Aussie claims he received electric shock from onsen at The Address Asoke condo

[sanukjim]

This sounds like a bit of a scam to me with questions of why was he trapped but had super strength to escape when his 5 year got in ?there too? If the electricity was so much,then why did it not effect his daughter? Why did it effect no one else but him,is he a pansy? Go home to run a scam sir even if you are legit-amity hurt here ,you will get nothing.

[micmichd]

He was probably too greedy to get a Thai expert for electricity, and too drunk to fix it himself.

[callaway]

Looks like one awesome big love bite to me. The suction has just bought the blood to the surface same as a love bite only bigger. I guess there may have been a bit of a panic due to being vaccuumed onto the suction filter. The rest of the pool looks pretty good to swim in without having to climb inside that small bricked in area. I think the condos are wrong in saying visitors cannot be there and making something of a stubbie of beer. Trying to blacken the waters as usual. I would think both parties to assume some blame.

[jaybas]

hmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Fireyfish]

if there was that much electricity in the water to cause burns like that why was his daughter not zapped as well ?

Not burns, it's just a giant bruise from the suction. Luckily his daughter did not get near the skimmer as it's apparently 20x25 cm so a child could theoretically actually get sucked right in to it!

Children have died in these types spa pools ... and had horrific injuries from sitting over the sesuction

[Fireyfish]

there should be two suction inlets so if one gets covered the suction is reduced to safe on the blocked one ... its a required standard in aus to have the two

[Don Mega]

there should be two suction inlets so if one gets covered the suction is reduced to safe on the blocked one ... its a required standard in aus to have the two

Where in Aus is Thailand ?

[csabo]

What the hell is an"onsen"....

"On my way "M" after a brief delay...somethings come UP."

[bark]

You would think they would have a camera, and or open voice speaker, down to the front desk lobby

[csabo]

there should be two suction inlets so if one gets covered the suction is reduced to safe on the blocked one ... its a required standard in aus to have the two

555 like when people routinely get electrocuted here by appliances and light poles..you must chime in "That should have been grounded properly".

Geeee Realllly??

[eggers]

The address is a "hiso" condominium project.

Reason number 332 not to buy any real estate in Thailand.

And he's ...34!!!

[Iumentum]

His injury looks more like the rupturing of blood vessels caused by suction; not burns.

It also state that he was stuck in a skimmer, which caused the burn, so it is probably a combination.

[DrTuner]

He's lucky it was his backside and not frontal nether regions sucked in.

[DrTuner]

What the hell is an"onsen"....

"On my way "M" after a brief delay...somethings come UP."

Screen Shot 2015-12-05 at 9.40.56 AM.png

Isn't the one on the right Yingluck?

[tigermonkey]

Is Yahir a common name in Australia ? Yahir Weitzel and his Thai wife Mali - a little bit of ethnic diversity.

[dotpoom]

Horrible thing to happen...hope he makes a full recovery.

[leytonorient]

Looks like one awesome big love bite to me. The suction has just bought the blood to the surface same as a love bite only bigger. I guess there may have been a bit of a panic due to being vaccuumed onto the suction filter. The rest of the pool looks pretty good to swim in without having to climb inside that small bricked in area. I think the condos are wrong in saying visitors cannot be there and making something of a stubbie of beer. Trying to blacken the waters as usual. I would think both parties to assume some blame.

I don't think they were guests of someone in the true sense. They said they had rented the place for a holiday.

It was probably rented through the Airbnb home sharing service. Condo management companies hate Airbnb because all and sundry are renting units that were meant for long term residents. The other residents also hate it too because new neighbours are constantly moving in and out.

If I owned and lived in a unit in a high end condo I would not be happy if different people were constantly moving in and out next door to me.

Airbnb is in a way a good alternative to hotels but must be horrible for the full time residents in the adjacent units.

[Bakseeda]

Yahir Ben Weitzel....... An Australian..... Haha...... Tie me Kangaroo down sport.... Where's his Boomerang ?

Ballroom Dancer for sure...

[ronaldo0]

She is standing in it and I assume it has a seat along it so apart from possibly getting an electric shock from somewhere I fail to see what harm could have come to him !!

I would also put the bruise on his back down to the suction pulling his skin. If you think off these suction cups they use in spas it is an accidental larger version !!

