doglover

Baking soda mixed with a little water to make into a paste. Dab it on, rub it a bit and leave it. As far as I know it is just an anti itch. Babies body will deal with the swelling.

In the future look into homeopathic prevention as it won't be the last time he gets bit by mossies. And of course the real issue is malaria, dengue fever, etc. Find a practitioner online that will ship it to you. I use one from Australia. My kids take the Homeopathic prevention for diseases mossies carry during the times of year when they are most at risk. No side effects.

Google homoeoprophylaxis. Which is what we (and millions of others) choose to use for disease prevention as opposed to dangerous vaccinations.

p.s. this is not a repellent. one still needs a repellent. and it sure as heck shouldn't be a chemical!

Definitely going to need pics of available Myanmar hotties to attract the Thailand crowd.

I honestly had no idea there were any boys that would not be fascinated by tanks. Did some of you really never plays "guns", "cops & robbers", etc? Or have you only forgotten what it's like to be a child?

Thanks reflectionx and Arjen. Hadn't realized this was just discussed recently. Looks like I have more internet surfing.....er.. research to do.

Well here is a link to some empirical scientific evidence http://dirtytruthreviews.blogspot.ca/2013/03/eddy-electronic-water-descaler-review.html

Could it be she just bought an under rated unit that was meant for city water rather than well water? The cost of the unit says so. That she is treating well water is an assumption (and we know what they say about assuming).

Any one else want to toss in their two satang?

Does anyone have experience with using an electronic descaler prior to the house for hard well water? Being that my main goal is to greatly reduce mineral scale buildup and 2nd to not pollute my land with salt is this a good option? Here is a link to products that claim to be able to do this http://www.electronicdescalerlinks.com/

So if this is a viable alternative to traditional water softening do I wrap the wire around the pipe feeding the well pump or on the pipe after the house pump? Personally, I would wrap it around the pipe feeding the well pump because if the system accomplishes what it is supposed too the minerals will be suspended and may settle in my holding tank (too be drained and rinsed at intervals) and would keep the well pump and piping free of mineral buildup. But maybe these suspended minerals could reabsorbed to a degree during delay in the holding tank and be less effective at keeping the main objective, the appliances in the home, free of buildup.

Thoughts and experience appreciated.

I was away when the rough in for my electrical was done. I assume they cut a v-groove for the conduit into the brick/block. And then how is it secured to the wall?

All I can think of is anchors, one hole straps and screws. But this seems too expensive and time consuming for a Thai.

From the look of it you have the tap on the cold side. He has it on the hot side. A pipe break could cause hot water to flow out till the system is empty. This may or may not be a hazard.

Thanks Harrry.

That's a good point. It was put on the cold side as that was the pressurized side in that it leads to the water pump of course. I will have another think then about that. Is the little safety valve ok? The Thai guy said it was the wrong way up and should be on the downside. That doesn't make sense to me, it is for a build up of pressure/steam.

I am not a plumber...

my guess is down would be better because hot water could spurt up under pressure forming a geiser and posibly reaching where it could harm people. If it was down....or to the top of the unit the water possibly would have more chance to cool before it hit someone.

I agree (not a plumber either). If the pressure relief valve releases there will also be hot water not just steam. I have seen some systems where the relief point is piped to a drain to protect people from harm in case of release.

I would imagine he does not have anything against your copper tubing but the relief valve positioning. When he reworks it he probably just prefers to use a different type of pipe.

Maybe if you are able to fit some sort of tubing to the relief valve exit point and direct to an appropriate point he would except not re-fitting the piping? More than likely his ego will get in the way by the sounds of it.

Why is it that a customer tells a Thai "electrician" what he wants, then the electrician just ignores the customer and goes his own way?

Because he believes that he really is an electrician and that his knowledge is superior to that of his customer. Frustrating indeed.

If it wasn't so hot up in the attic I'd climb up there and do it myself.

