Aussie father and son electrocuted to death in Rayong

[saakura]

1 hour ago, decca60 said:

Everybody can make wrong decisions but here it appears this gentleman made a cumulation of wrong ones :

 

* went visibly into a place where there is a main electrical problem and wet conditions without having the necessary knowledge to fix it

* did not correctly protect/isolate himself before acting

*did not cut off power correctly before putting his hands in

*was with a  child into this dangerous area

* was probably not using isolated tools to work on this

And eventualy more deadly decisions.....

 

Sad  consequences . So sad

 

 

 

Oh my God! How can a farang make such terrible mistake, much less a multitude of them? After all he is a farang with superior education and common sense! Something is terribly wrong?

[Zack61]

If he was found with a spanner in hand then he was probably working on it live. Most of us are probably guilty of doing or attempting electrical work and should at the very least ensure the item being worked on is disconnected or positively isolated. If you are going to take the risk at least minimise the chances of electrocution. 

RIP old mate. 

[shaurene]

I bought abusinessn Pattaya building with 9 rental rooms. Couple weeks before i read 2 seperate deaths occured in 2 rental buildings, people electrocuted inthe shower. I had a good Thaifriend who got an electricial for me andtold him to check all the shower  water heaters to make sure they were allearthed. None of themwere so i got him to earth the lot, forpeace of mind.

[Scott]

A post in all caps removed.  

[xtrnuno41]

3 hours ago, davethailand said:

Very sad, In my old house in Pattaya, I put in quite a few new sockets and lights etc and also had a few buzzes in the past doing so.

Just after moving in I said to my wife that I was going change the wiring and put in a fuse board as there was only one main breaker, after looking in the loft at the wiring I decided against it, It was all over the place but working. In the end I put a better breaker in and also separate breakers on the outside/ metal stuff plus earth rods.

RIP to the family. 

well i hope you measured your grounding rods, it's quite a special way to do it. If the resistance is to big, you have a fake safety.

If you read some, you see about 3 ohm. You have to drive the rods probably many (10-30 meters) meters. All depending on

where is the water or moist ground. If resistance is higher, you still get electrocuted. Also your rod can corrode and change the resistance, aswell depending on high low water level in groundwater. So better to do in period of dry weather.

 

You can forget grounding, if:

 

If you put in the best breakers, they are concluded with a differential switch, so called automats.

If that device measure a difference between live and neutral bigger then 30 ma. It will switch off, coz you have a powerloss.

Also then if the max value for wiring ,16 a or less depending on your choice of automat, in your house is exceeded (shortcut) then it will shut off. Also considder there are breakers with different charasterics, the B characteristic is the best and safest for home. It is on the index of the breaker, like B16.  PIC 1

 

Ofcourse if it is reaching 16 A ( or any value you choose), it shuts down. This is not with nr 2, as you combine it with a seperate breaker. The max amps through the differential switch nr 2 is 40 A and showed on index. But it will not shut down at 40 A.

SO if you need more power (?),  you need  a second one and split the groups (breakers).

 

You also can have just one seperated but for all groups. Then just one device is needed over all groups, but then you have to find the group later in which is the problem (powerloss). It will be in serie with all your breakers. Its cheaper, but never the less it is very save for you and also shuts down at 30 mA. There are also higher in mA like 40 mA, but NOT TO BE USED FOR PERSONAL SAFETY.

30 mA is about the value of amps the heart can take without being killed. However all again also depends on personal heath.

PIC 2

 

For the man and son its too late, working with power on is not quite good option "unless" you are experienced and f**** know what you are doing. One slip, no differential switch and you can wind up ... dead in milli seconds !!

[xtrnuno41]

2 hours ago, saakura said:

Oh my God! How can a farang make such terrible mistake, much less a multitude of them? After all he is a farang with superior education and common sense! Something is terribly wrong?

wrong education

[coconuthead]

2 hours ago, saakura said:

Oh my God! How can a farang make such terrible mistake, much less a multitude of them? After all he is a farang with superior education and common sense! Something is terribly wrong?

