Help - water has been turned off

[davidupatterson]

Hey all, 

 

I have been out of the country (stuck in Vietnam) since March but have kept my house in Hang Dong. A friend stops by the house each month to pick up our electric bill and maintain the property. He has not seen a water bill - typically, a woman just comes by the house and knocks on the gate every couple of months and asks us to pay the bill. 

 

Today, when he went to the house, he noticed that the outdoor hose was no longer working. The water has apparently been turned off, but no notice was left. I will hopefully be back in Chiang Mai by the end of this month (have a flight booked for the 12th) but would like to have it turned back on before I arrive. 

 

Does anyone know what I can do to pay our bill and have it turned back on? I'm not even sure who provides our water - I assume it's the Provincial Waterworks Authority but have never been able to validate that. Thanks for your help. 

[Lacessit]

Cherchez la femme. A bit awkward if you or your friend don't know who she is, or who she works for.

Did your friend think to check at the water meter to see if it has been locked? It may simply have been turned off at the mains connection.

[bwpage3]

Why not have your friend ask a neighbor who supplies the water?

 

Seems pretty simple.

[NotEinstein]

Usually, if it is a payment issue, they remove the meter until the debt is cleared.

[davidupatterson]

16 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Cherchez la femme. A bit awkward if you or your friend don't know who she is, or who she works for.

Did your friend think to check at the water meter to see if it has been locked? It may simply have been turned off at the mains connection.

He didn't check the meter, unfortunately. Cherchez la femme?

13 minutes ago, bwpage3 said:

Why not have your friend ask a neighbor who supplies the water?

 

Seems pretty simple.

He lives 30 minutes away from our house and is pretty busy. He only makes one visit a month.

10 minutes ago, NotEinstein said:

Usually, if it is a payment issue, they remove the meter until the debt is cleared.

Know a good way to pay the bill remotely? Add mentioned, we don't even know who supplies the water. Bills were paid so casually in the past.

[NotEinstein]

Is the house in a village, or an a moo bahn development?

[Lacessit]

2 minutes ago, davidupatterson said:

He didn't check the meter, unfortunately. Cherchez la femme?

He lives 30 minutes away from our house and is pretty busy. He only makes one visit a month.

 

French for "find the woman". More often used as a cliche in detective fiction.

The suggestion to ask a neighbor is sensible.

[davidupatterson]

16 minutes ago, NotEinstein said:

Is the house in a village, or an a moo bahn development?

Moo bahn development. Likely provider?

13 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

French for "find the woman". More often used as a cliche in detective fiction.

The suggestion to ask a neighbor is sensible.

If my friend was going to be there again before the end of the month, that would be the easy solution. He was just there today, though, and won't be going back before I arrive in three weeks.

Edited January 1, 2021 by davidupatterson

[NotEinstein]

As it is a development, there is usually an office for admin. enquiries. There is usually an annual admin fee for the services rendered.

[davidupatterson]

 

33 minutes ago, NotEinstein said:

As it is a development, there is usually an office for admin. enquiries. There is usually an annual admin fee for the services rendered.

Just realized I had my terms confused. We live in a village in Hang Dong, not a moo baan. 

[Dmaxdan]

Has it occurred to you that the water could have been shut off in the whole village for repairs or general maintenance? 

[davidupatterson]

1 minute ago, Dmaxdan said:

Has it occurred to you that the water could have been shut off in the whole village for repairs or general maintenance? 

Yes, it's possible though would be coincidental. That being said, we haven't been there in almost a year and haven't paid a bill since we left (though we haven't used any water). Having the water shut off seems more likely.

 

I'd really just like to figure out who provides our water and see if there's a bill I can pay remotely. 

[NotEinstein]

In that case you need to contact the village head man, who will have someone responsible for the village water supply and admin thereof.
If you don't have the ability to contact him/her, maybe you should ask for assistance from someone that lives in your specific village, i.e. what moo number and tambon name within amphur Hang Dong.

[canthai55]

In our village water is supplied by the tessaban

Local lady collects from each household.

Contact them

[billd766]

1 hour ago, NotEinstein said:

Usually, if it is a payment issue, they remove the meter until the debt is cleared.

With electricity it is easy to do, but removing the water meter will leave a hole in the pipe unless they are quick with a stopper or they turn everybody's water off, let the pressure drop and then remove the meter and stop the input pipe.

 

I live in rural Kamphaeng Phet and we have a lady that comes around from the tessaban and we pay her, If nobody is around she normally goes to a neighbour and we pay the neighbour.

[NE1]

Our village has a main pipe running out in front of the houses , with an individual feed to each house.