In our (unaffluent) home we have dual exterior walls built from concrete block which provide greater comfort during most of the day, relative to ambient temperature, without air conditioning. So I am thinking solid concrete walls would extend this comfort longer, even in Thailand.

Double brick/block with an air gap will be substantially cooler than solid concrete, no matter whether they're 0.7 Baht red bricks, 3 baht blocks, or 23 Baht AAC's.

Ok. I repent.

Brilliant job on planning the design of your house BTW. Obviously not your first one in Thailand.

important is to know that the concrete slab of a house works as a "heat sink" which helps to keep a house cooler in tropical ambient temperatures as opposed to the fairy tales about stilted houses circulating in Thailand.

Indeed. But, as you, know most affluent homes have the slab poured on top of raised cross beams and there is an open cavity between the slab and the ground. Pipes are run inside these cavities to spray termite killing chemicals throughout the cavity. The heat sinking capacity of this set up is greatly reduced over the way villagers pour their slabs directly on the ground.

1. The following link is a good source of info for a non-air conditioned home.

2. Possibly even Naam could be somewhat comfortable, part of year, in a home like this?

1. the link leads to a company located in Hawaii which has a rather moderate climate with ambient temperatures never reaching really high tropical temperatures as we face in Thailand. add to this the rather steep drop to minimum temperatures and placing the home at an elevation exceeding 500m above sea level the room temperatures might suit people who can't afford airconditioning.

but whatever, the claim "concrete thermal mass helps cooling the home" is an oxymoron which rapes the laws of physics in an utmost pervert way!

2. no! Naam (who spend several times a week on Hawaiian islands) wouldn't find the average relative humidity in Hawaii comfortable and would insist on airconditioning instead of ventilation.

It is obvious that anyone who could afford the home in the link I provided would have no problems affording air conditioning. But some people (even affluent ones) prefer fresh air over manufactured air.

In our (unaffluent) home we have dual exterior walls built from concrete block which provide greater comfort during most of the day, relative to ambient temperature, without air conditioning. So I am thinking solid concrete walls would extend this comfort longer, even in Thailand.

But it turns out the only option is aerated autoclaved concrete block, ceiling insulation, dual pane windows and big air conditioners.

(Of course us poor folk could just throw up a rice straw roof over an existing concrete slab)

_{Solid concrete walls is the way to go for a naturally ventilated home. The following link is a good source of info for a non-air conditioned home. Possibly even Naam could be somewhat comfortable, part of year, in a home like this?}

_{http://terra-pacific.com/?page_id=1083}

Here in my Bangkok moobaan for single/three phase runs underground the developer uses copper 35mm wire...that's what I have along with a 30/100A single phase meter.

Good to hear it's being done right (underground) somewhere. I had no idea developers in Thailand were choosing not to install electrical eyesores throughout their projects. Hopefully that forward thinking comes to Khon Kaen.

EDIT - I suppose it is only from your meter to your CU's underground and the distribution lines for the project remain above ground as an eyesore.

Patanadek excellent. Kkvs is overrated.

Can you expand on why you think Patanadek is excellent? I agree about KKVS .

^^^^

My informant was misinformed. We stopped by KKIS today and it is a joke. It is a tiny school of cheap construction. I have no idea how they think they are worth the high prices. And here I thought Mataneedol was going to be forced out of business. Lol, not a chance.

^^^^ Good suggestion and step by step to implement.

Probably end up costing the OP about 1000 baht per CU as opposed to his quoted 4000 baht for a respectable brand. I'm surprised the OP is stalling at the cost as he must have forked out a pretty baht for his dual Schneider CU's already anyway.

Cheap RCD protection is the route I recently took with a rental house. But it would be good to hear comment from one of the engineers if buying a cheap RCD is really worth it?

