A Qualified Electrician In Bangkok

[Valjean]

I know this is a DIY forum and I'm looking for someone to do it - but I've gotten great electrical advice here before about a year and a half ago when I bought my house.

We still don't have the electric all sorted out and I've had it with the guys that my wife gets. Mother's boyfriend's friend. This morning I asked about the qualifications of the current guy fiddling with things "he works for the guy on the corner and did plumbing and electric for his office...". Anyway TIT and I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir on this one.

Meanwhile the power isn't working in more and more places, fuses are tripping, I'm being told all the wiring needs to be replaced (which I doubt), we have a new outdoor water fountain which my four year old loves to plug and unplug without a GFI in sight, the pump isn't working and I've lost my hot water, wires are strung about so we're starting to look like a Thai utility pole - gives me the shudders to think about all of it.

I need to get someone in who can do a top to bottom assessment of the situation to get this in order. It's possible I can't afford to do everything at one time so I'd want someone who can give me the total plan with some reasonable phases - deal with life threatening situations first, hot water second and perhaps nice lighting last.

Does anyone know of a qualified electrician in Bangkok? I mean someone who has a business that does electrical work. An electrical contractor. Not a handy man. And not related to my wife in any way. (bless her heart)

Perhaps an alternative would be one of you farangs who is in fact a retired qualified electrician would could spend a day with me testing everything, getting a spec and a plan written up that could be inspected. Potentially I could have a very detailed electrical plan translated with all the specs, buy all the stuff myself so I know it's correct then get someone to do it. The current guy might be OK if I knew he was working to an approved plan. Let me know if anyone is interested. I wouldn't expect this pro bono or exchange for a few beers.

Thanks!

[Sheryl]

Afraid I can't help but I surely sympathize. And here I was thinking that the situation in Bangkok must be much better and that my woes were due to living out in the boondocks where anyone with any real skills long ago migrated away.

The so-called "electricians" out here are so bad that (1) they have no interest whatsoever in learning where the main power switch is (so as to turn it off) before starting work; (2) have nothing whatever in their repetoire except cutting and splicing back together wires that were not in any way the source of the problem to begin with and (3) I can win arguments with them by pulling out one of my home repair books and pointing to the relevant sections. They can't understand what I point to,since it is in English, but the mere fact that I actually own a book about electricity and seem to have read it awes them into silence, as it is far more than they have ever done.

End of rant..and good luck to you!

[cyb]

I used to know someone English guy in samui.

Well qualified to institute of electrical engineers standards, I believe he actually moved to bkk his name mark turnbull. Anyone know of him? I would recommend him 1000%.

Will get my wife to see if she can find his number assuming he has the same number.

Then i'll pm you.

[elkangorito]

I sincerely hope this "engineer" is experienced with domestic wiring.

Good luck.

[cyb]

I sincerely hope this "engineer" is experienced with domestic wiring.

Good luck.

For your information iee regs covers all domestic and commercial and he was well versed in domestic wiring.

Funny how you seem to just pop up with the useless one liners.

[elkangorito]

Better make it 2 lines.

There is a big difference between somebody who has "experience" (hands on) with domestic wiring as opposed to somebody who can simply understand the "regs".

I hope your friend actually has "hands on" experience.

[Valjean]

A book is a good idea. I've much done this before in my DIY days (I'm DIY Retired). My ex-wife in the states believed there wasn't anything I couldn't build or fix. My Thai wife doesn't think I know anything. Of course they are both wrong...

Back on subject; the books idea is good. I've very busy right now but every successful project I've heard of the has had hands on supervision. Maybe I just need to make the time - before one of us gets a long time in a box in the ground.

thanks

[david96]

Better make it 2 lines.

There is a big difference between somebody who has "experience" (hands on) with domestic wiring as opposed to somebody who can simply understand the "regs".

I hope your friend actually has "hands on" experience.

Very true, a qualified electrical engineer can design an installation (and they get carried away with themselves if they are in the "consulting" mode.)

An qualified, licensed and competent electrician is required to be conversant with the current Ed of the wiring rules, and he has the practical experience of installing, testing, and commissioning electrical installations.

