Time to build a house!

[GMoney2312]

Sometimes building a house means you need to break it apart....I think?

[GMoney2312]

More Electrical!

 

[Faz]

Most electricians in Thailand think 3 core cable (earth) is just a waste of money as everything works fine on two wires (live and neutral) - have you mentioned you want an earth?

[Bluesofa]

36 minutes ago, Faz said:

Most electricians in Thailand think 3 core cable (earth) is just a waste of money as everything works fine on two wires (live and neutral) - have you mentioned you want an earth?

That's very true. I hope your contractor is on the ball with this.

I knew a guy in Bangsaray (just past Pattaya). He had a problem with his satellite TV installation. He asked me to have a look.
There was a constant buzzing noise when he switched over to the satellite channels. It appeared to be connected correctly. I was struggling to find anything wrong.

I suggested we should check the earth connection, as if the receiver isn't grounded properly, it can sometimes 'float' higher than the earth potential and cause interference.
I got my meter out, only to find the receiver wasn't earthed at all.

Took the cover off the three-pin outlet to find only live and neutral, no earth wire in there at all.
I had a look at some other outlets to find the same lack of earth wire.

Surprisingly there was an earth spike into the ground that was wired to the consumer unit.
That was as far as it went. No further.

I was later told that the contractor who built the entire housing development failed to install any earth cabling. Turned out he saved money by not buying the cable. He had to pay the inspector sent by the tessaban 500B to 'pass' the entire electrical installation.
 

 

[GMoney2312]

11 hours ago, Faz said:

have you mentioned you want an earth?

I have not! Wow! Did not know!

We will address this at the site this morning!

Thank you all!

[GMoney2312]

11 hours ago, Bluesofa said:

That's very true. I hope your contractor is on the ball with this.

He will be today! 

Thanks!

[GMoney2312]

11 hours ago, Bluesofa said:

That's very true. I hope your contractor is on the ball with this.

This is what shows on the contract.

[GMoney2312]

OK, texted my home builder this morning- BCC is the same thing as 3 core earth, I am good to go!

You are all invited to the Open House! Free Booze!

[Bluesofa]

52 minutes ago, GMoney2312 said:

This is what shows on the contract.

To quote what you wrote: 'BCC is the same thing as 3 core earth' is rather vague.

The Thai says 'Bangkok cable'. They sell a wide range of cables. Could I suggest you check which type he's planning on using?

If he's planning in running three-core in all the conduit, that's fine.
If the plan is (as is often done) to install single core live, neutral and earth, then it needs confirming the earth is included.
Sorry to be pedantic. I hope your builder is straight about installing earth properly. Better safe than sorry!

https://www.bangkokcable.com/en/products

Thanks for the open house house invite!. With no roof at the moment, it is an open house!

[GMoney2312]

7 minutes ago, Bluesofa said:

Sorry to be pedantic. I hope your builder is straight about installing earth properly. Better safe than sorry!

Thanks,

I was told by the Co Owner of the company this morning that the Earth cable was being used.

 

[Faz]

@Bluesofa is perfectly correct.
BCC is the cable manufacturer. https://www.bangkokcable.com/en/products

They should be using 1.5mm for lighting circuits, 2.5mm for power, shower and air con circuits (with earth).
It can be supplied as single or three core - but if 2 core then it doesn't have earth.

When I rewired the wife's house and was buying the cables, at least 3 of the staff thought I was 'nuts' when I purchased 3 core, persistent that I could save money as everything worked fine on two wires 

[Bluesofa]

24 minutes ago, Faz said:

@Bluesofa is perfectly correct.
BCC is the cable manufacturer. https://www.bangkokcable.com/en/products

They should be using 1.5mm for lighting circuits, 2.5mm for power, shower and air con circuits (with earth).
It can be supplied as single or three core - but if 2 core then it doesn't have earth.

