Anyone know a contractor with experience with storm drainage in Pattaya ?

[Longwood50]

There is a pipe that runs through the village street with drains that allow the rain water to be carried away.  When the village was built underground pipes connecting the yards of the home were laterally installed to allow the ground water from the yards to flow into the main storm sewer pipe.  Now those pipes "we believe" are creating a sucking action that is sucking the sand in the yard and creating a large area of erosion.  

I am not sure exactly how this needs to be fixed.  If the pipe leading to the storm sewer is capped the water collecting in the yard will also cause erosion.  It would seem to need some sort of screen to allow water to pass but prevent soil from being sucked into main storm pipe.  

Having used some "Thai" workers they all will tell you they know how to fix it.  However my experience is that they are willing to express their ability to do anything despite the fact they know nothing about how to really fix it. 

I would think that someone who has worked in the construction of a village and has installed similar lateral drains might be a good place to find a competent repair person. 

We tried calling Huay Yai water and sewer who feigned they only fix the street and don't know of anyone. 

Does anyone have a suggestion of who might be competent or a supply house that would know of workers who deal in this sort of repair? 


 

[david555]

For storm drainage  ..... Pattaya  is not a real good reference ???? they are trying for decades already ...and with a serious night  pouring down rain Pattaya is flooded 

 

So for a contractor ....if you find a excellent one ,..... give his reference also to Pattaya boss ????

 

I am sure the Dutch could solve it ..... but for a price ????

[NONG CHOK]

9 minutes ago, david555 said:

For storm drainage  ..... Pattaya  is not a real good reference ???? they are trying for decades already ...and with a serious night  pouring down rain Pattaya is flooded 

 

So for a contractor ....if you find a excellent one ,..... give his reference also to Pattaya boss ????

 

I am sure the Dutch could solve it ..... but for a price ????

There's an easy solution for your drainage problem just contact the company that does all the drainage work where  Soi 6 joins Beach Road. I'm sure you'll be very satisfied when the jobs completed and at a very competitive rate.

[david555]

10 minutes ago, NONG CHOK said:

There's an easy solution for your drainage problem just contact the company that does all the drainage work where  Soi 6 joins Beach Road. I'm sure you'll be very satisfied when the jobs completed and at a very competitive rate.

i am not looking for that , my post was a reply on the original poster ????

[Bangkok Barry]

Slightly off-topic, but in my native UK there is a website where you can search for a plumber, electrician etc in your area, with reviews from customers. I wonder how many decades it will be before Thailand adopts such a system. Probably never, as any bad reviews could land you in court.

[topt]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

with reviews from customers.

If you mean Checkatrade have you ever seen a review score of less than 9........

And don't get me started on the comments themselves 

[Grusa]

Ask your local council. They are experts. Sufficient brown envelopes will fix anything, and if that doesn't work there's defamation and lese majeste laws to shut you up!

[SiSePuede419]

17 hours ago, Longwood50 said:

It would seem to need some sort of screen to allow water to pass but prevent soil from being sucked into main storm pipe.  

Ahh, we call that a "French drain".

 

Basically a pipe with holes on the top covered in some kind of metal mesh screen (we call "hardware cloth").

 

Probably works for awhile until it gets clogged up with silt.

 

However if your property is mostly sand, it might work for a longer period before it gets clogged up.

 

Sloped land is the best way to carry away water. But I suspect your lacks slope, otherwise it wouldn't have flooding issues.

 

Google "swales", also.  They're a cool way to landscape water channels to carry water away from your property. 

[Longwood50]

1 hour ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Basically a pipe with holes on the top covered in some kind of metal mesh screen (we call "hardware cloth")

I am familiar with French drains.  They would work to carry the groundwater out but they are at the top of the soil surface.  The main storm sewer drain is about 2 meters below ground and it is already in place.  So if I put in a French Drain my only place to drain it would be to drill a hole in my concrete fench to allow a pipe to carry the water to the street. 

[mahjongguy]

Our mooban was built 40 years ago. The land is basically flat, so gently sloped that it's not noticeable.

 

The lots are 84 wah on average, with lateral drains between and shared by every house running just below the surface. They empty into sidewalk boxes for the street drains that are about 1 meter below.

 

The lateral drains have two 30cm x 30cm covers on each side of each house that are flush with the ground. Even in a downpour they prevent the water from getting more than a centimeter deep, and only for a few minutes.

