rest of the cycles need no assistance. Showers are powerful. Two taps can be opened at once without starving the other. Very nice system. Here is what this simple solution looks like for anyone contemplating something similar.

It works as follows: with the switch off water is from the mains as usual. Turn on the switch on and water is drawn from the vat and supplied to all fixtures.

The red numbers are the system components added:

1. junction box to tap into power

2. switch and outlet for pump (pump warranty is voided if plug is cut off and wired directly)

3. all plumbing fixtures should have a shut off valve

4. check valve. In hindsight this is not needed at all as the pump performs this function already.

5. pump

6. intake with foot valve 4 inches off the bottom so as not to draw sediment

7. (not shown) check valve at water meter so pump does not send water to village.

In my village there is no garbage pick up. The key reason is not that they can't afford it, but surprisingly it's because they fight the government against this idea. They prefer burning and tossing plastic all over the place. People's yards, road sides, forests, just everywhere is littered. The government puts signs in some places and it doesn't work as below. The will to solve this problem is not there.

I hate upper Thailand this time of year. No rain = lots of burning. lots of burning = haze/poor air quality. The shroud of filth gets progressively worse for 6 months and everyone just acts as if they don't notice, except up to hundreds of thousands that end up going to the hospital for respiratory problems.

It sounds stupid to put up a sign for maximum person capacity, as if people are going to stop and make an accurate count before getting on. Then what if they do only to have a group of morons or a few dogs and water buffalo wander on after them and go over the limit. Another problem of course is the bridge workers don't have a clue how many people it can hold or what kind of weather is safe so making a sign is just putting a finger up in the air with no added safety. A bridge like this will always be enter at your own risk like many places in Thailand. A waste of breath recommending a safe and long lasting structure. The preference here is making up excuses on each future collapse.

In August they blamed the weather for the collapse and in October they blamed the people for using it. Who knows how many more times there have been collapses before this. Living in the north of Thailand I notice when people do a bad job, they just blame something else. It's never their fault. It's never their bad design and workmanship. So they never learn or better themselves. They go through their whole lives repeating the same mistakes over and over. And it's particularly disturbing in cases like this where it sends people to the hospital and they go through the same ritual.

The structure appears to be made from concrete, steel, and wood. Bamboo is used for the footpath / ornamental. So I too do not classify this as a bamboo bridge and find the topic misleading at best.

Yes, turning the shower pressure low replicates the on/off cycling.

The clothes washer usually works on the mains, but sometimes the pressure is too weak and it gives an error for no incoming water. It's strange when the pump goes into the on/off cycling the clothes washer does not show an error, but continues on with it very dry inside.

The super simple solution is installed and mostly fantastic results. All the taps and shower are very powerful, much more pressure than the mains ever provided even with this small 180W pump (the exact model Crossy recommended in fact). The mains have been out for 4 days in a row and are still down so it was installed just in time for whatever their latest problem is and the reserve left in the vat remains very good.

One snafoo however. When running the laundry machine, the pump comes on extremely briefly, then shuts off briefly. This cycle happens over and over. The wash cycle progresses but hardly any water makes it to the clothes and they don't get fully wet even. I came up with a work around which is to turn the tap on in the vat creating a loop where the pump is always running while the laundry machine runs. Wondering if there might be a more efficient solution.

Also I plan to post a picture when it is all final for others in a similar situation to ponder.

Of the responses so far, I think the best bet is to look carefully for a product like sirineou suggests. The long term effectiveness of the other ideas might work, might not. Don't mind some fading, just don't want to have to do it all over again anytime soon or have it turn out looking blotchy.

Why is Phetchabun considered central Thailand? Every time I see it categorized by the government or by businesses it is always listed in the Northern Thailand group. Even the very first sentence of wikipedia says it is a Northern Thailand province.

Are there any suggestions on how to stain existing outdoor concrete like fence posts or culverts? The idea is to make them a more natural color like green or brown. Priming and painting aren't durable enough in my experience. Any products to look for? I would prefer something simple off the shelf rather than hunting for hard to find ingredient mixtures.

