Water

[KC 71]

Has anyone had problems with lack of water-been a week of cut offs already-is it cos of sonkran?

[sunholidaysun1]

Its quite normal for this time of year (Songkran ) for the water presure to drop . My supply was at about 50% of the normal flow this year , for a day or so , then went back to normal . It has been known in the City for water to actually be turned off when too much domestic water is used just for throwing out in the Soi . Thats when you see water tanker trucks , taking polluted water from ponds, the river , or anywhere else just to distribute amoungst those with buckets and bins at the side of the soi's playing in the water festival .

Some villages take their water direct from rivers such as the Maekok , but when the water level drops below the collection pipe , then no water can reach the village purifying tanks and therefore no one in the village gets any water , until someone has a brain wave and fixes the problem .

Other reason can be road works ,new pipe installation or repair , new pumps being fitted or old ones being repaired etc . It is also quite hot at the moment so I expect many are taking extra showers to keep cool . If the supply is low , then they do from time to time ration the supply .

If you are still having problems , speak to the boss of your village or anyone who can tell you the reason why its off . There is also the water company in town to ask.

I think you will find that this may have something to do with it , and we all maybe getting a lesser supply soon . Just make sure your buckets and bins are full when the supply is on , then you can at least have a jungle shower :

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/633879-48-provinces-nationwide-declare-drought-disaster-zones/

Edited April 19, 2013 by sunholidaysun1

[DonaldBattles]

One family in town yesterday told me they have practically no city water to use. This has been an extremely dry season combined with the crazies wasting the city water. Another Aussie friend was complaining about his pressure. The city pumps simply are not large enough to keep up with the new customers connecting to the lines. It has little or nothing to do with 90 degree elbows or pipe size in your house. If the constant pressure and volume pumps of the water supply is good enough you will always have good pressure in your house.

With the rapid Thai population growth in Chiang Rai I think you can look forward to poor water pressure and low supply. The government is not likely to do anything to solve this problem in the near future along with the roads.

If you have a choice you should consider having your own water supply. The city water in front of my place is dry or runs like a cat pissing. Thank god I have 9,000 liters of storage and 2 mountain spring water wells. Also have redundant well and pressure delivery pumps. When one goes out I simply switch to the other. For sure the quality of the pumps made in Thailand is not very good.

[maidu]

Wells have been drying. I've got 3 deep wells on as many parcels. None have dried up, but their recovery rates (water entering the well) have lowered. What happens is: pumps keep pumping, and when there's not enough water, the pumps overheat, seize up, and die. There's no fixing them (not by Thais, anyway). Pump sellers love it. There is, however, a low priced item called a 'low water sensor' which could preclude that problem. Surprise! No one in Chiang Rai stocks or sells them. Why sell a $30 safety device when you can sell a $400 new replacement pump to each customer, once every year or two? That LWS may be available in C.Mai or Bkk, I don't know. If anyone finds one for sale let me know. Alternatively, if someone can design or construct one, that would be cool. Let me know. It could save me hundreds of dollars/year. .......as well (pun intended) as hundreds of thousands of other land-owners in Thailand.

P.S. I'm switching to solar. 1 of my 3 pumps is already solar, and it's working best. Granted, it will be costly to change over, but solar is better for several reasons, not least; a person gets off the AC electric grid. Once it's paid for (estimate 4 years of not paying added AC electric to pump), a homeowner/farmer can save hundreds or thousands of baht per month.

[KC 71]

Thanks for the info

[DonaldBattles]

Can you please describe the solar electric system that you are using to run your pump, the cost, the output, storage type and where you bought it.

[maidu]

I bought a Lorentz solar pump from a dealer in Laos. For years I thought it was DC, but then I looked closely at the control box and saw it took DC (just about any voltage) and converts it to 17 volts ac to power the pump(!) Those darn Germans. Just think, if they hadn't wasted so much brainpower people and resources to fighting two world wars, ....how much farther ahead we would now be with alternative power technology. We'd have a plethora of solar powered blimps and solar cars and who knows what else.

Generally, solar DC pumps have higher 'head' (push water higher), but less volume than AC, for less comparative power use. Slower volume (liters per minute) is a plus, with the conditions around here, because of reasons mentioned in my prior post: Many wells don't have a recovery rate which keeps up with the fast volume of AC pumps. In other words, their wells get emptied out too quickly, and then the pump is sucking air, power bills go up, and pumps burn out. There's a thread about this, which I started, on the 'farming in Thailand' forum herein.

I'm changing to solar, but can't articulate here, because it may sound commercial and thereby strain forum rules. So anyone interested in discussing this stuff is welcome to contact me more directly.