The wiring in my house is of very poor quality. At the moment I have a couple of open circuits and one intermittent (daily) short circuit. Being single and not speaking much Thai I find myself in a quandary.
Can anybody here recommend an English speaking electrician?
Sitting in the dark (literally) hoping for a reply, and thank you in advance for any helpful reply.
Can anybody here recommend an English speaking electrician?
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rickfarang
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Potamoi
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Re: English speaking electrician?
This story and recommendation is for the greater UM community for reference:
I have 3 phase electric service in my Udon home. Last Monday night there was a bit of a storm and I woke to some of my UPS’s beeping. A quick assessment was I lost a phase so some of the house was without power. Master bedroom and its Aircon were fine so switch off the UPS beeps and back to bed.
The following day the phase had not come back to life which was a bit strange as PEA typically replace the fuse or whatever they do within an hour of no power since most neighbours have single phase so a third of the mubhan should be without power all night. This did not seem to be the case.
Got out the trusty voltmeter and pulled the panel plate off to find:
Phase1 = ~35 vAC
Phase2 = ~130 - 300vAC (swinging over say 15 min)
Phase3 = ~135 - 305vAC (swinging over say 15 min)
Neutral to GND ~30 vAC
Phase 2 and 3 seemed to swing in opposite directions when loads were applied like water heater, kettle, air con. In retrospect is was pretty scary and I should have cut power before a fried an aircon or other electronics. Neutral measurement was troubling.
I then went to my meter and measured:
Phase1 = ~235 vAC
Phase2 = ~230 vAC,
Phase3 = ~235 vAC
I didn’t have long enough leads to measure Neutral to a temporary earth spike but I was satisfied my problem was between the meter and the consumer unit panel. Now to find a sparky.
I went to a shop near the airport (see link) to try and find a guy that helped me before coming out to my Nong Khai business location. The owner does not speak English but his wife (guessing it was his wife) did a little so she gave me her LINE and instructed me to send my location when I returned home. The sparky would be assigned after 9am the following day and they would LINE me back.
The next day there was no LINE by 10am so I drove back there and asked if they assigned someone yet. The owner called over the good guy I had experience with before, he grabbed his tool bag and a young apprentice (who did speak some English) and they followed me home 3 min away.
The sparky made the same measurements I did and came to the same conclusion. We then all went up the ladder to my lighted attic. He crawled around tracing the main cables and found some mouse droppings in a tray. Damn. Climbing, crawling he could not manage to easily get back in the cable tray closest to the edge of the roof.
We went downstairs to discuss options. Removal of the roof tiles and insulation was one. I didn’t care for that option so I told him I was fine for running all four new service feeder cables all the way to the meter if necessary.
Further inspection outside where the cabled enter my roof port and a climb up the ladder to look at the first pole, he tugged on one cable and if fell to the ground, a second, it fell. Third and fourth stayed. Phase 1 and Neutral were parted which explains a lot... and is frightening.
It seems all the cables were damaged by trees, wind etc and broke at the insulator high up on the pole where they turned ~160 degrees back to my house from the pole.
Smiles all around that the roof tiles did not need to come off and it was now a repair job instead of a rewire job. We spent an hour cutting tree branches and clearing an area for my long 6 meter ladder so he could access the area of the pole he needed to work. Off he went to get supplies from his shop and returned after lunch.
Once back he told me he would cut power to the house at the meter by pulling the service cables to the house. Fine. He then cut some innertube rubber and fashioned some shoe spike attachments (black gismos in the photo) to his flipflops put on a tool belt and up the pole he went for like 2.5 hours.
Myself and the helper continued to cut and clear trees out of his way while he wrestled the vines and crazy tangles at the top of the pole. No power so I fired up my 6.5kVA gen set and strung three or four hefty 10 gauge extension cords to power my Dewalt sawsall (reciprocating saw) to cut some of the larger bamboo stalks.
He spliced all four service cables as the other two phases were worn as well. He reckoned the original install could have been a little better due to the angles involved so he incorporated extra protection with his repair.
Great job. I am very satisfied with this shop and in particular their lead electrician. I told the boy to learn as much as he can from the guy as he is a true professional.
I followed the guys back to the shop to pay the invoice as he told me his boss would do that part. The owner’s daughter came out of the office to tell me she would LINE me the invoice in Thai and give bank details for payment. Apparently she monitors their business LINE account and can speak/write English.
Link to google maps below as well as my invoice for reference. I highly recommend this shop but you need to book the electrician (his name is Khun Pong) in advance as he is ALWAYS busy.
https://www.google.com/maps/@17.3887271 ... 384!8i8192
I have 3 phase electric service in my Udon home. Last Monday night there was a bit of a storm and I woke to some of my UPS’s beeping. A quick assessment was I lost a phase so some of the house was without power. Master bedroom and its Aircon were fine so switch off the UPS beeps and back to bed.
The following day the phase had not come back to life which was a bit strange as PEA typically replace the fuse or whatever they do within an hour of no power since most neighbours have single phase so a third of the mubhan should be without power all night. This did not seem to be the case.