 

yes it's called thai electrical 

[mikosan]

A very sad story. RIP.

 

[Headphone Jack]

What an awful tragedy but a reminder that nanny states have regulations for a reason. Electrical work may seem simple but it is not, earthing is critical but usually ignored in the third world.

RIP

[phantomfiddler]

Absolutely EVERY time I work on anything electrical I isolate the area to be worked on from the power grid. Electricity is the worst, you can,t hear it, you can.t smell it, you have absolutely no knowledge until it is too late !

[Blinky62]

Absolutely EVERY time I work on anything electrical I isolate the area to be worked on from the power grid. Electricity is the worst, you can,t hear it, you can.t smell it, you have absolutely no knowledge until it is too late !

Such a sad story PIP. Hope the other son gets the help he will need.


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[bbbbooboo]

hmmmm......electricity and Thailand seems so often to be a lethal combination...

[MeHere]

I always used Dell and IBM  (Lenovo) laptops at work, in a company that just had their electrical systems revamped. I'm not exactly sure why, but I would often get small shocks and sudden subtle hot spots when touching the corners my laptops while working.

Electricity in Thailand is scary

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

Terribly sad.

Heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the family.

Electricity and water do NOT mix.

Rest in peace.

 

[drgoon]

10 hours ago, saakura said:

What he said??

<deleted> WT fork did he say 555

Edited August 15, 2017 by drgoon
Grammar

[hotchilli]

12 hours ago, bristolgeoff said:

water and electicity do not mix for anybody.RIP

The swimming pool is on the front part of the single home while the water pump is inside a storage room near the front gate.

 

Please read the post again.

[sloopysman]

Electrocuted to death? That's kind of like killed to death or drowned to death. Oxymoron. R.I.P.

[Essaybloke]

11 hours ago, toddsaed said:

pray to the Divine Guru,  the embodiment of all protection, from now till the essence of perfection be attained do I seek refuge, o ye sangsaric beings innumerable in number dedicate your minds to the path of good wishes for entering into perfection

Evans Wenz, Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines

I guess the 'Divine Guru' was not protection enough against the real world of water plus electricity.

[catman20]

17 hours ago, MadMuhammad said:

So sad. There's just no second chances when it comes to playing with electricity. RIP. Thoughts are with the family.

agree 100% so sad RIP little fella 

[Old Croc]

Very tragic.

The father probably considered he was qualified to repair a simple water pump. However, it seems he underestimated the incompetence of the Thai electrical worker.

 

"Mr Fenwick worked as a construction manager for more than 30 years, including in the UK, Kazakhstan, China and Laos before retiring in Thailand.

He obtained a fellowship diploma in mechanical engineering at RMIT University in Melbourne in 1976."  - WAtoday.

[TKDfella]

What a tragedy. My condolences to the wife and mother. RIP. As others here have pointed out electricity may be one of domestic "friends' but it is a killer (as many a Thai Lineman here has found out). about 12 years ago due animal destruction several wires in the in the roof area had to be replaced. I was out outside washing the car and I heard a shout and I found a leg of the electrician dangling through the ceiling. Fortunately he was only stunned...he said he forgot to turn off at the junction cutout box.

[4MyEgo]

So sad to hear this, although a common occurrence in Thailand.

 

Whilst I know all about electrics, I never touch the wires, even though I inspect the job after the guy does what he has to do, i.e. built house from scratch, and added here and there, but look at it this way, its cheap enough to let them do it, and I get to live, just in case somewhere they F'd up.

[NanLaew]

11 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

You have to drive the rods probably many (10-30 meters) meters.

Although 3 meter ground rods are best (the recommendation is minimum 2.4 meters), the longest ground spikes available for home construction at the usual outlets are not much longer than a meter. Commercial building construction may afford the use of (much) longer grounding rods as well as the ability to place them but 30 meters long? Really?

 

 

 

 

[NanLaew]

14 hours ago, CanuckThai said:

RIP to both.

 

220 can give you a hell of a "lifter", but I haven't heard of it "taking out" 2 people.

It's the current that kills, not the voltage. Wet surfaces, bare feet or wet flip-flops, solidly grounded metal gate, big current.