 

So it works, works well unless a sidewalk box loses a chunk of old mortar and a brick pops out; then the sandy soil will erode.

 

"Now those pipes "we believe" are creating a sucking action that is sucking the sand in the yard..."

 

If that is indeed what is happening, then it seems you are lacking vents in the yard drain covers. The vacuum in the main street pipe sucks soil from your yard because there is not enough air available to prevent that.  

     

[chilly07]

Don't think there is any sucking involved. The water flow is just taking sand or fine soil with it creating a pond effect in your yard. Unfortunately that silt will eventually block the road drain. Best to dig the pipe out and concrete your yard so that excess water flows through your boundary kerb into the road thus speeding up drainage and flushing out the road drain

Edited March 5, 2022 by chilly07

[sikishrory]

If there's one thing i have noticed about thais it is that they have no idea of basic engineering regarding storm drains.

Patong, Pattaya, bkk. All have weird and wacky systems.

Patong used to be worse i will admit but it took them eons to semi fix. Now there's large patches of road everywhere where the road is an actual metal grate.

Pattaya opted for the "we just pump into the sea" approach. Eg. The massive pump at the bottom of soi 6 that's been there at least 8 years. 

Bkk is chaos.

 

[WildBillHiccup]

THIS "SHOULD" WORK? The top of Soi 'Water Mellon' (Soi 18? — off Soi Buakhao

near to  the 'R Con Bar') had been a major flooding problem for many years with

more-than-one failed attempt at fixing it.

When a different Thai civil engineering contractor turned up they were greeted with 

derision as it would just be "more-of-the-same" however this company - (with their

team of skilled workmen) - sorted the problem out once and for all. There should be

an archive story with a photo on this on here - but I don't know how to dig it out.

If your village headman has any clout and he supplied the City Hall with these details

I feel confident that this could be the answer ... providing it is a "no-job-too-small" firm.

Good Luck!!!   

 

[Longwood50]

7 hours ago, mahjongguy said:

The lateral drains have two 30cm x 30cm covers on each side of each house that are flush with the ground. Even in a downpour they prevent the water from getting more than a centimeter deep, and only for a few minutes.

That is exactly the system here.  There are concrete covers over the entry access to the storm sewer pipe that runs paralel to the houses.  Our home has a lateral that extends from the street pipe into the yard.  I suppose it is possible that the pipe in the street has shifted and the water running through it is escaping and causing the erosion.  I can envision how with the lateral pipe getting suction from the moving water how it might be sucking the water along with sand from inside our yard and causing the erosion also.  

That is why I am hoping to find someone "knowledgeable" about these types of drainage system.  The typical Thai will pour cement, use duct tape, and and ample amount of silicone to fix just about anything with no experience as to whether any of what they have done is effective. 

[mahjongguy]

3 minutes ago, Longwood50 said:

I can envision how with the lateral pipe getting suction from the moving water how it might be sucking the water along with sand from inside our yard ...

The most common situation is a broken connection where the lateral empties into the street main. The boxes were not pre-cast in cement like today. They were hand built of brick. After a few decades the mortar lets go, bricks fall out, and water from the lateral washes sandy soil into the box. There are several sidewalk boxes in our mooban where we needed to dig away the dirt around the pipe/box connection and repair the masonry.

 

Note: the "pipe" from the house may actually be concrete boxwork poured in forms rather than terra cotta. 

[bluejets]

Normally running storm water into sewer lines is forbidden..........

[mahjongguy]

Only a small minority of single-family homes in Thailand are connected to an actual sewer. The rest have septic tanks (if anything). Back in the 80's they too were made of brick or concrete formed on site.  

 

The OP, if the ground is settling nowhere near the drain connection, might have a broken septic tank or simply a broken connection at its exit. 

 

 

[Longwood50]

16 hours ago, bluejets said:

Normally running storm water into sewer lines is forbidden....

They are storm sewer drains in the street.  Not sanitary sewers. 

[Longwood50]

16 hours ago, mahjongguy said:

The OP, if the ground is settling nowhere near the drain connection,

The erosion is next to the lateral that leads into the drain box in the street.  Pehaps you are correct that it is a leak in the main that is washing the soil away.  

[MadMuhammad]

On 3/5/2022 at 7:44 PM, bluejets said:

Normally running storm water into sewer lines is forbidden..........

The septic tanks in the two new homes just completed next to mine have the  overflow pipes connected to the wastewater/drains in the street. 
Really looking forward to when they fill up