Good Plumber

[wolf359]

Anybody in Pattaya know of a good English speaking plumber? my water pump would have to go now

[thai_norman]

looks like you will probably have to wait until after songkran

Try turning the motor over manually with a screw driver, while its dissconnected, that may free it up.

[penzman]

Can you explain what the problem is exactly. What happened? Is the pump making noise but not working?

[wolf359]

whats happening is that the motor is running but no water is getting to my tank. It was working fine this morning, but now nothing. any help?

[Rinrada]

Sounds like it needs "bleeding"

[penzman]

I'm assuming your pump gets water from an underground tank and pumps it to another tank above ground, right?

Do not let the pump work for extensive periods until you solve this problem, it may overheat.

Take the cover off. Is there a small air tank? If there is, remove the small cap and press on the valve for a fraction of a second. If no air escapes you have to pump a bit of air into it. A bicycle pump will do.

My pump needs 15 psi, check your manual or the pump itself to see how much air pressure you shoud have.

If your underground water tank was emptied below the foot valve, , the line to the pump may be filled with air. Make sure that you have water above the foot valve in the underground tank and then fill that pipe from the water pump (unscrew bigger cap under pump cover and fill it). The pipe will fill up and the air should come out at the pump's end.

Hope this helps.

[thai_norman]

whats happening is that the motor is running but no water is getting to my tank. It was working fine this morning, but now nothing. any help?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmmm, so you are pumping from your meter to your tank, well people like you should be hung drawn and quartered, it is quite illegal to do that...

Anyway are you sure your soi has water?

This is like the worst time of year for getting water.

[penzman]

Pumping water from the meter will create negative pressure in the water main and you ll get dirty water seeping in the system but

I think he means no water is being sent to his above ground tank from an underground tank.

He's probably not to blame for his pump installation. My neighbour was having problems with pressure even though he has a pump installed. We dug up most of the pipes from the water main to the underground tank and his above ground pump. The way the pipes had been connected, the pump was sending 50% of the water to the house and the other 50% back into the tank . My plumbing had been done this way as well but I have fixed it when we moved in

There are about 200 new houses in our project and they all seem to have been connected this way. I drove around on the motorcycle and checked out the installations where the pipes are still above ground, all done wrong. What puzzles me is that they were not all done by the same contractor, seems to be the way to do it here... which is obviously wrong as you only get 50% of your pumps pressure to the house.

You can also connect your pipes so that you do not need the pump when there is suffucient pressure from the city's main.

See the drawing at the bottom of this page.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...=0entry320901

[wolf359]

thanks for all the help guys but the problem seems to be that the underground well has run dry. the previous owner said he had drilled 18(?)mts down I think, never had a problem before any suggestions

[thaiflyer1]

thanks for all the help guys but the problem seems to be that the underground well has run dry. the previous owner said he had drilled 18(?)mts  down I think, never had a problem before any suggestions

Buy a spade.................no no dont thank me.

[thai_norman]

Also while digging remember to take a Canary bird with you, This should expire when the carbon levels build up too much and give you time to get out.

[wolf359]

I should have expected 'help' in this manner I only hope I can return the favour some time, thanks

[Humphrey Bear]

But the original post asked for contact with a good, English-speaking plumber.

I would also appreciate this info.

Arrived back from work in Singapore about one in the morning on Friday - found the water pump blasting metered mains water about 5 metres in the air. Wife asleep. Turned off the pump, decided there was little I could do at that hour so went to sleep.

Next day took a look, found that a screw cap on the header tank (I think it is) had broken. First tried to super-glue it together, but that failed. Called a plumber, told him in Thai (well, my wife did) what the problem was. He showed up with a new screw plug - which worked. Unfotrtunately this caused leaks in other parts of the water pump. So the plumber went off, came back with a refurbished pump and lots of plastic piping.

Dug around, connected new piping, new pump. Wernt away - everything working.

Woke up this morning, garden flooded, water meter spinning happily.

Obviously some of the below-ground piping is leaking.

I want a decent plumber who will do it right!

I work on the new airport, as well as in Singers, and from what I have seen there I would not employ a Thai plumber to change a washer in the kitchen taps. But that may be a snap judgement - 'cos they do not pay anything reasonable on the airport. Thus no decent tradesmen.

[thai_norman]

Dug around, connected new piping, new pump. Wernt away - everything working.

Woke up this morning, garden flooded, water meter spinning happily.

Obviously some of the below-ground piping is leaking.

I want a decent plumber who will do it right!

Then you should have told him to replace all your pipe work at the beginning, Or asked him to dig up all pipe work and chip out all the pipe work in your walls to see if it was OK.

Dug around, connected new piping, new pump. Wernt away - everything working.

He fixed the leaks that were leaking as you have stated, What more should he have done? Started smashing out bathrooms to check for leaks? where does it end?

[lopburi3]

Are you pumping directly from the mains? It should be from a tank and the mains water meter should only be refilling a tank and meter should run normally.

If you ARE pumping from the main water line (which you should not) perhaps the water pressure in your area has increased and the pressure was too much for your old pump and the new pressure was too much for your home pipes.

[Humphrey Bear]

Dug around, connected new piping, new pump. Wernt away - everything working.

Woke up this morning, garden flooded, water meter spinning happily.

Obviously some of the below-ground piping is leaking.

I want a decent plumber who will do it right!

Then you should have told him to replace all your pipe work at the beginning, Or asked him to dig up all pipe work and chip out all the pipe work in your walls to see if it was OK.

Dug around, connected new piping, new pump. Wernt away - everything working.