He also has legal responsibilities, but that word is not known in Thailand.

[Valjean]

now if I could only find one...

[cyb]

Better make it 2 lines.

There is a big difference between somebody who has "experience" (hands on) with domestic wiring as opposed to somebody who can simply understand the "regs".

I hope your friend actually has "hands on" experience.

I would not recommend someone if i wasn't sure. For someone that has worked as an electrician from leaving school and now he is around 50, I would think he has plenty of hands on experience.

Elkan you are nit picking to the extreme as usual.

Still looking for his number OP.

[Sheryl]

Elkan and Cyb, truce please.

And Cyb if you do find this guy's number and if he is in Bkk please PM it to me too. Thanks!

[cyb]

Elkan and Cyb, truce please.

And Cyb if you do find this guy's number and if he is in Bkk please PM it to me too. Thanks!

Will do Sheryl,

Have to say this tho elkan i have read many of your posts on electrical threads and found them to be most informative.

You appear to me to be well versed in that field, But please give me credit for some intelligence.

I would never employ someone or recommend in any field if i was not sure of his/her credentials or ability.

So shut up and give me a kiss

[elkangorito]

My apologies Cyb.

From your initial post, I thought that you were suggesting an engineer to do the work. From this, I assumed a typical uni graduate type & not an electrician.

[cyb]

My apologies Cyb.

From your initial post, I thought that you were suggesting an engineer to do the work. From this, I assumed a typical uni graduate type & not an electrician.

Accepted unreservedly elkan.

On reading my post again i can see where you came from. Apology from me also it's just i hate those ruddy one liners, Usually reserved for certain posters on here. Sure you know what i mean.

My wife is looking through past invoices in the hope of finding his number.

You forgot the kiss lol.

[elkangorito]

I was looking forward to a kiss...as long as you shaved first

[cyb]

I was looking forward to a kiss...as long as you shaved first

Hahaha I think my wife would have something to say about that me kissing a guy lol.

[Valjean]

If kisses are what you're looking for I'll give you the French triple cheek kiss, shaved or not, if you fine me that electrician!

Sheryl - if you find someone please PM me and I will do likewise.

[taffylee]

I once dreamt of having a competent electrician come and replace the 15 amp trip that was supplying my 40 amp shower via 2.5mm (20 amp) cable.

After a few recommendations the said electrician arrived with nothing more than black tape and a pliers..

He was promptly booted out and I ended up doing the job myself.

[Sheryl]

If kisses are what you're looking for I'll give you the French triple cheek kiss, shaved or not, if you fine me that electrician!

Sheryl - if you find someone please PM me and I will do likewise.

Deal.

And I'll kiss anyone who can find me a competent electrician willing to come out to Prachinburi (2 hr drive from Bkk and of course I'd pay the travel costs and for the travel time)!

A competent electrician who speaks English to boot? One who will not try to tell me that the fact that my fluorescent lights glow even when off (and even when the circuit is off!)and all the appliances give me a shock is "normal" and that there is no need to ground the house??? One who will not simply grab the nearest wire, cut and splice it back together and say all is fixed? Be still my heart. I might fall in love with the guy......

[kurnell]

It's a pity these sorts of professions are dominated by men, as Thai men seem to be largely lazy and incompetent at everything they do. Where heavy lifting is not involved, I refuse to hire Thai men at all in my company, and I haven't even touched on corruption.

[Valjean]

I'll take a man if he knows what he's doing.

I have both men and women at my company and I'd say the problems have been about equal. And in a prior job was about the same with a team of 25 or so. I've got a few young men who are very solid. I think it would be fair to say that the longer someone has worked in organizations that set low expectations for work and attendance the harder it is going to be to change that person. It's just a human nature thing called habit.

I hire mostly young people, under 30 for the most part, for sure under 40 - that may be a similar typecast view in the end but the younger the more you can shape them to how work goes (and communication). All that BS said, all things being equal; I'd hire a woman. They are the backbone in this culture.