[The Deerhunter]

It's a sentō, not an onsen. An onsen uses water from geothermal hot springs while a sentō uses heated tap water and as there are no thermal hot springs on Asoke road or in BKK then it can't be a onsen!

Back to the story.

The company blame the Aussies as:

they where guests to a tenant and not tenants?!

the size of the skimmer is "only" 20x25 cm?!

they found a beer bottle?!

So my questions to The Address Asoke:

If I would buy a condo in your building I can't have guests visiting me? Because a guest of a tenant should be able to use the facilities to right?!

If they where not allowed to use the sentō then how could they enter the building and get to the 44^th floor? If I would own a condo in that building then I would seriously questioning the operations manager how people that as he said has no right to be there got in to the building, to the 44^th floor and in the pool!

Have you ever heard of bruising? The skimmer is 20x25 cm, you can see the outlines of it in the picture of the back of the man, the bruising is just bigger than the inlet.

Can the security team prove that the beer bottle belonged to the Aussie? There are many tenants in that building and anyone could have left the beer bottle behind!

How the hell could it take over 20 minutes for the condo employees to get to the 44^th floor? Did they have to use the stairs?! If you have a pool area then it's your responsibility to have personnel/lifeguards that can assist people in case of an accident/emergency!

Comments/Answers.

1. Sento - onsen. Usual local journo & headlining standards.( I couldn't be bothered working out how to put that accent in.)

2. Falangs are cause of all problems in Thailand, particularly their own! If he hadn't come here it couldn't have happened to him, could it? Unarguable logic!!

3. Beer bottle in in filter. No Thai person would do that. (See 2.)

4. Staff took 20 mins to get to 44th floor. Happened during lunch/smoko or while talking to mia noi on phone. Priorities, priorities!!

5. TIT!!! You couldn't make this stuff up. Good thing wife took pics as no one one back home would believe him otherwise.

Lucky the poor guy survived. Also very lucky he was not taller AND facing the skimmer when it attacked him.

[The Deerhunter]

What the hell is an"onsen"....

"On my way "M" after a brief delay...somethings come UP."

Screen Shot 2015-12-05 at 9.40.56 AM.png

Isn't the one on the right Yingluck?

Could be. Looks a bit like.............555. From the "M" reference, presumably that guy really is Sean Connery from an 007 flick scene?

Edited December 5, 2015 by The Deerhunter

[gilbreth99]

Wow, all these haters on Thai Visa. Amazing. The guy has an obvious injury, and all you haters just think it was an insurance scam. Have built many pools, it is clear that something is wrong here. This is not an electric shock, this is a suction injury. Suction injuries can be up to twice the size of the original suction area, due to surrounding blood vessel rupture (and blood is sucked and rushed to the area in the body). Similar to a large bruise. There are some clear engineering faults here:

1. A skimmer that size, in such a small enclosed area is just asking for an accident. Skimmers draw water up to 10 or 12 meters away (gradually, floating debris make it to the skimmer in about 4 min from 10 meters out); however, in such a small body of water, the rate of flow is much faster. If you look closely at one of the pictures, you can actually see a small "wave" of water entering the skimmer. This is far too fast for people obviously sitting with their back to it.

2. Likely, the "onsen" (sentoo) or jacuuzi, has floor jets that bubble. To power the floor jets, I suspect that they are powered by water coming from the skimmer; if true, this is wrong. Jets should be powered by a floor drain in a separate part of the pool. Also, when we power jacuuzi jets, we typically put the water source & drain on a high powered pool pump (at least 5.5hp or higher for 5 jets) to get proper and sufficient flow. To plumb a skimmer on a 5.5hp pump is pure insanity, and people will get injured, lose fingers, etc. The "fan" mentioned is likely water swirling strongly in the skimmer, further indication that the skimmer has far too much power.

3. Also, look closely at the spa area; the half moon spa wall (where he is standing high and dry) is ABOVE the water line. That means, that this is two completely separate bodies of water (they MUST be co-mingled). They have obviously done this to keep warm water in the "onsen" and not let the warm water mix into the main pool water. The onsen is therefore a closed loop system - water is drawn into the skimmer, heated, and returned to the spa sitting area via floor jets. Amazing design flaw, seriously dangerous, and certainly an opportunity to improve safety. When we install a spa or similar sitting area, we always include an emergency red "shut down" button nearby clearly marked. Hitting this button immediately trips all pumps off, releasing any suction.

