Electrical Question ?

[H2oDunc]

Hi all,Is there a sparky, sorry, electrician who can just confirm my suspicions. I live in a small estate with 3 bungalows and a wooden Thai style house. We have our own well with a tank on a high platform. there is a pump to take the water from the well up to the tank. It is and has beeen connected to the electricity supply of one of the bungalows as when they were built they were all owned by friends. This bungalow has now been sold to a Thai guy. he nows wants this arrangement to stop.We are talking around 40-50 baht a month for the electric to power the pump. His plan is to now run cables from each electric supply to the pump so it will have 4 cables suplying power to it rather than just the one, his, so in his head we all share the pump useage ? I cannot see this working as he see's it though I'm no sparky. can anybody confirm this please so I can get the missus to explain to him. Cheers in advance

[Crossy]

Er no, you can't do it like that. One pump, one supply, easy really.

I would simply re-route the pump supply to the nearest 'friendly' house.

You can get simple electricity meters at pretty well any electrical bits shop, why not install one on the pump (after moving the supply) then you can all share the bill fairly. Use this page to work out how much everyone should pay the friendly person who is powering the pump http://www.pea.co.th/th/eng/page.php?name=Residential although if it really is only 50 Baht (you may get an unpleasant surprise) then not really worth the hassle.

If Mr Notsofriendly doesn't pay you can cut off his water

EDIT Make sure you use cable sufficiently thick if the run to the pump is long, let us know the rating of the pump (Watts) and the length of the cable now required. And I removed a quip about wiring it like he wants, probably not the wisest idea.

[H2oDunc]

Cheers Crossy. As said I'm no sparky but even I thought that what he had in mind would not work and he was simply using Thai logic ! I think we will do as you suggest and just move the supply to another of the bungalows. Thanks again Dunc

[Daffy D]

Having been in a landlord position a former life I would advise getting a separate meter for the pump and dividing the bill between all the users.

The idea of connecting to a "friendly" bungalow sounds the simplest solution at this time but can lead to problems in the future.

If you manage your estate you can tweak the meter to cover additional costs and future maintenance