The water feed is controlled by your own personal tap outside your house.

We cannot be cut off unless they bypass the tap that feeds us.

We also lose the water supply , sometimes when the water pressure is to low in the village or they are doing repairs.

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, billd766 said:

With electricity it is easy to do, but removing the water meter will leave a hole in the pipe unless they are quick with a stopper or they turn everybody's water off, let the pressure drop and then remove the meter and stop the input pipe.

There's a tap either side of the water meter.

They just turn both taps off and pull the meter out.

[NotEinstein]

The meters in our village have a stop cock. I stopped using the village water as it got to having too much sand in causing the pipes to clog up, but I used to reverse the meter to clean it when it stopped working.

[Dante99]

4 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I live in rural Kamphaeng Phet and we have a lady that comes around from the tessaban and we pay her, If nobody is around she normally goes to a neighbour and we pay the neighbour.

Neighbors are wonderful for all kinds of help.  Most of them are happy to assist.  So many farang problems would be easily resolved it they just joined their neighborhood.

[mike787]

This fixes EVERYTHING...

[davidupatterson]

54 minutes ago, NotEinstein said:

In that case you need to contact the village head man, who will have someone responsible for the village water supply and admin thereof.
If you don't have the ability to contact him/her, maybe you should ask for assistance from someone that lives in your specific village, i.e. what moo number and tambon name within amphur Hang Dong.

Thanks for your help. 

43 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

In our village water is supplied by the tessaban

Local lady collects from each household.

Contact them

Thanks. Wish I could find out who the tessaban is!

31 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

Neighbors are wonderful for all kinds of help.  Most of them are happy to assist.  So many farang problems would be easily resolved it they just joined their neighborhood.

Yes, we know the neighbors and have their phone number, but it's written on a piece of paper in our house. When we left Thailand, we only expected to be gone for two weeks and assumed we wouldn't need it. 

[bunnydrops]

Where I live the water is turned off every weekend. We then use our stored water. I think it takes a bit of time to refill the water tower. I don't think they ever consider removing the meter for none payment (my water bill is around 30 baht a month). I hear there is a woman here who hasn't paid for over a year, she just tells them she doesn't have the money.

[NanLaew]

59 minutes ago, billd766 said:

With electricity it is easy to do, but removing the water meter will leave a hole in the pipe unless they are quick with a stopper or they turn everybody's water off, let the pressure drop and then remove the meter and stop the input pipe.

 

I live in rural Kamphaeng Phet and we have a lady that comes around from the tessaban and we pay her, If nobody is around she normally goes to a neighbour and we pay the neighbour.

 

In our home (and in the three others we have rented), there's a stop cock on BOTH sides of the meter. When you go past due, they turn off both stop cocks and remove the meter... actual experience.

[NanLaew]

Is this a rental property? If so, the landlord or agent should know. If it's owned, I can't understand owning something and not knowing how one of the primary utilities is serviced.

[davidupatterson]

2 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Is this a rental property? If so, the landlord or agent should know. If it's owned, I can't understand owning something and not knowing how one of the primary utilities is serviced.

Rental property. Trying not to get the homeowners involved if possible but may have to go that route.

Edited January 1, 2021 by davidupatterson

[canthai55]

8 hours ago, davidupatterson said:

 Wish I could find out who the tessaban is!

Not who - What

Tessaban is the local municipal government office.

Your address will be something like -

12 Moo 3 T. __________  A. _________________  Province

T = name of Tessaban  A = name of Amphur

[canthai55]

8 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

In our home (and in the three others we have rented), there's a stop cock on BOTH sides of the meter. When you go past due, they turn off both stop cocks and remove the meter... actual experience.

Not in our village

One ball valve downstream of the meter

[davidupatterson]

1 hour ago, canthai55 said:

Not who - What

Tessaban is the local municipal government office.

Your address will be something like -

12 Moo 3 T. __________  A. _________________  Province

T = name of Tessaban  A = name of Amphur

Hmm. My address follows this format (not my actual address): 

23/97 Moo 9, Hang Dong Subdistrict, Hang Dong District, Chiang Mai Province. So the Tessaban is Hang Dong Subdistrict? 

[canthai55]

Seems to be ...

 

Breakdown works like this - Provincial

Mooban - Village

Tambon - Subdistrict

Amphoe (Amphur) - District

Changwat - Province

 

Local -

Subdistrict

Town

City

[canthai55]

Call here - they can help you

Most likely Thai speaker required

https://www.cmhy.city/en/place/17978-Hang-Dong-District-Office