News Forum - Power lines and transformers to be checked after fatal Bangkok Chinatown fire

[Thaiger]

After a fire on Sunday in the crowded Sampeng market, in Chinatown, took the lives of 2 people, Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt has asked the Metropolitan Electricity Authority to investigate the safety of almost 400 power transformers and power lines around Bangkok. According to eyewitnesses, smoke was coming from the power transformer before the fire broke out through the surrounding shophouses, some of which sold paper and cardboard boxes. An early assessment has been done by police, engineers, City Hall, the MEA and Samphanthawong district officials. They estimate that the cost of damage is around 30 million baht. Also, the […]

The story Power lines and transformers to be checked after fatal Bangkok Chinatown fire as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Fanta]

It is always good to shut the gate after the horse has bolted. 

[Outsider]

Will the cause be investigated fully and forensically or has the fire damage obliterated that possibility? I have seen some very unwise "modifications" to supply sources and distribution boards in Thailand.

 

[Outsider]

3 hours ago, Transam said:

One only has to look at the electric service feeds here, don't need any experts.....

As a developing national infrastructure attempting to cope with a demand involving and in some  aspects exceeding the capacity of presumed superior expectations that by comparison has evolved in a decade versus a century Thailand has provided ! I appreciate the fact even while commenting on the relatively unregulated  dangers in a society that  offers attraction purely on the  basis of exactly that to people such as myself and I suspect such a you.

[Bluesofa]

16 hours ago, Transam said:

One only has to look at the electric service feeds here, don't need any experts.....

Running a bar in Pattaya, we had a three phase supply. One day were was a loud humming noise coming from the DJ box. It had the incoming consumer unit on the wall next to it.

One of the amplifiers was making a lot of noise. I had a look, eventually putting a meter on the incoming supply. It was IIRC 285V (instead of the nominal 220V).
On the consumer unit all the incoming supply was showing 285V.

I phoned the PEA who came out fairly quickly. Outside the shophouse, the PEA three phase (and neutral) supply ran under all the 'eaves' of all the units along the soi.

Our neutral had become disconnected. The (alleged) PEA electrician replaced the plastic insulating tape that had originally been used to feed the 'take off' to our meter from the supply. No screw connector, or clamp anywhere.

I didn't even bother to ask about compensation for the ruined electrical equipment, as I knew the reaction would no doubt be to laugh at such a crazy idea.

I seem to think in the UK there's a legal requirement to keep the supply within 6% of the nominal voltage. (I'm sure someone can correct me about that)

Maintenance here always tends to be 'reactive', rather than 'proactive - i.e. only react to faults when they are reported, rather than a schedule of checking equipment and cabling to reduce the chance of an accident.

[Bluesofa]

17 minutes ago, Transam said:

Just had a lightning strike electric fix, it was at the pole, as I worked doing electric supply I watched with interest the fix.

Sticky tape with a bit of twisted wire...Mrs.T wasn't too impressed with my "fix" assessment....

A couple of months back a big truck brought down one of the electric feeds from the outside pole, it laid across my drive, it was live. We had to drive over it.

Phoned PEA, they said.."Have you still got electric"....Yes...."Then it is not electric, it is phone".

I told Mrs.T it is NOT phone line it is electricity. We have a family member who works in the PEA office, we asked him to get someone to come out and look. He said.."Do you still have electricity"...Yes..."Then it is phone cable".........

Now how to get them to fix it, hmmmmm, I phoned 3BB, told them their cable is across our drive, they were there in 20 minutes.

The guy said.."That's electricity".........

The guy then said.."I will phone PEA for you and tell them their power line is down"....

Thank you......Turned out the cable fed a house up the road where the people were away.

A disastrous service, even our family member was of the same ilk....

Perhaps it would have been better to tell the PEA you didn't have electric. Then when they turned up they could see for themselves, and you could feign surprise that you 'still had electric'.
Perhaps I'm just too devious.

[KaptainRob]

PEA Chiang Mai seem more competent and safety conscious than other regions as evidenced by personal experience and reports such as Transam.   

Our local PEA inspector has always been stringent with regard to new installations, RCD/earthing, breaker size etc.   I took his advice and installed a 'surge limiting' device on both fridges to avoid damage, inverter devices particularly vulnerable, and we've avoided any problems such as Bluesofa reported.

