Hi

Really good forum. Im not an electrician but have a vague understanding of electrical layouts as I work in construction in the UK.

I need to tell our Thai builder where we want electrics in our new house but we are in the UK although we can email him. The family is supervising the works in the mean time.

If I sent him the drawing (on plan) marked up with standard electrical symbols e.g. a double socket, lights, switches, etc. are they likely to understand it and are the symbols used in Thailand the same as in the UK. If not do they use a US standard set of symbols (believe these are different) or something else?

I found this good example of UK ones. I only want to show sockets e.g. http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Symbols/PageE1.htm

, light positions

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Symbols/Index.htm

Thanks in advance

James

Have a look at these diagrams which come from the government free houseplans, if you use something similar your sparks may understand what you want.

I suspect the symbol set used is based upon the US.

Make sure you specify the height above the floor that you want outlets and light switches or you'll end up with outlets at switch height (actually a good idea downstairs if flooding is likely).

Also ensure he's installing 3-pin outlets (and connecting the ground), does he understand your requirements for earth-leakage protection (RCD or Safe-T-Cut)?

local builder turned electrician please no not another one my advise to anyone do not allow any work to be carried out in your absence

you need to project manage every last step

local builder turned electrician please no not another one my advise to anyone do not allow any work to be carried out in your absence

you need to project manage every last step

This is sooooo true, it was the electrics that caught me out (yes, amazingly) as I was out of the country at the time, find my housebuilding thread for the gory detail.

Our contractor used his regular guy who'd been doing his sparking for years, unfortunately the sparks used his 'brother' who didn't know one end of a screwdriver from the other and was a piss-head to boot.

We 'used up' several subsequent sparkies trying to sort out the mess after the contractor fired his regular man, two years later it's still not perfect, but everything works reasonably well and it's safe.