British Man Electrocuted At New Restaurant In Jomtien

[Rionoir]

Don't try to save money when it comes to things like this people! Expats should know better.

[Kan Win]

A lesson for all reading here. Switch OFF the main breaker before doing ANY electrical stuff here, no matter how small or big the appliance.

RIP brother. Trans

A lesson from the OP, is to

He was warned by his wife not to enter and wait for a qualified technician to arrive.

Rest in Peace Mr. Timothy Jackson

Win

[crazykopite]

Terrible tragedy for all concerned please please please if you are going to investigate an electrical problem turn the main fuse box off that way you avoid accidents happening like this

[Rimmer]

lame attempts at sick humour have been removed also some quoted replies

[transam]

This isn't shocking news with the quality of some of the electrics in these places.

RIP.

Well, it is "shocking" in the sense that this poor man was electrocuted to death. Working with electricity without the proper knowledge or safety equipment can have deadly consequences! Most of the "electricians" here lack proper training, or simply don't care enough to do a safe and proper job. You can't be too cautious when dealing with electricity!

How to you know that MOST electricians here lack proper training or don't care. Are you making this up or do you have real evidence. If you have real evidence, then please share. Otherwise, don't make comments that you can't back up. I've used electricians twice here and they both knew what they were doing. Both very professional.

You were lucky. My place l wanted earthed 3 pin plugs, they laughed.

Many farang do not understand the ins and outs of electricity so please don't slag off others for lack of knowledge of a trade.

[transam]

A lesson for all reading here. Switch OFF the main breaker before doing ANY electrical stuff here, no matter how small or big the appliance.

RIP brother. Trans

A lesson from the OP, is to

He was warned by his wife not to enter and wait for a qualified technician to arrive.

Rest in Peace Mr. Timothy Jackson

Win

My place is safe YET my mrs mum will not take a shower, goes to the garden for a wash down. FEAR of death from electrics.

[Tanaka]

I assume he was trying to save some money by doing it himself. Next time call in the professionals, it may just save your life, that is my advice.

H&H

Call in from where, Singapore? Or Japan?

[Tanaka]

A lesson for all reading here. Switch OFF the main breaker before doing ANY electrical stuff here, no matter how small or big the appliance.

RIP brother. Trans

You are right, of course. But doing that is not foolproof. Not here. The main switch may have been overridden by one of the qualified technicians claiming to be electricians. I have seen it.

[farangbanok]

.... - yet NOT ONE has mentioned the one inexpensive little device that could have saved ALL of those lives. It's called an Earth Leakage Relay - or a Residual Current Device. Look it up - and if you don't have one installed, then install one immediately. Before we have to type in yet another RIP!

As I understand it an RCD is a circuit breaker that detects a small leakage of current to earth. < 50 mA if my memory serves me well. A tiny current of approximately 70mA can cause fibrillation - and probably death. As a guide the halogen headlights on your car draw around 5 AMPS for each bulb so you imagine how tiny a current can kill you.

An old (English) electricians' saying is "It's the volts that jolts, and the mils that kills".

Back to relevance, with no earth available in the premises, there is no earth reference against which to measure the leakage current, thus no way in which it can disconnect the mains supply.

A friends mother was electrocuted last year when she went to fix her water pump whilst knee deep in a flood.

RIP Mr. Jackson and sincere condolences to Khun Boontern.

[transam]

A lesson for all reading here. Switch OFF the main breaker before doing ANY electrical stuff here, no matter how small or big the appliance.

RIP brother. Trans

You are right, of course. But doing that is not foolproof. Not here. The main switch may have been overridden by one of the qualified technicians claiming to be electricians. I have seen it.

Me toooooooo, in my place.

[sailblue]

The two rooms in the house to be careful in, laundry and kitchen. Lots of earthed pipes and water to get caught on. You can not have much of a problem touching a live object, it will just make you jump. It is when you can not get away, as when standing in water, that you have a big problem. Or holding on to a live object, you can not let go of. Unplug appliances in laundry. Normally in Australia you can turn things off, here you are likely disconnecting via the neutral, so the power is still in the appliance waiting for a chance to be earthed, possibly via you or your kid!!

