Thai Electricity !?

[jubby]

I'm thinking of upgrading my Electricty supply. Putting a decent circuit breaker board in etc.. The current system which was fitted by the Electricity board 11 years ago seems a bit dodgy and doesn't quite make sense to me. lots of wooden boards nailed to the wall with very dodgy wire & insulating tape behind them when they could have just dispensed with the wooden boards and fiited the electrical outlets directly to the concrete; less chance of a fault surely.

All I can get out of the 'Thai experts ' is the blue wire is 5amp and the black wire (the one I have) is 15amp. 5amp thats just over a 1000 watts, barely enough to run a fridge.

if the supply is only 15amp, why did they fit a 100amp fuse in the house ? When I had an electric shower and aircon fitted, they coonected it directly to the black wire outside and put a 30amp circiut breaker on it when I would have thought 15 would have been more sensible.

if the showers 3kw & aircon similar I should think, thats approx 27 amps current drawn. The 5amp & 15amp thing doesn't add up, what am I missing here ?

How do they regulate the 15amp to the house ? Does the clock/meter have some sort of fuse or regulator built in ?

Lots of questions I know, but are there any Farang Electricians out there who can help make some sense of it.

[longball53098]

jubby,

Yes many questions and I bet if you jump to the do-it-yourself forum here on TV you will find some of your answers.

Crossy and the others there provide a wealth of info

[slapout]

Just from my experience with Egat (expert would never apply to the ones I met) The meter is Amp rated, it can burn out (at your expense) no fuse in meter. Aircons, depending on size have a compressor start and a operating power use. 3 to 4 is a normal operating range for single room units. I have, what I was told 50 amp meter, main breaker in house is 100 amp with individual breakers to aircon, each room, electric oven, etc. There are several people on TV who can answer all your question on electricwireing etc, when they see your post.

[jubby]

THanks. maybe someone could move this to the DIY section, I've had a quick look and there is indeed a lot of info there.

The 'leccy' guy just turned up to check the meter, maybe I'll try and get some sense out of him.

[soundman]

All the answers to your questions in various threads in this subforum.

Here.

Soundman.

[Crossy]

To whet the OP appetite before he ends up wading through the DIY forum.

The single phase meter types are IIRC 5/15A and 15/45A (I think there's a bigger one too, 45/100?), I'm not sure why they quote two numbers but your supply 'maximum' is the second ie 15A or 45A.

There is no 'regulation' on the incoming power, just keep pulling Amps until something blows up or the fuse pops. kWh meters are incredibly robust to overload, expect a 5/15 to be happy at 30A+ (100% overload) although if you're regularly consuming that sort of oomph you should get the bigger meter (I expect MEA/PEA will 'suggest' that you do anyway). Large overloads will compromise the kWh meter's accuracy, and you can bet they don't read low

Pulling large currents from the smaller supply will also screw your supply regulation. Nasty volt drops can cause all sorts of fun with your technology (Thai power is not the best at normal times, an overload can never do any good).

[jubby]

Thanks Crossy,

Just finished trawling through the forum and I've got the answers .

I found the answers a while ago but promptly forgot especially with this 5amp, 15 amp , blue , black cable nonsense.

I guess I would call it 30amp and 45 amp respectively, and therfore is enough for my needs.

The main reason for the questions is we had a short and I found some dodgy cabling which was brittle due to heat, suspect a bad connection over a period of time . I'm going to get rid of all the wooden box's and screw the circuit breakers direct to the concrete, think it will be safer. less chance of shock or fire.

The meters stopped working, I'm trying to convince the meter man that its due to water ingress as I can see moisture in the Meter , rather than the fact we had a short in the House. Don't know if it makes a difference but it would be nice if I didn't have to pay for a new meter.

[Crossy]

If you're going to re-wire the breakers then get a proper 'consumer unit' (metal or plastic box specifically designed for breakers), has to be the best and safest solution.

Obviously do-away with any taped joints, learn how to correctly fit wire-nuts

If you've not already, have a butchers here:- http://www.crossy.co.uk/wiring/ you may find this interesting/useful http://www.crossy.co.uk/wiring/Consumer.html

Edited June 23, 2008 by Crossy