The earthing of refrigerators

[antoniuni]

10 Years ago I discovered in my renovated house that the “electricians” were using the earth combined with the zero line. Once when I measured the zero in my house, connecting to the earth pole I made in the garden I discovered a quit big current which could be from my house but also from the neighbors as the zero isn’t real earthed on every street pole! 
I redid the electricity, I made three earth poles in the garden, quit far separated, and that was it!

A second discovery was that I bought an expensive Mitsubishi refrigerator and I saw that the plug didn’t had an earth! I changed it onto an earth plug.

Now 10 years later I bought a Sharp refrigerator and…….the same, unearthed, plug! The people who were bringing the fridge said only to wait 2 hours with connecting the fridge.
They, of course, didn’t say something about the earth because that’s my business!
The manual was completely in Thai, but I found in the fridge a small paper with………..a well known green/yellow, thin, wire and a ring to connect it to the fridge and the other end was a part not isolated to connect it to an earth rod or copper pipe.
I cannot imagine that all people are doing this!

This is the way the Thai are still working with electricity!

[bankruatsteve]

There is a very slow but seemingly steady change to "standards".  My 2 year old Samsung fridge came with 3-prong plug but many vendors still go with 2-prong and separate ground wire (that should be connected to ground in receptacle).  Unfortunately there are many not formally trained sparks that consider earth/ground a Western hocus pocus and either do nothing with it or drill a hole in the wall/floor and stick in that.

 

Another scratch-your-head practice is to supply class-1 appliance with European Shuko plug that contains ground but not without a Schuko style socket.  Go figure.

[antoniuni]

Looking for an earthed cable I found this one: Thai (Chinese?) technics! ???? 

[bankruatsteve]

3 minutes ago, antoniuni said:

Looking for an earthed cable I found this one: Thai (Chinese?) technics! ???? 

So, that's a Schuko plug that needs a Schuko socket to connect ground.  Or, are you just trying to do a wind-up?

 

[antoniuni]

Just now, bankruatsteve said:

So, that's a Schuko plug that needs a Schuko socket to connect ground.  Or, are you just trying to do a wind-up?

 

Yes, connect the earth with two wires?

[bankruatsteve]

1 minute ago, antoniuni said:

Yes, connect the earth with two wires?

The metal band on the sides connect to ground wire.  The Schuko socket has metal contact for that to system ground.

[Jan Dietz]

But that side contact has to be connected to a wire to work, I see only blue and brown, missing yellow/green

[bankruatsteve]

1 minute ago, Jan Dietz said:

But that side contact has to be connected to a wire to work, I see only blue and brown, missing yellow/green

Your photo only shows the plug.  A cable to that style plug should be 3-core:  L,N,E.  If not, then it's the same as putting a 3-prong plug on 2-core cable.

[antoniuni]

YES, that's what I mean! A Schuko power plug with TWO wires! I am NOT crazy!

 

[bankruatsteve]

2 minutes ago, antoniuni said:

YES, that's what I mean! A Schuko power plug with TWO wires! I am NOT crazy!

 

OK.  Jai yen yen.  You didn't make that point in your post.  Yes, 2-core to a Schuko plug is negligent.

[johng]

Homepro ( if your really really lucky) might have  the " WA-GF(R5B) WON "  Schuko  adaptor  so you can then plug into a Thai earthed socket

 

 

However a better way is to cut the (silly) Schuko off and fit a 3 pin plug that fits a Thai socket.

like the Hacko P002

[antoniuni]

Thanks Johng! Yes, I cut a real Schuko plug already to connect it! I know that Homepro doesn't has all Schuko related things but once I found there a Schuko plug..................

 

[sometimewoodworker]

21 minutes ago, antoniuni said:

Thanks Johng! Yes, I cut a real Schuko plug already to connect it! I know that Homepro doesn't has all Schuko related things but once I found there a Schuko plug..................

 

Schuko plugs are easily available 

 

as are non earthed prefixed plugs

 

 

 

You can also have the sockets fitted

[Fruit Trader]

1 hour ago, johng said:

However a better way is to cut the (silly) Schuko off and fit a 3 pin plug that fits a Thai socket.

like the Hacko P002

The cable outlet is at the wrong end.

[johng]

4 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

The cable outlet is at the wrong end.

Well you could use one of these..but I think they look horrible.

 

[Fruit Trader]

7 minutes ago, johng said:

Well you could use one of these..but I think they look horrible.

 

Legrand is the best quality

 

 

 

And the Thai all plastic, not bad if you like yellow.

 

[Grusa]

UK fused plugs  have, looking from the back, the live wire to the fused right pin, neutral to the left pin, earth to the top. European type are the same. Thai plugs and sockets, if marked at all, have liveto the left, neutral to the right. So using an adaptor reverses the polarity!

 

My Gaggia coffee machine gives me a shock every time I touch its metal parts, unless I reverse the plug. It has an earth, but the socket doesn't.

[antoniuni]

Thank you all! In fact I only wanted to show how the Thai are working with electricity and accepting everything!

[Pedrogaz]

Now what earthing would that be?