Our daughter (4yrs old) is going to Mataneedol. We found KKVS isn't setup as well for younger children. It is the same pay as KKVS for the age group and Mataneedol is better on all fronts than KKVS. That said, Mataneedol only goes up to Grade 6 and then we will have to look for another school. We really liked the fact that it has CCTV to see what is happening in the classroom. Also like the parent fingerprint scanning for child pickup, staff nurses that will administer your medicine of choice (even homeopathics), forehead temperature fever scanning on drop off and positively promoted hand washing basins at the entrance/exit to the school.

KKIS is apparently teaching the Australian curriculum with Aussie teachers but it is (hear say) 140K baht per term (2 terms) as opposed to Mateendol and KKVS at 60K baht per term (2 terms).

If I had to guess I would say 15% of the students are from mixed racial marriages.

Every school will tell you that their teachers are authentic with previous work experience in their home country. It's bunk (maybe KKIS will be the exception?). They're TEFL teachers. Doesn't concern me much as I don't believe you need a teaching degree to teach youngsters. I'll take a fun, intelligent and energetic TEFL teacher over a teacher with a teaching degree and previous experience who can't speak English properly any year.

^^^^ & Crossy.

Cool. That would be very convenient and I see it mentioned many times about the definite advantage of having 3 phase when only 1 or 2 phases have been dropped.

I am curious if it is worth the extra expense in the long run. Is it a frequent occurrence that only 1 or 2 phases is dropped or would the majority of the time all 3 phases be dropped?

Can someone give a ball park percentage of the chances that during an outage 1 or 2 phases will still be live?

EDIT - I know in our village, most times, when the power is lost it's across the board.

Maybe I could live with the wires run in the wall, not in conduits, but I won't compromise anything related to safety.

Are the wires run in the wall or on the wall?

I'll assume in the wall as that is what you stated. So are they run free air in a cavity with a dual wall system? Or did your electrician worker cut a groove in the wall and somehow secure the wires in the groove and then render?

The former would surprise me as I don't believe any 'developments' use a dual wall system. If the latter, bizarre.

This topic has been (un)officially locked!

Went down a side path with the siding thing there. Certainly not the best bang for the buck.

1)wall shading - with cheap trees that grow quickly, will produce a lot of shade and not attract ants.

2)natural ventilation - ensure attic has allowance for cooler air to enter at bottom and hot air to exit near the top (or at peak

with some products (cpac monier system on a new build for ex.)

3)whole house fan - (or a smaller fan in the ceiling of each room to keep noise levels down and to allow closing of doorwhilst

still allowing air transfer in each room.

3a)window screens - if not already installed will be required as this system will primarily be used in the evenings

That's my top three picks!

^^^^

I have thought about doing this on my home. However I think the installation would have to allow for cooler air to enter the bottom of the cladding and rise out the top to be more effective. Of course some sort of screening would have to be installed at the air entrance and exit points to keep out the critters.

Not as effective as a longer eave or shade from a tree. But realistically one will not plant a tight perimeter of trees around the entire house. So this cladding would help in the spots where direct sun is hitting the walls between the trees and the lower parts of the walls.

Has anyone installed ventilated "conwood" cladding/siding?

^^^^

Well at least that would make the trip worthwhile. Beautiful home you have there.... or were you going to put me to work as well?

Wellllll, wifey's new chicken palace needs rendering

JT - You obviously missed out on the handyman gene at birth. I'm in Jomtien and would be happy to give you a hand to rip it all apart, clean what needs to be cleaned, replace what needs to be replaced, and give you a few tips on water pressure management. I clean the aerators in my washing machine and taps once a month because of the crud that builds up.

I know it may seem like rocket science to you, but it's really a "do it in between the adverts on television" sort of job. My labour and tool rental costs equate to 1 small Singha per hour (or part thereof). Genuine offer Mate

^^^^

Well at least that would make the trip worthwhile. Beautiful home you have there.... or were you going to put me to work as well?

If this thread goes 5 pages I'm driving down from Isan to fix the damn thing.