In Thailand they use elephants to move huge logs.

Why not?

Not anymore. That was made illegal decades ago in Thailand. What happened is loggers were giving the elephants amphetamines to get them to work harder. This was considered animal cruelty so all elephants were forbidden to work and the owners turned them to the streets to beg.

Disagree. Getting the word out about fugitives can be a very effective way to nab them. Pretty standard even in developed countries.

It says "The black core of the eaglewood could fetch Bt100,000 per kilogram". So why aren't people planting a few?

It would be good to have coment from poeple who have actualy been there

I live nearby. This mountain is a tourist attraction because it is the highest mountain in Phetchabun province. At the top are hill tribes selling souvenirs and such offering some color to an otherwise bland experience of yet another view point. Most days are too hazy (often due to heavy burning) to see clearly very far anyway.

It is sad to say, but having lived around hill tribe people they have no regard for nature. I love them to death and use them whenever I can to help on my land. But they burn, poison, and destroy land and many suffer from respiratory problems due to their actions. Their villages reek of plastic fires. They hunt in the national forests sending all creatures large and small to the brink of extinction along with other plants, orchids, etc. Most people around here including thai's (actually mostly ethnic laotians) received land from the government for free and typically such early land titles are very restrictive on what you can do. It's normal that no business type development, leasing, or selling is allowed. I would speculate in this particular case we are talking about Sor Bor Gor land titles though not for certain. Everyone is certainly are aware resorts are illegal and the government rattles the chains about them from time to time, but it's the sort of thing the law is whatever you get away with in these parts and that's almost anything. Some hill tribes do farming and there are a lot of cabbages grown on the mountain. I haven't noticed a single orchard however. That's probably more of a government pipe dream of how they would dream of poor people using the land.

As a guide to tank capacity normal "western" design figure for consumption would be 200 litres per person per day. Of course it could be more here

A few pails of water for a shower is nothing compared to western shower with a strong, continuous flow for 20 minutes or however long. Thai's I am familiar with don't come close to 200 liters a day and perhaps not watering big grass lawns every day is part of it. But anyway in a case like this it's a whole lot more accurate to simply look at the monthly water bill.

And once again it is impractical and unnecessary to install a new tank and accessories for this and it is surprising how many people continue to suggest that. Thankfully, the question has been answered perfectly on the first page if one could read a little bit about the topic before posting.

Excellent, thank you so much Crossy! You are a great asset to the community.

A couple questions about the latest schematic:

A laundry machine w/ dry cycle draws water from time to time for up to a 5 hour period. would the pump need primed every step along the way?

Would it be reasonable to omit the pressure tank?

Must the recommended pump be placed below the water level? There isn't real convenient floor space and so above the vat would be preferred.

Why is it good to stay away from submersible pumps? They would seem to solve any priming, floor space, and elevation issues.

Observations:

1. I would never pump from the mains and understand the problems, but thanks for the heads up anyway.
2. I don't understand why some say the vat will run out. It seems the normal size found in bathrooms here, 1300 liters and hence enough to last for weeks since the household uses less than 2000 liters per month.
3. Remember the "simple solution" part. Not wanting to invest in new tanks and such for a house that isn't mine.
4. My proposed solution is MUCH different than anything people are talking about. And since it is just one sentence long I was hoping someone could comment on it.
5. Please help recommend a type of pump for the vat. Watsadu has a whole aisle full of pumps. I have no idea what I need.

A real basic house in a village is plumbed to the mains, but sometimes there are multi-day outages and even when on the pressure can be insufficient to turn on a shower heater or run a clothes washing machine.

I was wondering if there is something real simple to provide good pressure and a reliable water supply. My (uneducated and possibly bad) idea is a check valve at the entry to the house and then connect a demand pump to draw from the big vat of water in the bathroom and outlet it to the plumbing. Is this a good solution? If so what kind of pump would be recommended? Are there submersibles? Otherwise I suppose it would be necessary to connect the pump to the vat drain so the pump and incoming plumbing are below the water level of the vat. Any tips / advice appreciated.