Condo breaker, is it the ground / earth cable that is not connected ? To what should it be connected ?

[aeae]

hello, an old condo has the breaker that you can see on the photo.

can you confirm that the green cable is the earth / ground cable ? And is it standard that it's not connected anywhere ?

I want to change the breaker, what kind of breaker do I need to buy to connect this green cable, and it is simple to do ?

thank you for your great help.

[Pierre Hanot]

45 Amps 2 pole breaker.  Top line side. red , black 240 volts.  + Green ground.  Load side bottom. With a ground/green connection.  Trace your line to the outside main somewhere before any work. 

[GinBoy2]

You are between a rock and a hard place here.

 

Chances are there is no solid connection to a ground. 

 

In a western situation you'd be fine connecting it to a copper water line, but this Thailand and that's not an option.

 

Now i read it says 'Safe-F-Cut' which in Thai speak is as good as it gets. 

 

If there is a short the Safe-T-Cut is supposed to trip.

 

So changing the breaker probably won't buy you anything in terms of protection from electrocution and death!

Edited October 18, 2021 by GinBoy2

[Crossy]

Is that the only breaker in your unit?

 

Do you have 3-pin outlets?

 

The green/yellow probably is earth and since there are two wires it might actually be joining to a wire going to an actual earth, or it might not ...

 

Moving to "Electrical".

 

[bankruatsteve]

3 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

Now i read it says 'Safe-F-Cut' which in Thai speak is as good as it gets. 

The brand is Safe-T-Cut, but that is not RCBO.  IE: no RCD protection.

[Kwasaki]

More info needed.

Ground floor.

Middle floor. 

Top floor. 

Have got any other earth connection like say the shower which very important. 

 

Have neighbours got earth connections.

Does the building have any steel structure.  

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by Kwasaki

[johng]

Don't be fooled by the colours of the wires  they mean nothing  as can be seen in the photo,  incoming  black and green  outgoing  red and black...the green wires taped together could be earth  but could just as easily be live !

 

And the "Safe T cut"  breaker in the photo is just a breaker/fuse  not an earth leakage breaker 

"Safe T cut" do make earth leakage breakers ( RCBO)  as do other brand names...you can tell it's RCBO because it will have a "test" button on it  which you are supposed to press  once in a while to test the earth leakage part actually still works.

[aeae]

8 hours ago, Crossy said:

Is that the only breaker in your unit?

 

Do you have 3-pin outlets?

 

The green/yellow probably is earth and since there are two wires it might actually be joining to a wire going to an actual earth, or it might not ...

 

Moving to "Electrical".

 

 

yes it's the only breaker in condo, what can I buy to replace please ? and I am sure that ground is connected to building, I asks technicians and they confirmed.

 

if the breaker was good, to what would the ground be connected please ?

 

 

yes 3 pins outlets on wall.

 

thanks again

 

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by aeae

[Crossy]

1 minute ago, aeae said:

 

yes it's the only unit, what can I buy to replace please ? and I am sure that ground is connected to building, I asks technicians and they confirmed.

 

if the breaker was good, to what would the ground be connected please ?

 

thanks again

 

You could replace that breaker with an RCBO which provides earth leakage and shock protection, you should be able to get one that fits in that box. The ground wire can stay as it is as the RCBO doesn't need it.

 

Let me check what you can get on Lazada to drop in to that same space.

 

You will of course need the building techs to change it, not a DIY job on a live system.

 

[aeae]

2 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

You could replace that breaker with an RCBO which provides earth leakage and shock protection, you should be able to get one that fits in that box. The ground wire can stay as it is as the RCBO doesn't need it.

 

Let me check what you can get on Lazada to drop in to that same space.

 

You will of course need the building techs to change it, not a DIY job on a live system.

 

 

 

Thank you so much, but I prefer to change the full box.

And if I cut the electricity from the meters room in the building, I guess that there is not risk to change the box myself ?

 

If the green ground / earth doesn't need to be connected, can you show me how the wires that I show on photo should be connected to the new breaker box ?

 

thanks again.

 

 

[Crossy]

Nothing to stop you changing the whole box for a proper consumer-unit, but that woulds also need you to separate out your various circuits. It looks like you just have two circuits (two wires in each outgoing terminal).

 

You still need to verify that earth really is earth, one of these is your friend 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/i316566794-s634644285.html

 

If you do just want to replace the existing breaker and make things safer then:-

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/sale-nano-rcbo-2p-32a-10ka-din-ple42c32-thunelectric-home-improvement-equipment-i2539245045-s9033042963.html

32A

or

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/sale-nano-rcbo-2p-50a-10ka-din-ple42c50-thunelectric-home-i2014826002-s6492008130.html

50A

 

I didn't see an actual 45A unit in my quick search, they might be available.

[Crossy]

Loads of small consumer units on Lazada, something like this:-

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/consumer-unit-4-ccs-ccul-04-4-eco-5-i2828092221-s10315426028.html?

but there are many others too.

 

They come with instructions but I'd still get the building chaps (or their sparks) to do it for you ????

 

[sometimewoodworker]

58 minutes ago, aeae said:

if I cut the electricity from the meters room in the building, I guess that there is not risk to change the box myself ?

That, In Thailand, is not sure. In fact all good (living ???? ) sparkies will treat all  circuits as live until they are tested as dead. You also need to be sure that you can lock the disconnect switch off.

[aeae]

9 hours ago, Crossy said:

Loads of small consumer units on Lazada, something like this:-

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/consumer-unit-4-ccs-ccul-04-4-eco-5-i2828092221-s10315426028.html?

but there are many others too.

 

They come with instructions but I'd still get the building chaps (or their sparks) to do it for you ????

 

 

Is is a famous brand ? or any cheap brand is enough ?

 

Buy the way, I checked in the condo row fake rood, and only 2 cables, the black and the green go into the room, does it mean that the ground is not connected ? Should the ground be coming from the meter box as the green and black wires are coming ?

Or can a earth wire be connected directly to the ground from inside the condo (1st floor condo with only car park under).

 

thank you so much.

 

 

 

[jackdd]

Get a multimeter and check the voltage between phase and ground, if it's 230v it could actually be ground.

It could of course also just be connected to neutral, would then also show 230v, no idea how to figure out if it's a real ground other than tracing the cable.

[3NUMBAS]

to the condos steelwork if it  has any