Dutchman electrocuted repairing water pump

[dddave]

On 6/16/2017 at 9:31 PM, dddave said:

What should be an essential device in every tool box is an electrical field detector..about the size and shape of a fountain pen, they buzz and flash a light when passed within a foot of a live circuit...they are the cheap and effective.

In my above post I called this device an electrical field detector but realized later that is not what they are officially called.

 

Does anybody know the proper term for this device?

[impulse]

15 minutes ago, dddave said:

In my above post I called this device an electrical field detector but realized later that is not what they are officially called.

 

Does anybody know the proper term for this device?

 

I'll go one better (assuming I understand what you're referring to- correct me if I'm wrong).  These on Lazada ship from Thailand.

 

http://www.lazada.co.th/electric-voltage-detector-tester-7229101.html

 

http://www.lazada.co.th/momma-ac-90-1000v-ac-90-1000vnon-contact-led-light-pocket-voltage-detector-sensor-tester-pen-4297620.html

 

Now, a question for the sparkies.  Any value in one of these to test home wiring?  We used to have them in the USA for home inspections, but the wiring/ grounding is different for 110/220 than for 220/380.

 

http://www.lazada.co.th/duoyi-dy207-220-230v-detection-testing-leakage-protection-testsafety-electrical-socket-tester-rcd-plug-eu-europe-version-14573684.html

 

[dddave]

5 minutes ago, impulse said:

http://www.lazada.co.th/electric-voltage-detector-tester-7229101.htm

That's it: thanks.  Ordering one now as my current one is more than 10 years old.

 

I encourage anybody who does not have one of these electrical detectors to buy one and use it anytime you are doing even casual electrical work.  At the very least, it can save you from a nasty shock, and very possibly a whole lot more.

[Kabula]

20 hours ago, xylophone said:

Hate to disappoint you but I've seen inside the roof spaces of high end condos/apts, villas, houses and a large shopping complex and it is all of the same dangerously low standard........in fact no standard whatsoever, just appalling.

I hate to disapoint you, but I have lived here for 12 years and owning an Insurance Adjustment Co. for 30 years and working for over 300 Insurance Companies and self insurers, and being a certified fire investigator, I've seen less electrical fires and Arson here than in Phoenix, AZ.  I will believe you after you conducted inspections of all new structures in Thailand as that is what the OP was referencing. Don't be negative and just enjoy the country.  You should be more concerned about the worldwide financial situation and all the protests, currency devaluations and slowing International trade along with retreating markets.

[transam]

2 minutes ago, Kabula said:

I hate to disapoint you, but I have lived here for 12 years and owning an Insurance Adjustment Co. for 30 years and working for over 300 Insurance Companies and self insurers, and being a certified fire investigator, I've seen less electrical fires and Arson here than in Phoenix, AZ.  I will believe you after you conducted inspections of all new structures in Thailand as that is what the OP was referencing. Don't be negative and just enjoy the country.  You should be more concerned about the worldwide financial situation and all the protests, currency devaluations and slowing International trade along with retreating markets.

My shower rooms and A/C do NOT have supply from the consumer box here in LOS....Where their supply comes from I have no idea,  I cannot shut off the supply to these items....

[Basil B]

On 2017-6-16 at 9:58 AM, xerostar said:

the main switch could have been wired via neutral

Should it not be a two pole switch???

[transam]

6 minutes ago, Basil B said:

Should it not be a two pole switch???

In my place they wired the house neutral to the supply side in the consumer box....I got a belt when the box was turned off fixing my outside lights....I rectified the main switch connection, everything works OK and now no shocks....

[xylophone]

2 hours ago, Kabula said:

I hate to disapoint you, but I have lived here for 12 years and owning an Insurance Adjustment Co. for 30 years and working for over 300 Insurance Companies and self insurers, and being a certified fire investigator, I've seen less electrical fires and Arson here than in Phoenix, AZ.  I will believe you after you conducted inspections of all new structures in Thailand as that is what the OP was referencing. Don't be negative and just enjoy the country.  You should be more concerned about the worldwide financial situation and all the protests, currency devaluations and slowing International trade along with retreating markets.

Well it looks like we're going to have to agree to disagree because being an electrical engineer by profession (at least in the early days before I changed professions) I have seen many, many appalling electrical practices here; –

 

– The air conditioner in my house was wired directly from the meter on the outside pole and never went anywhere near the consumer unit/distribution unit.

 

– A 2 kW cooker was hooked up by something akin to bell wire, from the back of an overhead light in the kitchen and then tiled over.

 

– Shocks were being had from the electrical appliances in one kitchen, this because there were absolutely no earths behind any of the three pin plugs and neutrals were switched willy-nilly.

 

– The guests quarters in a luxury villa block were fed from the distribution unit by cables about as thick as one's little finger (no problem with that because there was quite a load to cope with) but when the power supply failed, a look in the roof space between the two buildings showed that the much smaller grade of cable, perhaps 2 mil had been wrapped round the larger cable to save money, but of course the two cable sizes being so different it didn't work and came apart, luckily enough not causing a fire.

 

– About 75% of the electric water heaters I have seen here have no earths whatsoever despite a warning saying they must be earthed.

 

– Cable colours are mixed as and when required depending upon how much cable is left over and of what type; for example a live black may well leave the consumer unit heading towards a socket outlet (for example) and by the time it reaches there it could be any one of a number of colours because of the joining of different cables to use them up.

 

– Swimming pool pump motors without any earths..............

 

I could list a lot more as I have helped out a friend who is a maintenance engineer for high-end luxury villas and apartments, when he has a problem he can't seem to fix and I go along to troubleshoot.

 

As I said the wiring here is absolutely appalling and I won't change my viewpoint having seen what I have seen.

 

This is my home and I have lived here for over 10 years and I do enjoy the country, but what I don't enjoy is seeing everyday folk having their lives put at risk by this appalling workmanship.

 

And as for slowing international trade/devaluation/trump/currencies/markets etc well there's nothing much I can do about those so I don't worry about them and get on and enjoy my life.

[Moti24]

17 hours ago, transam said:

My shower rooms and A/C do NOT have supply from the consumer box here in LOS....Where their supply comes from I have no idea,  I cannot shut off the supply to these items....

Probably comes direct from the main cables between the road and the house.  One of my neighbours wired his aircons by splicing into these cables and taped them up.  If you can't see them, trace the cables from outside the house to the consumer unit; I bet somebody has wired them in somewhere.  An accident waiting to happen.  

[gk10002000]

On 6/17/2017 at 1:48 AM, billd766 said:

 

Perhaps nobody knows how to perform CPR over there.

 

I don't know how to do it either as I have never been taught.

 

 

I do know and I have been taught and "certified" over the years, but I have never done it.  As a Boy scout and all that, I grew up ready and prepared to help somebody.  Frankly, given the spread of diseases, some fatal, I am not sure exactly what I will do if the need arose.  I admit to having self doubts about it.  Chest compressions, sure, no problem. But doing the mouth to mouth, well..

[balo]

That was a stupid move, when your 65 you should have known better and leave it to the professionals.