He fixed the leaks that were leaking as you have stated, What more should he have done? Started smashing out bathrooms to check for leaks? where does it end?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is his replacement work that is leaking. I was not present at the time he did the cover-up, could not see if there were any leaks.

It took twelve hours for the water to come to the surface, but by then the rate of leakage had increased.

Got him back yesterday (Sunday) and he came again this morning. Re-doing all his work - hasn't touched any of the non-replaced items.

[Humphrey Bear]

Are you pumping directly from the mains?  It should be from a tank and the mains water meter should only be refilling a tank and meter should run normally.

If you ARE pumping from the main water line (which you should not) perhaps the water pressure in your area has increased and the pressure was too much for your old pump and the new pressure was too much for your home pipes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

From the mains to a tank - then pumping in to the house.

The problem was that the pump obviously registered a low-to-no pressure differential and happily kept on pumping - six seconds off / ten seconds on, all the time.

Because of the volume of water being pumped somewhere - basically under the ground around the tank, which concerns me very much - the mains wheel was spinning like crazy.

But I need a plumber, and no-one has yet put a telephone number on this thread. Are there no plumbers in Pattaya?

I am not prepared to do it myself - for one thing I am working and for another I work in the construction industry - I am well aware of what I can do myself and what I should pay the professional to do properly for me.

I have employed Thai tradesmen abroad - mainly wood-butchers, but some plumbers. these were up to western standards (otherwise they would have got a ticket home) so why can I not find anything better than a handyman here?

[penzman]

Ah, yet another "mai bpen lai" job....

He probably forced the pipes together, cut them too short (not reaching far enough inside the joints) or too long which creates warping and forces the pipes to one side in the joints, both great if you want leaks.

PM me if you have further problems following this.

Here's a quick test I mentionned in another topic. It will tell you if your plumbing was connected properly between your underground tank and pump.

1- Shut off the main water valve at the street.

2- Make sure the pump is on and turn on a water tap.

3- Go to the underground tank and listen. If you hear water filling the tank, bingo!

If water is filling the tank even though the main water valve is off at the street, the pump is taking water from the tank and sending some of it to the house and also to the tank in a loop. This will cause you to lose about 50% of the pressure the pump can get to your shower for example.

Also, if you hear the pump working quite often when no one has used any water you have a leak somewhere, back on the shovel

[lopburi3]

I have employed Thai tradesmen abroad - mainly wood-butchers, but some plumbers. these were up to western standards (otherwise they would have got a ticket home) so why can I not find anything better than a handyman here?

Because that is all most people can pay for here. The experts have full time jobs with major construction firms. Your best bet is to ask at a hardware/plumbing supply store. They normally do or have plumbers available. But last week was not a good time to get anyone.

[Humphrey Bear]

I have employed Thai tradesmen abroad - mainly wood-butchers, but some plumbers. these were up to western standards (otherwise they would have got a ticket home) so why can I not find anything better than a handyman here?

Because that is all most people can pay for here. The experts have full time jobs with major construction firms. Your best bet is to ask at a hardware/plumbing supply store. They normally do or have plumbers available. But last week was not a good time to get anyone.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bloody Internet! Posted a response and it disappeared into thin air.

Anyway, I appreciate that things are different to the UK, where a good tradesman can work independently on word-of-mouth recommendations and make a better living than when he's on-the-toold for a construction company.

Too many bodgers like the one Khun Porn has wished on me, not enough skilled artisans.

I have seen a maintenance company office in Soi Korpai - ESS I think - but never anyone available at the weekends. My wife cannot tell a proper tradesman from an apprentice handyman and gets all upset when I threaten to take a baseball bat to the guy if I am forced to report a problem one more time. Crazy farang without any patience, again. When I point out that this month's water bill was 4,500 baht, instead of the 1,250 that I would expect, then she starts to realise what this guy is costing us.

I reckon all I can do is take some men off Suvarnabhumi and put them on my house for a week. The airport is so far behind, I doubt that anyone will notice

Still no recommendations from anyone in the Pattaya area?

Not a plumber in the place?

No wonder the water is all in the drains, not in the reservoirs.

[thaiflyer1]

When I point out that this month's water bill was 4,500 baht, instead of the 1,250 that I would expect, then she starts to realise what this guy is costing us.

Bloody ###### thats a lot (1250)........what you doing drinking it ?, mines never above 300 baht/month. (Detached, 3 bed, 2 bath, garden).

[thai_norman]

humphrey, dont forget that there is so much building work going on here now, most of erm aint interested in a 200baht job, i know loads of plumbers here, but they just aint interested in fixing some farangs pump, it aint worth there time..

[thai_norman]

My wife cannot tell a proper tradesman from an apprentice handyman and gets all upset when I threaten to take a baseball bat to the guy if I am forced to report a problem one more time. Crazy farang without any patience, again.

i wonder why they dont want to work at your place, i really just cant understand why they wouldnt enjoy working for you...of course your a proficent thai speaker so you understand what they are saying...

[p414]

I too need a phone number or an address of a contractor.

I have a leak in the pipe that is in my bathroom.the pipe is built into the walls so I cannot repair myself.I am losingapp.1 meter unit daily.

If anyone knows where I can find a good plumber or have a phone number they could pass on it would be much appreciated.

[lemel]

try ringing Paul on 038373460 099356011 great for these types of jobs.

[p414]

try ringing Paul on 038373460 099356011 great for these types of jobs.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for that Lemel.I have just phoned him.

[p414]

Still looking for someone who can replace the piping.Will have to renew all pipies which will entail cutting out tiles and putting new plastic pipes in .2 bath 2 kitchen.

All the old pipes are plastic/iron and the iron is rusting away.. It is embedded in the concrete so it will have to be left and new pipes in place.

Mai sanuk.