Cowboy Air Conditioner Instal in Chiang Mai.

[Dazinoz]

Please don't read this if you are going to complain about being a waste of a couple minutes of your life.

 

I rent a house and the main bedroom air conditioner developed a fault. I notified the agent who had an ac tech (?) come and look. He said needed new compressor and was going to cost 6000. Owner was notified and she sent another tech. Ok he arrived and now the cowboy part of my story.

 

Him nor his offsider could speak english so I used Google Translate at times.

 

First he asked which ac as there is 3. I pointed to the one. He looked around the house and pointed to another. I said no and again pointed to the culprit. He then got on the phone and called someone and when finished pointed to the one I said. I forget us Farang don't know anything even faulty equipment at where we live.

 

Without looking at anything he said low on oil and leak. He took the ducting cover off and checked connections between main indoor unit and piping to outdoor. No leak. So he started the ac and let run a minute or so and again without checking anything said compressor faulty. Made a call to the owner and asked for piece of paper. He then wrote a couple prices down then dived by 2 and indicated prices. I asked why 2 prices. He indicated me half and owner half. I contacted agent and they let owner know that not how it works. So they paid. She said she though half each was fair.

 

He went away and came back in a few hours with new ac. Without even checking to see if breaker was off they started disconnecting and disassembling ac. Fortunately I had already turned it off. I was inside when the Safety switch (we call earth leakage in Oz) tripped. Hmmmmm? He came inside and removed the indoor unit from wall and was preparing cabling for new unit when he received an electric shock. He came and checked the breaker which was off, so I turned off the main breaker. So obviously there is an issue with the house wiring but that is another story.

 

I went outside during the install and noticed he used old piping which is ok but flares should be redone which he did not do. I could be wrong but I am expecting a leak and loss of refrigerant in near future. I also saw he was brazing a new pice of pipe to the old pipe as was short. From my training this can cause oxidisation (copper rust) to flake off and do damage to the compressor. Brazing should be done under nitrogen.

 

After instal the system should be vacuumed down to remove air and moisture. Nope, just open it up and power on.

 

Some time ago I had noticed the ac was not earthed (grounded) so I ran an earth wire to indoor unit then to outdoor unit. After instal and before he cleaned up I noticed a length of earth wire on the ground. This morning I checked the indoor unit and no earth wire connected. The cable clamp bridge to hold the cable to outdoor unit was not even used and cable run over the top of it causing connection box door to bulge. I fixed that and then checked outdoor unit connections. Earth wire connected. So I took off ducting cover and earth wire had been cut and a length removed inside the ducting.

 

I am happy I did not pay for this work and I am expecting issues in the future.

 

 

[worgeordie]

Why did you not tell the owner to come and sort it out with the A/c man,

good you did not fall for paying half and half of the cost, this is solely

the  landlords expense.

I have also had the problems of them not earthing A/c , they seem to think

Thai electric is different and does not need to be earthed, just wonder what

the death rate is for electrocution.

regards worgeordie

[ezzra]

Your post's header says it all, indeed a cowboy tradie masquerading as an a/c installer, i'm sure he can do plumbing and carpentry and everything else with the same "skills".. bad luck having someone like him, but over all tradies in Thailand oar ok...

[Dazinoz]

1 minute ago, worgeordie said:

Why did you not tell the owner to come and sort it out with the A/c man,

good you did not fall for paying half and half of the cost, this is solely

the  landlords expense.

I have also had the problems of them not earthing A/c , they seem to think

Thai electric is different and does not need to be earthed, just wonder what

the death rate is for electrocution.

regards worgeordie

The owner lives about 300km away and the agent was busy. I wanted agent to be here but.......

 

Before I wanted an ac installed in the main living area. To get that done I agreed to pay half for NEW install. I guess she figured I would do same on replacement.

 

I have heard That electrician say works without earth wire so not needed. I will get around to earthing it and the other one in other bedroom later.

[Robin]

Sounds like a typical Thai workman.

There are good tradesmen in Thailand, but hey are rare.  Usually, they are busy as local know who can do the job and who is only a wannabe.

I suspect that Thai vocational training is not up to much, but turns out a stream of useless idiots who think they know it all.

[Pumpuynarak]

53 minutes ago, Robin said:

There are good tradesmen in Thailand, but hey are rare. 

Yes indeed, i find asking my local Homepro for a recco usually provides a competent local. 

[BritManToo]

Earth wire is to stop shocks when you touch the metal casing.

If the equipment is out of reach, or encased in plastic, it doesn't need to be earthed.

 

Getting a shock with the individual circuit breaker off.

Usually caused by the live and neutral being reversed at the meter before it enters the house.

If so, NONE off your single pole breakers in the house work (because they're braking the neutral and the live is always LIVE).

The main 2 pole breaker/RCBO is the only one that works.

[rwill]

Did they put the pipes under a vacuum before opening the valves on the compressor unit?  If not you are going to have more problems.  All the air needs to be removed first.  Also it should be under vacuum for awhile to make sure it holds a vacuum, no leaks.

[seedy]

Electrician - I go to the large electrical shop near us who supplies tradesmen.

Same with AC guys.

Got competent work each time.

Had the whole house, carport, gate, shop rewired from 2 wire to 3 wire last fall. Never a problem.

On a 1/2 and 1/2 deal I would supply the parts, installer, and give the landlord her bill.

Ensures you have the work done correctly.