 

When I built my house, I paid a very large sum of money to an electrician to do everything, including 5 consumer units and to earth the entire thing. We also wanted the wiring chased into the rendering on the walls. 

 

Well, we moved in and every time it rained the lights went out and tripped the one of the CUs in the main house.

 

After many attempts to get it fixed I got an electrician from Bangkok to come up to Isaac for 4 days and fix the fault, which I had diagnosed as being in the wiring for the lights on the outside walls. It easy 77,000 to rip out all the wiring and replace it...the previous electrician had not sealed the conduit so when it rained it got full of water. I was happy to pay the 77,000 if it fixed the problem. Unfortunately when it rained again the electricity in the house went off....in addition the dishwasher was 'live' and 'bit' you when you touched the stainless steel cabinet inside.

 

Three electricians later I was told the short was somewhere under the house where the wires were buried under the tilework. I shelled out another 100K to have the downstairs of the house rewired with conduit running on the outside of the walls. When it came to earthing I told the guy it was already earthed.....then he showed me an exposed socket....the green wire was about 6 inches ling and ran nowhere. 

 

I have dumped over a million baht into the electrics in my house....and some of the sockets are still not earthed properly.

 

 

[johng]

6 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

I have dumped over a million baht into the electrics in my house....and some of the sockets are still not earthed properly

Wow  "Amazing Thailand"

boinginnng  Cartoon Boing Sound Effect .mp3

 

[antoniuni]

Unfortunately, lots of these "electricians" don't know what they are doing! Sorry to hear that you have paid so much! I have everything "made" in the ceiling but I cannot reach it anymore because I don't have tiles! The circuits I could reach near the main fuses I cut and wired around the house. As my first message: I cut the 0 and earth connection and made 3 earth poles outside, I placed an earth breaker, a safety switch apart from the "normal" breakers. And I disconnected the zero and the earth!

[johng]

11 minutes ago, antoniuni said:

I disconnected the zero and the earth!

But in many cases here in Thailand they use the MEN system  which is supposed to have Neutral and earth

tied together..

I think this is @Crossy  PDF file explaining things

Thai Domestic.pdf

[Crossy]

Just now, johng said:

I think this is @Crossy  PDF file explaining things

 

Probably from Forkinhades but it does show the line N-E in the switch box.

 

A handy PEA document to show your sparks Groundwire Mk2 book-Manual.pdf

 

And the important page with translations.

 

 

 

[Janner1]

Given the “ high “ standard of electrical installation in Thailand I would personally run a multi strand earth wire from every appliance I put in my home to a copper or brass 2 metre pole knocked into the ground outside the house but close to the wall where it will reside in damp ground and you will have 100% Earth.

 

You have3 such poles already in the ground so choose one or better still all three and you will be secure

[bankruatsteve]

3 minutes ago, Janner1 said:

Given the “ high “ standard of electrical installation in Thailand I would personally run a multi strand earth wire from every appliance I put in my home to a copper or brass 2 metre pole knocked into the ground outside the house but close to the wall where it will reside in damp ground and you will have 100% Earth.

 

You have3 such poles already in the ground so choose one or better still all three and you will be secure

Up to you,, I guess.  But the "normal" (proper) way of running ground through the CU doesn't need modification or enhancement.

[antoniuni]

I put 3 poles at around 75 cms. from each other and connected them together. That should be enough as earth and left the zero completely separated. I have had never problems anymore in more than 10 years! 

 

 

[millymoopoo]

Thais have never been big on earthing/electrical safety.
There's a reason for earthing - SAFETY - any appliance where metal skins are present which is anything other than all plastic appliances need an EARTH.
Any 3 pin plug will do, just as long as it has the 3rd pin for the earth connection.

Of course no 3 pin (earthed) plug will work if there is no earth wiring in the house, good idea to check earthing is continuous through the wall socket.

Also good to insert the earth spikes into wet soil, close to the leach drains is good, a dry earth spike does not work.!

And earth leakage circuit breakers (safety switches) are worth using too.!

[Trollmann]

The european shuko plug with the french ground hole can very easy be converted into the thai earth wall connector

[Crossy]

5 minutes ago, Trollmann said:

The european shuko plug with the french ground hole can very easy be converted into the thai earth wall connector

 

Except that the hole in the plug and the outlet do not align properly. Damage to the outlet will ensue.

 

DO NOT DO THIS!!

 

[JohanB]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

 

Probably from Forkinhades but it does show the line N-E in the switch box.

 

A handy PEA document to show your sparks Groundwire Mk2 book-Manual.pdf

 

And the important page with translations.

 

 

 

I still very much oppose this half hearted and absolute dangerous MEN connection in Thailand.

This type of connection is wrong to use, as there is no reliable ground wire comming in to the house!

The ground rod is normally just inserted in the soil (if you’re lucky) and is not able to carry the current to blow a fuse.

 

In the scenario that the incoming neutral wire is cut somewhere, all what you belive ”grounded” appliances will carry live 220V on their cabinets, if the ground rod current don’t blow a fuse

 Even the water heater ground in your bathroom will be live.

 

(Also the neutral and ground is interchanged on the outlet in the drawing)