In this case pity they had no idea about first aid. No chance waiting for 30 minutes for help.

I have downloaded videos etc to show my mrs. She could then save me or our 3 year old in case of emergency.

[johnlandy]

A very sad story, my condolences to his wife and his UK family

It is a lesson for all of us, from what I have seen in properties, Thai electrical work is on a par with the Spannish in the eighties.

No earthing ties on the water pipes, switches in bathrooms etc. are common (in reach of taps/showers etc.), switches outside in the rain, the list goes on

I dug into my lawn on one occassion to make a flower bed and the live cable was laid under the turf, luckily for me it was me who got the shock and not the gardener, had she been killed I guess that I would be responsible and paying dearly.

which I hope that the contractor in this sad case has to face

I wouldn't bet on it, particularly as he would have engaged the electrician in the first place.

[chantsurfer]

The cost of a RCCB (Safety Switch)

What is your life worth????, If you don't have one, it aint worth 2300B. Think about that for a moment.

Now you know better, it is a 10 min job, 500b max to have installed by a Thai, No grounding / Earthing is required for it to work. Easy to put into your rental with our your land lord even knowing and just take it with you when you move. It really is that easy and you are simply stupid without one.

If you want more info, just ask in this forum. Lots of guys in there that know allot. http://www.thaivisa....-housing-forum/

Here is what one looks like. click

Be bothered. If only this gentleman knew.

Edited October 3, 2012 by Rimmer
Unnecessary comment

[slipperylobster]

Tragic flaw in judgement and a recipe for disaster. Water, electricity and shoddy wiring. I noticed a problem with the automatic pump behind my house. There was a hole in the pressure tank which was blowing water on a taped connection. Taped connections are not properly insulated, and you can still get zapped if you touch them. I was lucky to see the problem, and I unplugged the thing. Two repairs already done on the pump and now is the time to spring for a safer setup. Just 3000 baht. I will be dam_n sure that the breaker switch is off and the wire disconnected before I grab the thing. Let this be a reminder to all of us with short patience. Do it right. My condolences to the Brit's wife and family...but I am much the wiser for reading this today.

[Rimmer]

Smart Alec attempts at humour, off topic and disrespectful posts also quoted replies removed

[BabyJebus]

A lesson for all reading here. Switch OFF the main breaker before doing ANY electrical stuff here, no matter how small or big the appliance.

RIP brother. Trans

Yeah seriously, the idiots at homepro were suposed to fix something on my fan i bought there, when i got it back 6months later it was worse than when i sent it. My gf touched it and she was stuck on it for 6-7secs getting electrocuted, almost died. Then it happened to me twice luckily i was sitting on my chair and fell off both time. Everything they touch that works with electricity becomes deadly

[DD13]

Johnlandy

Sadly you are most probably right, the contractor will get away "scot-free"

We went to the Thai electricity offices last week to enquire about paying for a complete survey of our property, and was told they did not get involved in that service, and was told to find an independant electrical contractor, as has already been mentioned here on this topic, how would we be sure on their training and competence. "It's a lottery"

Edited October 3, 2012 by DD13

[rakman]

A lesson for all reading here. Switch OFF the main breaker before doing ANY electrical stuff here, no matter how small or big the appliance.

RIP brother. Trans

In general, regardless in the world, if you're working on anything electrical with lethal voltages, make sure the power is off, and if you need the power on to troubleshoot, BE EXTRA CAREFUL.

[fisherd3]

.... - yet NOT ONE has mentioned the one inexpensive little device that could have saved ALL of those lives. It's called an Earth Leakage Relay - or a Residual Current Device. Look it up - and if you don't have one installed, then install one immediately. Before we have to type in yet another RIP!

As I understand it an RCD is a circuit breaker that detects a small leakage of current to earth. < 50 mA if my memory serves me well. A tiny current of approximately 70mA can cause fibrillation - and probably death. As a guide the halogen headlights on your car draw around 5 AMPS for each bulb so you imagine how tiny a current can kill you.

An old (English) electricians' saying is "It's the volts that jolts, and the mils that kills".

Back to relevance, with no earth available in the premises, there is no earth reference against which to measure the leakage current, thus no way in which it can disconnect the mains supply.

