Poor electrics in farm house

[surreybloke]

A visit recently to ladies farm caused me to look at the electrics.  

A number of issues come to mind.  

I could not see any sign of a earth.  Do they use a TN CS type setup or a TT or both.       

The only sign of an earth was shower units with a thin wire leading to what looked like a concrete reinforcement extension.      

Having said that what is the point ? most of the wiring is twin core.   A ancient CU with MCBs and a main switch.   

 

A range of partly enclosed out buildings  all running from a single feed (2.5 twin I think) into the main house..    Switches and outlet s  used as junction points.   No circuit separation between  outlets  and lighting.      

Are there any properly qualified sparkies in Isaan  .   When I say qualified I mean capable of possessing and using proper test equipment.   Something better than the "man"  in the village when he has finished with the harvest or fixing his truck .         

 

The farm is between KK and Korat close to route 2.    Near Bua Yai.    

 

Any thoughts

 

[carlyai]

Sounds pretty typical. They use both TNC-S and TT, but many or most older farm houses won't have propper earths if at all.

Also watch out for electric fences if there are cows around. On the top of thin bamboo stakes driven into the ground is a length of fencing wire with small bits of white cloth attached. This is an electric fence. Guy down the road got killed from touching the wire last month.

[KIngsofisaan]

Here is the electric box in one of my relatives house, near that area. Basically runs some extension cords,

 

No appliances or TV

 

No running water either

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, KIngsofisaan said:

Here is the electric box in one of my relatives house, near that area. Basically runs some extension cords,

 

No appliances or TV

 

No running water either

 

Very likely to be getting free power as well due to minimal usage

[sometimewoodworker]

6 hours ago, surreybloke said:

Are there any properly qualified sparkies in Isaan  .   When I say qualified I mean capable of possessing and using proper test equipment.

Yes their are. I know of one who will travel to your area. But nobody with the setup you saw will pay for him nor his team, nor to buy the fittings needed.

The equipment he has is good but he is only able to fund it because he has a PEA job, and a few people are willing to pay for good work 

 

[NoshowJones]

3 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Yes their are. I know of one who will travel to your area. But nobody with the setup you saw will pay for him nor his team, nor to buy the fittings needed.

The equipment he has is good but he is only able to fund it because he has a PEA job, and a few people are willing to pay for good work 

 

Are there any properly qualified sparkies in Isaan? I live in central Thailand in a small town, my wife has lived in it all her life, she only knows one sparkie and he is always busy, so in the meantime the main sockets in the kitchen are not working so when anyone in the house is cooking I have run a junction box from another outlet in the kitchen to the cooking area.

Fortunately we have a bottled gas cooker. It would seem that qualified sparkies are very few and far between in Thailand.

[MrJ2U]

5 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Very likely to be getting free power as well due to minimal usage

Basically free.  5 or 10 baht a month to keep your box connected to the grid or something my wife mentioned. 

[sometimewoodworker]

26 minutes ago, MrJ2U said:

Basically free.  5 or 10 baht a month to keep your box connected to the grid or something my wife mentioned. 

Quote

 

3. Customer, who has classified under 1.1.1 and does not consume over 50 kWh, will be received free electricity for that month

 

Service Charge   (Baht/kWh) (Baht/Month)      per Month  8.19 

 

 

[Andycoops]

Plenty of qualified sparkies here in Isaan, after they've taken care of the buffalo, downed a shot of Lao Khao and scoffed some Som Tam they'll be the best you can get. 555

[rickudon]

13 hours ago, KIngsofisaan said:

Here is the electric box in one of my relatives house, near that area. Basically runs some extension cords,

 

No appliances or TV

 

No running water either

That is exactly the setup in my wife's house when i moved here in 2010 ..... 2 upgrades since then but still about 30 years behind western standard.

[surreybloke]

There are airports and large foreign hotels around. Thy must operate to some sort of standards.  I think a chat with the  PEA engineers and a little tea money might get me in the right direction. 
I am tempted to bring a load of stuff from the uk. 
Are there any ex pat sparkie s who could help with drawing a spec and help with a bit of testing. 

