Current Heat Wave

[Sparkles]

Several channels forecasting rain from Friday onwards.

https://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=18.790400,98.984703

http://www.accuweather.com/en/th/mae-rim/317534/daily-weather-forecast/317534?day=6

Ive lost count of the number of times Accuweather, especially, forecasts storms and then puts them back a couple of days.

What we do know is Nan had a ferocious storm and its bucketing down right now in Bangkok.Its coming soon and it is cooler.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Failing SW monsoon. Looks like September folks for the first chance of serious rain. Gonna get interesting. Dust off the passport.

..because you enjoy being rained on?

Looking at the forecasted wind directions, it'll kick off around the Weekend.

[anto]

Really heavy rain around 2 am last night in Sansai .It woke me up and i am a heavy sleeper .

[Gonzo the Face]

I wouldn't say its cool, but doesn't the 4 - 5 degree lower temperature make a great difference?

[chiang mai]

We have been blessed with water from the sky and water in the klong, my garden says thank you - skies in Mae Rim suggest rain this afternoon perhaps, oh no, get out the pumps!

[cyberfarang]

The heat has definitely broken. Feels much cooler now, the scorch has gone out of the heat and it`s tolerable. There have been claps of thunder and lightening flashes but no real rain as yet.

Edited May 19, 2016 by cyberfarang

[angiolo]

Solid rain in N.Thaliand .

No thunder , just continuous rain.

High humidity. Temp 30 C.

[kutjebu]

Lovely temp. At home.I have 3 ac's,so no problem.

[anto]

Lovely temp. At home.I have 3 ac's,so no problem.

Ye ,no problem if you can pay ,or somebody else is paying he high electricity bill.

[taotoo]

Humid though. Sweating more now than when it was 40c.

[cyberfarang]

Lovely temp. At home.I have 3 ac's,so no problem.

Ye ,no problem if you can pay ,or somebody else is paying he high electricity bill.

Dread to think what my electricity bill is going to be next month. Over the last few weeks had everything on going at full blast day and night. But needs must.

[chiang mai]

Lovely temp. At home.I have 3 ac's,so no problem.

Ye ,no problem if you can pay ,or somebody else is paying he high electricity bill.

Dread to think what my electricity bill is going to be next month. Over the last few weeks had everything on going at full blast day and night. But needs must.

We put a lot of time effort and money into cooling measures for our house and initially they paid off handsomely, as long as the outside temperature stays under about 36 degrees we never had to use aircon and our electric bills were consistently around 1,000 a month.

But as the temp. rose and we began to see 39 and 40 degrees, the sooner the cooling measures were defeated and aircon. became essential, our electric bills have climbed to 2,200 at the peak.

I intend to add more insulation as soon as the temperatures allow me access to the attic, it's going to cost a further 9k Baht to increase, that on top of an already spent 75k (all measures) - I reckon it's a good investment because I suspect things are not going to get better quickly.

[anto]

Lovely temp. At home.I have 3 ac's,so no problem.

Ye ,no problem if you can pay ,or somebody else is paying he high electricity bill.

Dread to think what my electricity bill is going to be next month. Over the last few weeks had everything on going at full blast day and night. But needs must.

We put a lot of time effort and money into cooling measures for our house and initially they paid off handsomely, as long as the outside temperature stays under about 36 degrees we never had to use aircon and our electric bills were consistently around 1,000 a month.

But as the temp. rose and we began to see 39 and 40 degrees, the sooner the cooling measures were defeated and aircon. became essential, our electric bills have climbed to 2,200 at the peak.

I intend to add more insulation as soon as the temperatures allow me access to the attic, it's going to cost a further 9k Baht to increase, that on top of an already spent 75k (all measures) - I reckon it's a good investment because I suspect things are not going to get better quickly.

Good luck at getting into the attic .The last time i went up there i nearly passed out with the heat within 3 minutes .We had insulation material over the top floor ceiling .As you enter the attic the insulation material is your floor ,and the heat above is tremendous .

[chiang mai]

Dread to think what my electricity bill is going to be next month. Over the last few weeks had everything on going at full blast day and night. But needs must.

We put a lot of time effort and money into cooling measures for our house and initially they paid off handsomely, as long as the outside temperature stays under about 36 degrees we never had to use aircon and our electric bills were consistently around 1,000 a month.

But as the temp. rose and we began to see 39 and 40 degrees, the sooner the cooling measures were defeated and aircon. became essential, our electric bills have climbed to 2,200 at the peak.

I intend to add more insulation as soon as the temperatures allow me access to the attic, it's going to cost a further 9k Baht to increase, that on top of an already spent 75k (all measures) - I reckon it's a good investment because I suspect things are not going to get better quickly.

Good luck at getting into the attic .The last time i went up there i nearly passed out with the heat within 3 minutes .We had insulation material over the top floor ceiling .As you enter the attic the insulation material is your floor ,and the heat above is tremendous .

One of the first cooling projects we undertook was to increase the ventilation of the attic, we took the roof void from almost zero air in/out to near seven square feet in and seven square feet out, large gable vents and ventilated soffits do the trick. Do those things and you wont encounter the problems you describe, we typically have about one/two feet of cool air on the attic floor (at 36 degrees outside) hence the heat doesn't even begin to challenge the insulation layer. BTW we have a very steep pitch roof, about eighteen/twenty feet from attic floor to ridge line plus radiant barrier and eight inches insulation on the attic floor, soon to be twelve.