If I am not wrong, this guy has already left back to Australia without asking for compensation, shooting down the insurance scam theory. Pool safety in Thailand is like finding a virgin in nana, so my opinion is to side with what I can see in the pictures. This was a painful, and scary incident; luckily, it was not a child.

Gil - The Pool Doctors

[Kerryd]

What the hell is an"onsen"....

"On my way "M" after a brief delay...somethings come UP."

Screen Shot 2015-12-05 at 9.40.56 AM.png

Isn't the one on the right Yingluck?

Could be. Looks a bit like.............555. From the "M" reference, presumably that guy really is Sean Connery from an 007 flick scene?

Yes - from the flick You Only Live Twice (1967) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062512/

[silent]

my skeptic meter is flashing a warning light on this one.

Good thing he had his back to it or God knows what they'd look like.

[kennyro]

he might have trouble getting back into the country with a name like that

[Don Mega]

he might have trouble getting back into the country with a name like that

Why would that be ?

[Kerryd]

Here's a screen cap from the video the guy made and the pic of his back:

Notice the small metal bars on each side of the duct. Notice how it is a single duct. Notice how small the duct is.

Physically impossible for him to have gotten his whole back in that tiny area. Physically impossible to have been "sealed" to that duct yet not have indentations in his back from those protective bars. Physically impossible to have that single, small duct seal his back across both shoulder blades with such force that he was unable to break free, yet only leave partial indentation marks on both shoulders (indicating, as I mentioned before, that he was not "sealed" to the duct).

Edited December 5, 2015 by Kerryd

[Fireyfish]

Here's a screen cap from the video the guy made and the pic of his back:

Notice the small metal bars on each side of the duct. Notice how it is a single duct. Notice how small the duct is.

Physically impossible for him to have gotten his whole back in that tiny area. Physically impossible to have been "sealed" to that duct yet not have indentations in his back from those protective bars. Physically impossible to have that single, small duct seal his back across both shoulder blades with such force that he was unable to break free, yet only leave partial indentation marks on both shoulders (indicating, as I mentioned before, that he was not "sealed" to the duct).

See Gilbreth99's comments ... entirely plausible ..... as I said before children have died in incorrectly plumbed spa pools ... it happened to a friends 11 year old daughter ... she drowned from the suction holding her under while her father tried to pull her free .... it happened in Aus .... the motel & plumber were found responsible.

[gilbreth99]

Here's a screen cap from the video the guy made and the pic of his back:

Notice the small metal bars on each side of the duct. Notice how it is a single duct. Notice how small the duct is.

Physically impossible for him to have gotten his whole back in that tiny area. Physically impossible to have been "sealed" to that duct yet not have indentations in his back from those protective bars. Physically impossible to have that single, small duct seal his back across both shoulder blades with such force that he was unable to break free, yet only leave partial indentation marks on both shoulders (indicating, as I mentioned before, that he was not "sealed" to the duct).

Then what caused the blood vessel rupture? He stood there and using his legs, "pushed himself" against the skimmer? Not sure I follow your analysis.

Gil

[gilbreth99]

Here's a screen cap from the video the guy made and the pic of his back:

Notice the small metal bars on each side of the duct. Notice how it is a single duct. Notice how small the duct is.

Physically impossible for him to have gotten his whole back in that tiny area. Physically impossible to have been "sealed" to that duct yet not have indentations in his back from those protective bars. Physically impossible to have that single, small duct seal his back across both shoulder blades with such force that he was unable to break free, yet only leave partial indentation marks on both shoulders (indicating, as I mentioned before, that he was not "sealed" to the duct).

Then what caused the blood vessel rupture? He stood there and using his legs, "pushed himself" against the skimmer? Not sure I follow your analysis.

Gil

In this photo, you can clearly see the "jets" (I thought they were in the floor, likely they are in both the floor and wall) that I referenced. The skimmer is most definitely plumbed to a high powered pump; this is one area of the analysis that everyone is missing. Where is the picture of the suction equipment obviously part of the equation.