Help with MEN link

[outdoorbloke]

So I am trying to figure out if my area is wired for MEN or not.

 

I have walked up and down to the power poles in the village and the only earth I can find is running to the higher voltage wires at the top of the pole.

 

I can't indentify any obvious earth on the low voltage poles. I am only 100km out of Bangkok and the villages isn't that small we even have power on both sides of the road.

 

so two questions are there many areas in Thailand that are not configured for MEN. I would have thought they would have been only the remote areas.

 

second if I need to confirm with PEA what is MEN called in Thai.

 

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also on a side note we were told by the PEA we need to provide the black board that they mount there meter to and conduit running up the pole.

 

does any one know where to get the black board from looking around the village it looks like it may be concrete but not sure

[wayned]

I live in a very small village and we are definitely MEN connected.  I'm connected to the last pole on the road and the wire, bare twisted aluminum runs down the pole (the same type of cable that they use as guy wires) and is connected to a ground rod.  The neutral is terminated the same way on every third pole.  The live and neutral wire run down the pole clipped together  and are not run in conduit and are not attached to anything until they get to the "black board".

 

As far as the black board, Mine was originally on a piece of wood and a few years ago PEA came and replaced all of the wooden boards in the village with the black composite ones, no charge.

[outdoorbloke]

So on further inspection one side of the road has earths from the 220v near the transformer but the other side doesn't have any that I can see. Still no idea if I should wire for MEN or not

[Crossy]

If you are a new connection and require an inspection the man will expect to see MEN otherwise you won't pass.

 

Otherwise, if unsure wire as TT (no MEN) but ensure you have good grounding and an RCD/RCBO.

 

[outdoorbloke]

4 hours ago, Crossy said:

If you are a new connection and require an inspection the man will expect to see MEN otherwise you won't pass.

 

Otherwise, if unsure wire as TT (no MEN) but ensure you have good grounding and an RCD/RCBO.

 

So I have to wire it as MEN even though it appears from what I can see we are a half assed version of MEN as we certainly don't have every 3rd pole earthed.

 

seems a little dangerous to me as I guarantee no one else in the village has an earth

[Crossy]

45 minutes ago, outdoorbloke said:

So I have to wire it as MEN even though it appears from what I can see we are a half assed version of MEN as we certainly don't have every 3rd pole earthed.

 

seems a little dangerous to me as I guarantee no one else in the village has an earth

 

I agree, and wouldn't do it that way if it wasn't for the inspections. Nothing to stop you re-configuring it once the permanent supply is sorted.

 

None of the PEA documentation I have shows a 3-wire TT system, they want TNC-S everywhere.

 

EDIT In reality, the only time there would be a hazard is if there were an open neutral between you and the Tx. Your return current would go via the ground rod meaning anything that's earthed would be at an elevated voltage (dependant upon how good your earth rod is) and could get bitey.