Brown-out in Rawai? (11am, Wednesday)

[Tapster]

Hi,

I'm used to the occasional power cut here but this morning the voltage has dropped to 100-150V and some appliances aren't working correctly.

For instance, the electric kettle takes longer to boil and the air conditioner fan works but it doesn't cool the air.

I'm thinking that this is a brown-out.. I've never experienced one before.

Are they common?

Are there any precautions I should take?

Thanks for any advice..

[ThaidDown]

Would not call 100-150 v a 'brown out', think it' a fault. possibly 1 phase gone missing somewhere and your phase is 'sharing' voltage through the local transformer.

Call PEA service centre on 1129 and report it.

Personally would turn off all appliances with a motor ie a/c s fridge/freezers, pumps etc. until voltage is restored.

[Tapster]

Thanks TD,

Voltage now back up to 220 and everything working fine.

The voltage drop lasted approx 90 minutes and was back to normal at 11:40 this morning.

If this happens again I'll measure the voltage and disconnect sensitive appliances.

Cheers

[Tapster]

BTW, do they speak English on the PEA helpline?

[Guest]

Those are common, but it often depends of the area you are living in. I think we have had only one major power outage, affecting the whole island (and whole Southern Thailand) in the past years.

If I understood correctly, the brownouts can be a problem to motors (fans, air con, water pumps etc). The logic of this would be:

The devices are designed to use certain wattage. When the voltage drops, the amperage needs to increase to compensate the demand of power. When the amperage increases, the resistance increases, which causes cables to heat and eventually burn.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge of grid power will share their thoughts as I might be all wrong

It's advisable to use UPS to protect most valuable devices, like TV's etc.

[LivinginKata]

BTW, do they speak English on the PEA helpline?

Not really .. some operator try to help in broken english, some just hang up if no Thai spoken.