[anto]

^ Yes ,and we must get one of those big aluminum rotating roof vents .The hot air itself powers it .

[chiang mai]

^ Yes ,and we must get one of those big aluminum rotating roof vents .The hot air itself powers it .

Not always, I've heard and seen mixed results. One of the most common mistakes with them is a failure to balance the exhaust air with intake air supply, without a source of cooler air (in) they wont do anything.

[Aussie69]

Why oh why is solar power not on every single rooftop in Thailand?

[Konini]

Why oh why is solar power not on every single rooftop in Thailand?

I've often wondered that - England is a country not renowned for the amount of sun it gets but thousands of houses the I've seen, probably hundreds of thousands or millions that I haven't have their rooves covered in panels. There is a shop opened (or I've just noticed it) about opposite Big C Extra on the Superhighway.

And for Anto, you can get solar powered whirly birds in Australia, I imagine you can get them here but as ChaingMai noted you need to have the in and out air pretty well balanced.

[daoyai]

Why oh why is solar power not on every single rooftop in Thailand?

I've often wondered that - England is a country not renowned for the amount of sun it gets but thousands of houses the I've seen, probably hundreds of thousands or millions that I haven't have their rooves covered in panels. There is a shop opened (or I've just noticed it) about opposite Big C Extra on the Superhighway.

And for Anto, you can get solar powered whirly birds in Australia, I imagine you can get them here but as ChaingMai noted you need to have the in and out air pretty well balanced.

Solar power (I lived off grid for 30 yeas on solar) is not cost effective when elec. is only about 4baht a kilowatthour.

Where I lived it was about 40baht an hour and they wanted 120,000baht to connect me to the grid..

NOW if the the local (Thai power companies had a system of where the unused daytime power flowed back into the system and reversed the meter, that would be a great thing as peak use here is daytime. Other wise, you need batteries and inverter etc.

Solar water heating is a winner as is remote use for well or pond pumps etc.

[Aussie69]

Solar power (I lived off grid for 30 yeas on solar) is not cost effective when elec. is only about 4baht a kilowatthour.

Where I lived it was about 40baht an hour and they wanted 120,000baht to connect me to the grid..

NOW if the the local (Thai power companies had a system of where the unused daytime power flowed back into the system and reversed the meter, that would be a great thing as peak use here is daytime. Other wise, you need batteries and inverter etc.

Good point

[sappersrest]

You can export power to the grid plenty on the electrical forum,about it , would seem you have to use approved equipment, and it is a paperwork nightmare, If I was younger I might have looked into it.

[sappersrest]

You can export power to the grid plenty on the electrical forum,about it , would seem you have to use approved equipment, and it is a paperwork nightmare, If I was younger I might have looked into it.

[anto]

When i visit Pert Australia 3 years ago ,just about every second house had solar panels .In Thailand its not yet cost effective .That will change with new technology .I heard about a German providing a cheap new flexible form of solar panel to rural areas of Thailand .

[KhonKaenKowboy]

Roof top solar is a flop....solar fields are not. I know people who sell back to the power company, and they only get wholesale rate, which is half of what they pay. I've also seen real esate deals ruined because sellers had agreed to lease solar systems, and pay for them with the savings. I am a big fan of attic ventilation, a thermostatically controlled fan, and/or solar....works wonders. The turbines ae good, too, but you will lose some soundproofing, so remember that jet noise if you are in HD. Another thing we noticed in Phoenix, was that going overkill in the attic insulation, ended up costing more, because the thick blankets retain heat after the sun goes down, but you do want some...like R-33, but R-60 is way over the top, it's good for areas with extreme cold, though.

[chiang mai]

Roof top solar is a flop....solar fields are not. I know people who sell back to the power company, and they only get wholesale rate, which is half of what they pay. I've also seen real esate deals ruined because sellers had agreed to lease solar systems, and pay for them with the savings. I am a big fan of attic ventilation, a thermostatically controlled fan, and/or solar....works wonders. The turbines ae good, too, but you will lose some soundproofing, so remember that jet noise if you are in HD. Another thing we noticed in Phoenix, was that going overkill in the attic insulation, ended up costing more, because the thick blankets retain heat after the sun goes down, but you do want some...like R-33, but R-60 is way over the top, it's good for areas with extreme cold, though.

I'm not sure I agree with the overkill, insulation simply slows the progress of heat hence if it can be slowed until the sun goes down, it will fully never penetrate the barrier and become trapped/retained. That principle has worked well for us and we have in excess of R 60 in half our attic floor (R40 in the other half), soon to be R60 over all our attic floor. At 35 degrees outside our existing barrier holds up well, at 40 degrees outside the the less well protected half fails. Note: the two halves existed purposely in an attempt to provide extra insulation in an area of radiated, all day heat.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

93% of conductive heat flow is stopped by R-13. R-40 only stops 5% more....I would rather have a fan, and a radiant barrier.

[chiang mai]

A radiant barrier is a nightmare to retrofit in houses in which it wasn't installed at build, hence sometimes not a viable option, bat style insulation is therefore useful when trying to resist heated convected air, the product of deflected radiated heat, and/or simply hot air that is trapped above and cannot vent adequately.