[The Hammer2021]

19 hours ago, carlyai said:

Sounds pretty typical. They use both TNC-S and TT, but many or most older farm houses won't have propper earths if at all.

Also watch out for electric fences if there are cows around. On the top of thin bamboo stakes driven into the ground is a length of fencing wire with small bits of white cloth attached. This is an electric fence. Guy down the road got killed from touching the wire last month.

If they  could  kill a human they could  kill and animal! We have electric  fences  all over Europe but they don't  kill people.

[carlyai]

7 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

If they  could  kill a human they could  kill and animal! We have electric  fences  all over Europe but they don't  kill people.

Yes, and my son has them for the horses, but I'm not sure how they set them up here. I can't see the farmers buying expensive propper electric fence setups, but I could be wrong. Seems like water was involved and the farmer usually turned it off before getting in the bore, but this time he forgot. That's as much as I could understand, but I give those fences with the bits of white plastic or cloth a wide birth.

[mikeredbike]

My Thai friend sells security systems including electrified barbed wire.  He figured by using a step down transformer connected to 220 the 110 wouldn't be dangerous.  Actually the 220 is safer as it blows you away, the 110 grabs you.

[carlyai]

49 minutes ago, mikeredbike said:

My Thai friend sells security systems including electrified barbed wire.  He figured by using a step down transformer connected to 220 the 110 wouldn't be dangerous.  Actually the 220 is safer as it blows you away, the 110 grabs you.

Yeah I thought they'de use a dodggy transformer. Probably no current limiting. 

Still wouldn't like to grab 110v either.

Cattle seem pretty sensible and stay away from the fence. 'Once bitten, twice shy'. ????

[Crossy]

"Proper" electric fencers for cattle etc. use a battery or low voltage power supply and a unit akin to a vehicle ignition coil.

 

They generate a high-voltage pulse every few seconds, so if you pee on one there's time to get going before you get a belt up the ... Ask me how I know

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/220v-12-2-ac-dc-1-ac-i3503715927-s13333506536.html?

 

[carlyai]

16 minutes ago, Crossy said:

"Proper" electric fencers for cattle etc. use a battery or low voltage power supply and a unit akin to a vehicle ignition coil.

 

They generate a high-voltage pulse every few seconds, so if you pee on one there's time to get going before you get a belt up the ... Ask me how I know

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/220v-12-2-ac-dc-1-ac-i3503715927-s13333506536.html?

 

Farmers around here   could use those, not too expensive. Probably depends on how long the battery lasts, replacement cost and what everyone else is using. But sorry have distracted the thread again.

[VocalNeal]

<Incorrect quote removed - crossy>

 

Electrifying barbed wire is illegal. But hey this is Thailand.

[carlyai]

7 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Electrifying barbed wire is illegal. But hey this is Thailand.

 Ummm that's not from my quote.

[VocalNeal]

19 minutes ago, carlyai said:

 Ummm that's not from my quote.

I forget the exact international regs/standards but definitely a No No. I don't think it is in 60335-2-76 as that is for the energizer only.

From memory the regs say things like entanglement which means that when shocked, animals/humans tend to pull back quickly and can be snagged by barbed wire.

This relates to humans and security. What farmers do with livestock fences may differ but I would still consider it a No No as it could be dangerous. But TIT still applies.

 

Edit: I was from mikeredbike but the site software attributed it to you? Also I took the word quote to mean an estimation of cost

[Photoguy21]

1 minute ago, VocalNeal said:

I forget the exact international regs/standards but definitely a No No. I don't think it is in 60335-2-76 as that is for the energizer only.

From memory the regs say things like entanglement which means that when shocked, animals/humans tend to pull back quickly and can be snagged by barbed wire.

This relates to humans and security. What farmers do with livestock fences may differ but I would still consider it a No No as it could be dangerous. But TIT still applies.

Wiring regulations 18th Edition I think it is now covers everything

[Crossy]

1 hour ago, carlyai said:

 Ummm that's not from my quote.

 

I've fixed the misquote (removed it) ???? 

 

I've seen the forum software do this in the past too, it gets confused somehow.