[scorecard]

5 hours ago, Robin said:

Sounds like a typical Thai workman.

There are good tradesmen in Thailand, but hey are rare.  Usually, they are busy as local know who can do the job and who is only a wannabe.

I suspect that Thai vocational training is not up to much, but turns out a stream of useless idiots who think they know it all.

Including serious electrical safety knowledge and practices...

[Dazinoz]

2 hours ago, rwill said:

Did they put the pipes under a vacuum before opening the valves on the compressor unit?  If not you are going to have more problems.  All the air needs to be removed first.  Also it should be under vacuum for awhile to make sure it holds a vacuum, no leaks.

LOL. Seriously? Of course not. They also used the old pipe without re-flaring the ends. Perfect for leak. I have told agent that owner will have problems in the near future, did not care.

 

In Australia I used and electronic micron vacuum gauge to ensure all air AND moisture removed.

[Dazinoz]

2 hours ago, seedy said:

Electrician - I go to the large electrical shop near us who supplies tradesmen.

Same with AC guys.

Got competent work each time.

Had the whole house, carport, gate, shop rewired from 2 wire to 3 wire last fall. Never a problem.

On a 1/2 and 1/2 deal I would supply the parts, installer, and give the landlord her bill.

Ensures you have the work done correctly.

And I would have done something like that but owner called on the installers not me.

 

As far as the 1/2 1/2 deal was concerned it was a no go for me. It is a fixture in a rental home so owner pays to repair or replace as per contract.

[Dazinoz]

50 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Including serious electrical safety knowledge and practices...

Yep straight into the work without checking breaker.

 

[1FinickyOne]

8 hours ago, Dazinoz said:

I am expecting issues in the future.

my a/c works fine - - and I too am expecting issues in the future... 

[cbx1000]

I live in Chiang Mai, originally from the UK, I've been in industrial refrigeration for over 43 years, did my apprenticeship in commercial refrig and A/C.

I installed all my AC units in my home because I have seen the extremely poor workmanship in Thailand and didn't want these cowboys in my home.

We had a house built and I specified that all the rooms have a separate power supply with a breaker for the A/C units.

I work overseas most of the time off-shore, so when I got home I checked the wiring.......i also have an electrical license.

As others mentioned...no earth wire on any A/C power supplies, their comment was "we don't use an earth wire on A/C units". I said you do in my house but they cleared off and I had to pull in new cables myself.

My neighbor had A/C installed and the cowboy charged her for special cable to join the indoor to the outdoor units.

Then installed the condensing unit in a very awkward place, he said it has to be there because that's the length of the copper pipe and if he extends it a meter or 2 then the performance will decrease.....

On the plus side my wife's cousin is an A/C engineer and he is very good, can forward the details if anyone needs his service.

We mustn't paint all techs with the same brush...but it's hard not to!!

On a different note how about this:

A falong and his Thai wife came to our house, he was looking for the power supply to our home, he asked me where is the cable...I said it's under ground, he said that his electrician told him the cable must be in the air otherwise he will lose 30% of the power....

Work that one out!!

How about this...we had 4 houses built, each house has a 3 phase supply, the Chiang Mai electrical techs connected the 3 phases to the houses from the cables in the street.

In one house they connected a phase to the neutral so we had 415 volts on single phase sockets and lights, lights exploded, cooker hood went crazy.

danger!

 

 

 

[jimn]

Lol thanks for giving me a good laugh. You sound like a right know all. I am surprised you didnt do the work yourself. 

[cbx1000]

17 minutes ago, jimn said:

Lol thanks for giving me a good laugh. You sound like a right know all. I am surprised you didnt do the work yourself. 

like I said, I did for my A/C, after 40+ years in the industry I guess I know a bit...I'm home for 3 months of the year..I have to get people to do jobs which worries me. how about this then...a pipe split under my home and a local came to fix it, when I got home to see what he has done he had wrapped a bicycle inner tube around the pipe...so no need to say I know it all, maybe others know f....k all

[cbx1000]

47 minutes ago, jimn said:

Lol thanks for giving me a good laugh. You sound like a right know all. I am surprised you didnt do the work yourself. 

I guess you can laugh at electrical issues because you know next to nothing about it...

[Dazinoz]

1 hour ago, jimn said:

Lol thanks for giving me a good laugh. You sound like a right know all. I am surprised you didnt do the work yourself. 

You might think he is a right know all but he is correct in what he says.

[NoshowJones]

20 hours ago, Pumpuynarak said:

Yes indeed, i find asking my local Homepro for a recco usually provides a competent local. 

I have lived in Thailand for 14 years, had lots of tradesmen over the years doing work of some sort, never had a problem with any until last year when two guys came to fix leak in AC, it started leaking again after about 2 hours so had to get another AC engineer to fix it which he did successfully. 

[Pumpuynarak]

42 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

I have lived in Thailand for 14 years, had lots of tradesmen over the years doing work of some sort, never had a problem with any until last year when two guys came to fix leak in AC, it started leaking again after about 2 hours so had to get another AC engineer to fix it which he did successfully. 

I think where you live in Thailand also plays a big part in the availability of competent workers. Also IME Thai workers are very transient people and the guy you've always used has just moved on somewhere else so the search continues.

[scorecard]

14 hours ago, jimn said:

Lol thanks for giving me a good laugh. You sound like a right know all. I am surprised you didnt do the work yourself. 

Silly comment.