A number of regions are going underground, Ubon Ratchathani cbd and Patong/Phuket are 2 I'm aware of though it's a mammoth job.

[dbrenn]

Transformers going bang is a common occurrence in Thailand. The one outside the apartment where I used to live was shorted out by a squirrel that had crawled up one of the insulators. The noise was unbelievably loud, and blew the fuses on the overhead power line.

Amazingly, the squirrel was still alive, although probably for not much longer as its fur on one side was burned off. It hobbled off along one of the overhead wires.

The technician who came to replace the fuses told me that often shorts like this means the entire transformer is wrecked and has to be replaced. 

[KaptainRob]

8 minutes ago, dbrenn said:

Transformers going bang is a common occurrence in Thailand. The one outside the apartment where I used to live was shorted out by a squirrel that had crawled up one of the insulators. The noise was unbelievably loud, and blew the fuses on the overhead power line.

Amazingly, the squirrel was still alive, although probably for not much longer as its fur on one side was burned off. It hobbled off along one of the overhead wires.

The technician who came to replace the fuses told me that often shorts like this means the entire transformer is wrecked and has to be replaced. 

It's a frequent occurrence around us too, if not squirrels then falling tree limbs.  I did notice PEA are finally getting proactive and fitting 'dog squirrel collars' on new overhead cabling and poles, not before time!

[dbrenn]

40 minutes ago, Transam said:

A photo of where transformers are kept in London, how many years....

Britain used to make quality stuff that was overengineered, robust and lasted for ever. Not sure that's the case now though, sadly, although electricity standards are definitely stronger and safer than the Thai variety. 

[Bluesofa]

27 minutes ago, KaptainRob said:

It's a frequent occurrence around us too, if not squirrels then falling tree limbs.  I did notice PEA are finally getting proactive and fitting 'dog squirrel collars' on new overhead cabling and poles, not before time!

Do you mean that mesh perhaps three metres off the ground, around the pole? It hangs 'downwards' and 'out' from the pole by maybe 30cm all the way round.
I hadn't thought about it for stopping squirrels, but really for snakes, as hey also cause problems, if they lay across two open conductors. (see the pics)

The other one is the length of blue plastic sheeting (sometimes a piece of sheet aluminium), perhaps a metre in length wrapped tightly around the pole about the same height to stop the snakes (and squirrels?) climbing up the pole. (see the pics)  
   

 

 

[Outsider]

5 hours ago, Transam said:

Strange many UK towns supplies were underground a century back, I worked on mains and customer electricity service over 50 years back, it was all underground, not a transformer in sight, all in their own brick built, near bombproof housings. No excuses.

To rectify the service mess here would cost zillions, instead of steadily improving stuff, they carried on with the same ol' dangerous practice.... 

A century back the UK was well into the modern industrial age. Thailand ? Started maybe 40/ 50 years back. And developed out of pace with infrastructural basics nor planning. Expecting any current equivalence is naive and contradictory to the satisfaction of  many expats in that it is what makes or has  made Thailand cheaper to live in. Import your UK standards and regulations etc ?

[KaptainRob]

Yes MrSofa, these are like squirrel collars, but made from PVC , not mesh.>

Haven't seen any pole snakes, green tree snakes prefer ... trees.  

[ChrisS]

"Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt has asked the Metropolitan Electricity Authority to investigate the safety of almost 400 power transformers and power lines around Bangkok."

Just a glance at the state of many power lines and transformers should tell him that this is WELL overdue. Whatever happened to planned preventative maintenance instead of merely reactive?

[Bluesofa]

11 minutes ago, ChrisS said:

"Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt has asked the Metropolitan Electricity Authority to investigate the safety of almost 400 power transformers and power lines around Bangkok."

Just a glance at the state of many power lines and transformers should tell him that this is WELL overdue. Whatever happened to planned preventative maintenance instead of merely reactive?

I once tried to translate 'preventative maintenance' into Thai. It came back with a 404 error - page not found.

<For the hard-of-learning: The text above may contain traces of sarcasm>

[palooka]

On 6/28/2022 at 4:16 PM, Transam said:

The 21st century Electricity supply here is a mess and dangerous............

19th Century.

[palooka]

2 hours ago, ChrisS said:

Whatever happened to planned preventative maintenance instead of merely reactive?

Solly spent that on a holiday