[kurnell]

Yes, most of my lazy, dozy staff are 40+ and have been with the company a long time, so terminating them is costly. I have now installed CCTV cameras so if they choose to sleep on the job then they will be fired, without severance pay.

[cyb]

Ok i have some news on the Electrician (Mark) and it's not good news.

My wife found the invoice from him and we called the number on it. A young lady answered, She did not have a clue who we were on about.

There was a note on the invoice with another number of a friend of mine, I called it and asked her if i had ever recommended mark to her and did she know of his whereabouts.

Her reply was yes i recommended him to her and he worked for her off and on for about a year.

Then he left to return to the uk after finding he had throat cancer, Unfortunately he died in august last year.

Sorry all.

Edited October 15, 2009 by cyb

[bangkokumpalumpa]

be still the beating hearts and no kiss's please.

ok for people in need of a good western electrician here in Thailand help is at hand, drop me a pm.

For to long I have been reading horror stories of Thai electricial work and in the years that I have lived here I have seen things that have just about scared me to death, thats without even touching them!!

so if you need anything from a safety check to a 3 phase install then I know of a very good team and the rates are good !!

the big plus is that they speak and write english !!!

Marc

085109 6979

[longball53098]

Do u think they can travel a bit and help Sheryl on the other topic about water heaters?

[bangkokumpalumpa]

sure can and water heaters are no problems

just drop me a pm

[frenchFARANGbkk]

Hi,

Do you know someone who can install one or two ELCB (earth leakage breaker) in Bangkok, and do you have any idea about how much it will cost ?

Thanks.

[frenchFARANGbkk]

No more information ?

[stevejones123]

Ah! Competent electricians! What a dream! I live in Sri Lanka and it's the same. For varying reasons my house has been wired incrementally by half-a dozen electricians. I originally built the guard house/guest cottage and the storeroom/shed so I would have somewhere to live and cook whilst the big house was being slowly built year-by-year. When we had the walls and roof of the big house done, and were starting to do the kitchen in the big house I decided I would prefer a 'proper' electrician instead if the local village variety, so I went to the owner of the hotel I had stayed at for years who is also a good friend of mine and asked him to recommend his electrician. The guy arrived wired everything and then we watched it blow when the water heater or clothes drier were on. After much shouting and furious insistence on my behalf that the dam_n things should be working we found the problem. He'd connected the whole main house to a wire in the storeroom.

(The writing of this post has just been delayed for hour because the power's gone. After much fuming at Lankan electricians it seems the problem was inside the water heater and not in the house wiring).

Anyway the 'hotel electrician' was sent on his way and we got somebody's father who seems to have done a passable job. As I started making the other rooms habitable we hired a twenty-odd year old school, leaver, a schoolmate of my best friend's cousin who actually has proved rather good. But when I decided that increasing power cuts meant I needed to install a generator, and that the electricity board were pressurizing to have the connection to the main house and not the guest/guard room I decided to kill two birds with one stone, and pay an electricity board engineer to design a connection to the generator and solve the problems once and for all. He and my best mate recommended an electrician who had worked on the installation of generators to the most prestigious hotel in the resort. We then found he had no idea about domestic generators and had never installed one, and the engineer wasn't much more clued up. We called up the company that sold the generator and eventually got through to one of their engineers on his mobile while he was going home on his motor bike in rush hour traffic. He informed me that he agreed with the electrician that I should ignore the built-in automatic transfer switch on the generator and connect to a manual transfer switch at the mains because Sri Lankan electricity was prone to outages, and the automatic switch on the standby generator was unreliable because it was made in China. I declined to ask him why his company had sold me the generator in the first place if they considered it unreliable, thanked him, and ordered the electrician to install the wiring as it said in the generator manual. It has been working fine for the last five months; guarantee expires next month

Anyway I was checking something else and found that the electricity-board-recommend electrician had wired up the two bedrooms (the last job pending) with lighting grade wire to the sockets on the grounds that he'd worked for a big multinational on a job and they said it was OK. Just pulled out the wires and replaced them today.

Edited November 27, 2009 by stevejones123

[longball53098]

Nice story about Sri Lankan wire men but how does this help the OP and the quest to find a sparky in BKK