[wilai]

11 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

It's the current that kills, not the voltage. Wet surfaces, bare feet or wet flip-flops, solidly grounded metal gate, big current.

Heard that the younger lad also touched the bodies but was wearing shoes...very lucky!

[NanLaew]

4 hours ago, Old Croc said:

Very tragic.

The father probably considered he was qualified to repair a simple water pump. However, it seems he underestimated the incompetence of the Thai electrical worker.

 

"Mr Fenwick worked as a construction manager for more than 30 years, including in the UK, Kazakhstan, China and Laos before retiring in Thailand.

He obtained a fellowship diploma in mechanical engineering at RMIT University in Melbourne in 1976."  - WAtoday.

That's quite sobering. In that line of work, he would have been very familiar with local deficiencies in construction and especially electrical installations. Arguably, electrical work is probably the most challenged of all aspects in home construction in LOS. I learned a while ago that any electrical work mandates the power be isolated and then the voltage checked to make sure that it is off before starting work. There's a whole lot of appliances that are 2-pin, non-grounded and a greater amount of power outlets that are wired the wrong way round regardless of any 'polarizing' earth pin/socket or a total lack of a proper ground. Appliances can be switched off but remain 'live'. In my instance, a third air conditioner had been installed in an annex and the lazy electrician took the service for that unit from the main power cables from the pole-mounted meter that entered the building via the annex roof space and before they reached the main breaker box that was in the main building.

[Skeptic7]

On 8/15/2017 at 6:32 PM, saakura said:

Absolute terrible tragedy. God give strength to the wife to bear this loss. 

Would that be a plea to the same god that let her suffer this terrible loss??? 

[davethailand]

19 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

well i hope you measured your grounding rods, it's quite a special way to do it. If the resistance is to big, you have a fake safety.

If you read some, you see about 3 ohm. You have to drive the rods probably many (10-30 meters) meters. All depending on

where is the water or moist ground. If resistance is higher, you still get electrocuted. Also your rod can corrode and change the resistance, aswell depending on high low water level in groundwater. So better to do in period of dry weather.

 

You can forget grounding, if:

 

If you put in the best breakers, they are concluded with a differential switch, so called automats.

If that device measure a difference between live and neutral bigger then 30 ma. It will switch off, coz you have a powerloss.

Also then if the max value for wiring ,16 a or less depending on your choice of automat, in your house is exceeded (shortcut) then it will shut off. Also considder there are breakers with different charasterics, the B characteristic is the best and safest for home. It is on the index of the breaker, like B16.  PIC 1

 

Ofcourse if it is reaching 16 A ( or any value you choose), it shuts down. This is not with nr 2, as you combine it with a seperate breaker. The max amps through the differential switch nr 2 is 40 A and showed on index. But it will not shut down at 40 A.

SO if you need more power (?),  you need  a second one and split the groups (breakers).

 

You also can have just one seperated but for all groups. Then just one device is needed over all groups, but then you have to find the group later in which is the problem (powerloss). It will be in serie with all your breakers. Its cheaper, but never the less it is very save for you and also shuts down at 30 mA. There are also higher in mA like 40 mA, but NOT TO BE USED FOR PERSONAL SAFETY.

30 mA is about the value of amps the heart can take without being killed. However all again also depends on personal heath.

PIC 2

 

For the man and son its too late, working with power on is not quite good option "unless" you are experienced and f**** know what you are doing. One slip, no differential switch and you can wind up ... dead in milli seconds !!

Dunno how deep the one in the business was, A Thai electrician did it, at home they were quite short as it was only for single appliances.

Both properties are gone now.

:)

[Skeptic7]

21 hours ago, saakura said:

Oh my God! How can a farang make such terrible mistake, much less a multitude of them? After all he is a farang with superior education and common sense! Something is terribly wrong?

Yes...with you

[davethailand]

22 hours ago, saakura said:

Oh my God! How can a farang make such terrible mistake, much less a multitude of them? After all he is a farang with superior education and common sense! Something is terribly wrong?

with this post yes,