Got out the trusty voltmeter and pulled the panel plate off to find:
Phase1 = ~35 vAC
Phase2 = ~130 - 300vAC (swinging over say 15 min)
Phase3 = ~135 - 305vAC (swinging over say 15 min)
Neutral to GND ~30 vAC
Phase 2 and 3 seemed to swing in opposite directions when loads were applied like water heater, kettle, air con. In retrospect is was pretty scary and I should have cut power before a fried an aircon or other electronics. Neutral measurement was troubling.
I then went to my meter and measured:
Phase1 = ~235 vAC
Phase2 = ~230 vAC,
Phase3 = ~235 vAC
I didn’t have long enough leads to measure Neutral to a temporary earth spike but I was satisfied my problem was between the meter and the consumer unit panel. Now to find a sparky.
I went to a shop near the airport (see link) to try and find a guy that helped me before coming out to my Nong Khai business location. The owner does not speak English but his wife (guessing it was his wife) did a little so she gave me her LINE and instructed me to send my location when I returned home. The sparky would be assigned after 9am the following day and they would LINE me back.
The next day there was no LINE by 10am so I drove back there and asked if they assigned someone yet. The owner called over the good guy I had experience with before, he grabbed his tool bag and a young apprentice (who did speak some English) and they followed me home 3 min away.
The sparky made the same measurements I did and came to the same conclusion. We then all went up the ladder to my lighted attic. He crawled around tracing the main cables and found some mouse droppings in a tray. Damn. Climbing, crawling he could not manage to easily get back in the cable tray closest to the edge of the roof.
We went downstairs to discuss options. Removal of the roof tiles and insulation was one. I didn’t care for that option so I told him I was fine for running all four new service feeder cables all the way to the meter if necessary.
Further inspection outside where the cabled enter my roof port and a climb up the ladder to look at the first pole, he tugged on one cable and if fell to the ground, a second, it fell. Third and fourth stayed. Phase 1 and Neutral were parted which explains a lot... and is frightening.
It seems all the cables were damaged by trees, wind etc and broke at the insulator high up on the pole where they turned ~160 degrees back to my house from the pole.
Smiles all around that the roof tiles did not need to come off and it was now a repair job instead of a rewire job. We spent an hour cutting tree branches and clearing an area for my long 6 meter ladder so he could access the area of the pole he needed to work. Off he went to get supplies from his shop and returned after lunch.
Once back he told me he would cut power to the house at the meter by pulling the service cables to the house. Fine. He then cut some innertube rubber and fashioned some shoe spike attachments (black gismos in the photo) to his flipflops put on a tool belt and up the pole he went for like 2.5 hours.
Myself and the helper continued to cut and clear trees out of his way while he wrestled the vines and crazy tangles at the top of the pole. No power so I fired up my 6.5kVA gen set and strung three or four hefty 10 gauge extension cords to power my Dewalt sawsall (reciprocating saw) to cut some of the larger bamboo stalks.
He spliced all four service cables as the other two phases were worn as well. He reckoned the original install could have been a little better due to the angles involved so he incorporated extra protection with his repair.
Great job. I am very satisfied with this shop and in particular their lead electrician. I told the boy to learn as much as he can from the guy as he is a true professional.
I followed the guys back to the shop to pay the invoice as he told me his boss would do that part. The owner’s daughter came out of the office to tell me she would LINE me the invoice in Thai and give bank details for payment. Apparently she monitors their business LINE account and can speak/write English.
Link to google maps below as well as my invoice for reference. I highly recommend this shop but you need to book the electrician (his name is Khun Pong) in advance as he is ALWAYS busy.
https://www.google.com/maps/@17.3887271 ... 384!8i8192
Last edited by Potamoi on May 28, 2022, 11:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
I fear the man who drinks water and so remembers this morning what the rest of us said last night
Benjamin Franklin
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to talk and remove all doubt
Maurice Switzer *(assumed)
Benjamin Franklin
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to talk and remove all doubt
Maurice Switzer *(assumed)
Re: Can anybody here recommend an English speaking electrician?
Potamoi "This story and recommendation is for the greater UM community for reference:"
Likewise......thanks for the detailed post on a subject affecting many of us.
Likewise......thanks for the detailed post on a subject affecting many of us.
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Potamoi
- udonmap.com
- Posts: 553
- Joined: April 11, 2022, 11:53 am
- Location: Halfway between Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch and Ona-i-Lau
Re: English speaking electrician?
Thanks for the comments. I realized I didn't leave the electrician's name so I made an edit: His name is Khun Pong and has worked there many years.
I fear the man who drinks water and so remembers this morning what the rest of us said last night
Benjamin Franklin
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to talk and remove all doubt
Maurice Switzer *(assumed)
Benjamin Franklin
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to talk and remove all doubt
Maurice Switzer *(assumed)
Re: Can anybody here recommend an English speaking electrician?
Good morning We have a house and lots of appliances. I don't have enough electricity in the house and I'm looking for someone who can check everything and advise me what the problem is or what can be done so that we have enough electricity.
Re: Can anybody here recommend an English speaking electrician?
There is an English Electrician--who works in Udon, I think he has a flat rate of 1,000 a day, Name Chris---he has wired new & rewired many older houses for ex-pats, Last time i tried to use him he was fully booked up. but if you still do not have anyone I will PM you the number.