A friends mother was electrocuted last year when she went to fix her water pump whilst knee deep in a flood.

RIP Mr. Jackson and sincere condolences to Khun Boontern.

And they just turn it off anyway !

[Kripe]

Fault current relays still not mandatory in Thailand RIP

[Javabear]

I assume he was trying to save some money by doing it himself. Next time call in the professionals, it may just save your life, that is my advice.

H&H

"professionals" (electricians) in Thailand,.. when you find their number can you please post it here as I've been searching for them for years but never found!

Had a Thai man out to my house to re-do the old electrics and he did a great job. I'm a licensed electrician in the US so I watched how he did things and I was very pleased.

[TheWalkingMan]

Sad story.

I remember reading a report of a woman who died in her shower and the woman who was electrocuted in the 7-11 on Walking Street. Russian roulette with electricity in Thailand.

[diamondmax]

Front gate lights, garden lights..... Use Solar powered lighting. You can buy the lights at about 100 baht each. And there's plenty of free sun here.

[chris1dna]

Horrible. Rip mr Jackson.

[lizardtongue]

In my first Thai built house we were getting 'shocks' from the kitchen sink it transpires that they did not 'earth' the system which I have since learned is common practice.

[Kripe]

Fault current relays still not mandatory in Thailand RIP

No ground required for this relay to work, it simply messure the diference in inflow v. outflow - if there is a leak to ground it will trip, due to the delta current.

I have been in contact with customer protection board when a 7 year old boy got killed in Chiang Mai due to lack of Fault Current Relay - no reply unfortunatly...

More death to come as long as this is not mandatory in Thai eletrical instalations.

[TwoDogz]

Everyone here has a lot to say about the "poor electrical work in Thailand" but all of them have overlooked the fact that it is THEIR responsibility to ensure that THEIR house or THEIR premises are safe. Not to mention that all the posters here seem to be very knowledgeable when it come to (after the fact) electrics - yet NOT ONE has mentioned the one inexpensive little device that could have saved ALL of those lives. It's called an Earth Leakage Relay - or a Residual Current Device. Look it up - and if you don't have one installed, then install one immediately. Before we have to type in yet another RIP!

Is that the same as a 'Safe-T-cut' set to #10 ?

[johnnycthedog]

Everyone here has a lot to say about the "poor electrical work in Thailand" but all of them have overlooked the fact that it is THEIR responsibility to ensure that THEIR house or THEIR premises are safe. Not to mention that all the posters here seem to be very knowledgeable when it come to (after the fact) electrics - yet NOT ONE has mentioned the one inexpensive little device that could have saved ALL of those lives. It's called an Earth Leakage Relay - or a Residual Current Device. Look it up - and if you don't have one installed, then install one immediately. Before we have to type in yet another RIP!

Good idea. But in the last 12-18 months there have been many tourists electrocuted in the normal course of having a holiday. The young Brit in Second Rd Pattaya, another young Brit in Soi Bangla Phuket, the young Swedish couple in Ao Nang, the Russian having a swim & touching the bridge over the pool and so it goes on and on. Obviously as an expat living in Thailand your idea has great merit but for the average tourist they have no control over shoddy electrical work done by the Thais.

Is there a job opening here for expat retired electricians. Might pay better than TESOL work.

Edited October 3, 2012 by johnnycthedog

[chantsurfer]

Johnlandy

Sadly you are most probably right, the contractor will get away "scot-free"

We went to the Thai electricity offices last week to enquire about paying for a complete survey of our property, and was told they did not get involved in that service, and was told to find an independant electrical contractor, as has already been mentioned here on this topic, how would we be sure on their training and competence. "It's a lottery"

Can I suggest you contact Crossy a mod here, he hangs out in the DIY building forum here. He may be able to give you some tips and he is very practical as well.

[unanimosity]

So sad. What really gets me is that this man went ahead and did this. There must have been a little voice in the back of his head when he saw the wires and water. Most foreigners know about these things and simply shy away from them. dam_n! This is just terrible and I feel embarrassed over this deadly mistake.

You are making the assumption that the water was present on the floor when he started working.