Failed Electricity Isolation

[marshbags]

Please be careful when doing work / repairs to existing electricity supplies.

I offer the following couple of examples as a heads up to other members who may wish to do small repairs within their premises.

On the first occasion I,d supposedly made sure the power supply was off via the mains only to get a shock because it wasn,t ?????

I asked for the owners handyman to visit and check the supply and ask why it wasn,t isolating the supply as it should do.

He got me to trip the main isolation switch while several appliances where on and they went off o.k. and he reconned I,d failed to carry out the correct proceedures.

Yesterday I was changing a broken / dodgy connection box and exactly the same thing happened.

This time I was very lucky as my scewdriver fused to the exposed connectors and I was slightly burned.

Thank god I was wearing thick rubber flip flops !!!!!!

I am now waiting for the ******* to come to see me again and will NOT ever trust supposed trip functions / mains fused isolations forthwith, without checking that they function as they should.

I recon that the heavy input to the aircon, shower ect ect and possible other sources have been illegally byepast from a point prior to entering the property.

TIT guess................yet again.

I will also expect a check of the system and the matter being put in a safe working condition...nothing less will do !

Take care and do not take for granted supposed isolation / fuse boxes ect.

I was very lucky to get way with what happened.


marshbags

[RLTrader]

Just might want to look into a "Safety Cut". When I do any work on the electric, I close the breaker for that area, and then I check it with maybe 50 baht lamp tester a couple of times.

My electrician was checking something out, forget what, and he didn't bother cutting power, and he got bit, but the "Safety Cut" shut everything down. Not sure, but think it might have saved his ass.

[mally]

A safety cut is a great bit of gear, imo every home should have one, but it will not protect against an illegal supply that has by-passed the main incomming switch to avoid paying for it.
In MB's situation he has to turn off his main switch, and as you say go around the various supplies with a test instrument and see if anything is still on. There is also the possibility that the main switch is faulty, and sometimes not switching the contacts completely, I've come across this problem before, only once, but it's still possible. Above all, proceed with caution, sometimes you'll not get a second chance if you don't act safely.

[RLTrader]

When I was Renting, before I would rent I needed an outside kitchen, which was done. Later I needed something and needed it wired I guess, for I hired an electrician, he found that they had Hot Wired the kitchen off the Main, not free, but Hot! He put in another breaker for the kitchen. Dam dangerous.

[rickfarang]

You can buy a pretty good digital voltmeter for 300 baht or so. I never touch an AC mains wire without checking the voltage from that wire to ground and from that wire to the other one. Even at that, I try to work with one hand behind my back and feet insulated from the floor (concrete and tile floors are conductive). Suggest you adopt the same habit.

Our electrician told me that electricians often take short cuts to save time and especially material. For that reason a safety cut might not work in some installations.

[Khun Paul]

For what it is worth, after about 6 months of living where I do, I had the Safety T cut people come tround abd sell me a safety T cut, switch, this was interesting as they then went through the entire house and put right all those faults that have been mentioned by others and installed the safety T cut.
I later had the main power switch changed which is outside to a modern one, as the old one reminded me of the late 40's type switch, then I had th epower split after the main power switch so that the kitchen building was seperate and now also has its own safety t cut.
All in all a proceedure which was worth it, recently the chaps came arounfd again and updated the main house safety switch at a cost of 6,000:00 baht, this may sound expensive but every year they come around and check the system.

A fact that also means when it goes wrong you can call them too.

[RLTrader]

If that is 6 thousand baht for everything, think a pretty good price for everything that was done. Safety Cut boxes I think run from 1,200 to maybe 2,500 depending on how many breakers. But maybe a "safety T cut switch" is something different.

[Ray.Charles]

At any new house that I had moved into I had always made a table mapping each circuit breaker, a swirch or an in-line fuse, to the outlets covered by it. Typically, I would turn everything on in the house and then observe what was taken out by a particular circuit breaker; for the sockets/outlets you would need a voltmeter, a tester, or I would screw on a bulb at the back of a plug.
15-20 minutes' effort saves a lot of time when you need to fix something electrical. I would still check out the outlet/cable to be worked on after turning off the responsible circuit breaker for additional safety.

[BkkBill]

I had one of these in Canada. Worked a charm. Don't know if it is available here.

[Khun Paul]

In response, 6000 baht was for the replacement switch, which included the customary check, it does enable you to adjust the level at which the cut out works, which is NOT available if it is integrated into your fuse-board ( I could be wrong, but I do not think so.

To date ( I am touching wood here), the system has worked fine, yearly checks, and it does allow me to deal with anything electricity minded with some comparative ease.

I have found that although many people do have a cut out switch prior to their fuse-board, my MAINS cut out is outside tucked away in its own little plastic box, and before any electricity enters either of my buildings it has to first go through that switch ( it is new design with a reset button if it goes ), possibly a bit of bother installing if your electric supply comes in at roof level on a two storey house that's high, but I feel it is must to ensure all electric cut out before embarking on anything major.

[marshbags]

Thank you for the much welcomed replies and positive input.

My favourite electricain who has done several jobs for me in recent years has checked the system out, along with the supposed safety features via a modern fuse box and an addition trip out that is supposed to cut everything off in one simple movement, manually or otherwise.

They have stupidly / criminally byepassed this by wiring the heavy duty supply direct to the feed coming to the house from the pole as i,d suspected ( been made aware of ref. my O.P. )

I contacted the landlady prior to him coming and she,d agreed to my getting a proper check out done, by a competent electrician.

Also saying she would act on his recommendations / findings and pay for correcting the situation, if needed !!!!

He recommended installing an additional consumer unit outside the premises and rewiring the rogue supply via this to make everything safe.

I belled her and got him to explain what needed doing and why, especially the fact that it endangered anyone using the supply and from her point of view, the fact that the house could burn down in extreme circumstances and also be a liability in law should anything untoward happen.

She renaged on her previous agreement and told me if I wished to make sure my family was safely protected, then I would have to pay for the work to be done or manage with the situation as it was.

After a round of ***** ect and other expletetives I was offered an alternative whereby I could have the work done in such a way that I could disconnect it when we move out.

He disconnected several cables and we now have one main feed going to and from the new unit, while leaving all the internal stuff as it was and working via the owners system / fuses ect.

When we leave we thus disconnect the new stuff, while leaving the old as it was.

It cost me a total of 2,200 baht, which I consider well worth while and value for money.

His charges from this was only 300 baht for labour and expertise and buying the stuff required.

Incidently he also put right a leaking water joint that i,d missed when checking and repairing the water feeds and was effecting the performance of the pump.

He never charges to much and always gives me a quote inclusive of everything, prior to carrying out my needs.

I did give him a 100 baht tip ( he wouldn,t / never accepts any more )

We are always reading about the fires when it concerns multiple injuries and fatalities but usually not on a smaller scale although there must be several incidents of this nature.

Anyway thanks again and if this helps others then my ranting on has been worthwhile.

marshbags