When I rewired the wife's house and was buying the cables, at least 3 of the staff thought I was 'nuts' when I purchased 3 core, persistent that I could save money as everything worked fine on two wires 

2.5mm for a shower should be fine.
I do sometimes think that 2.5mm is close to the edge on tolerance, but having said that I think it's generally accepted that 2.5mm is OK for supplying say 20A.
So 20A x 220V = 4.4KW. As most showers are around 3-3.5KW that would be fine.
I do tend to err on the side of caution too much.

[Faz]

2.5mm fine up to 32Amp rated supplies in the UK.
Showers in Thailand are much lower Kw rated than in the UK, where 6mm is the standard.

I installed a 63A consumer unit x 14 way MCB circuit breakers, splitting them thus;
Showers, air cons on separate 20A circuits.
Internal/external lighting on separate 6A circuits.
Lounge/ bedrooms/ kitchen/ external power sockets on separate 32A circuits.
Water pump on it's own circuit.

PEA upgraded the meter unit.

Initially the wife's house didn't have a consumer unit, just a single fuse unit, with one 1mm 2 core cable feeding everything in the house 
Then they wonder why fires are started and electric shocks from shower units.

[GMoney2312]

5 minutes ago, Faz said:

Initially the wife's house didn't have a consumer unit,

We have 30/100 meter now- we doubled it.

[GMoney2312]

In the spirit of "GMoney"- we received our bill on everything we upgraded from the base price. And we upgraded everything! (windows remained the same.)

$ 6,114 USD ! Boom!

Welcome to The Palace!

 

[Faz]

19 minutes ago, GMoney2312 said:

We have 30/100 meter now- we doubled it.

A meter isn't a consumer unit Greg, maybe you refer to them as 'fuse boxes' in the US.

Consumer unit;

[Faraday]

10 minutes ago, GMoney2312 said:

In the spirit of "GMoney"- we received our bill on everything we upgraded from the base price. And we upgraded everything! (windows remained the same.)

$ 6,114 USD ! Boom!

Welcome to The Palace!

Maybe later you'll have to change your name to GmuchlessMoney...

It certainly gets eaten up, building your own house. But the pleasure & satisfaction, is great.

Hope it doesn't get trashed though, when we all come to the housewarming.

Has my invite got lost in the post ..?

[LoongFred]

6 minutes ago, GMoney2312 said:

We have 30/100 meter now- we doubled it.

We're lucky to have a real electrician in our village. He advised us that most house fires are caused by faulty or undersized wiring. He advised us to redo the wiring on our 12 year old house.  We did and added a dedicated circuit to our kitchen. Everything has properly gaged wiring and grounded. Much of it is in conduits.  We plan to add AC s downstairs (recently enclosed with folding windows). I plan to ask him first about electrical service needs for 2  35,000 BTUs AC units. 

When we first moved in my sister in law had Jerry rigged an outdoor light. The circuit breaker would go off when it rained so she would reset the trigger voltage on the safety switch.  She didn't understand that there was a shot circuit.  

Now we're in good shape. My advice is to find someone competent to give an honest assessment before things go up in smoke.

[Bluesofa]

1 hour ago, GMoney2312 said:

We have 30/100 meter now- we doubled it.

The 30/100 meter is rated at supplying 30A continuously and 100A maximum/intermittently.
It's the largest single phase meter the PEA supply.

 

[Bluesofa]

1 hour ago, Faz said:

2.5mm fine up to 32Amp rated supplies in the UK.
Showers in Thailand are much lower Kw rated than in the UK, where 6mm is the standard.

I installed a 63A consumer unit x 14 way MCB circuit breakers, splitting them thus;
Showers, air cons on separate 20A circuits.
Internal/external lighting on separate 6A circuits.
Lounge/ bedrooms/ kitchen/ external power sockets on separate 32A circuits.
Water pump on it's own circuit.

PEA upgraded the meter unit.

Initially the wife's house didn't have a consumer unit, just a single fuse unit, with one 1mm 2 core cable feeding everything in the house 
Then they wonder why fires are started and electric shocks from shower units.

As my experience is telecoms & electronics, not domestic electrical installations. I'll take your word on that regarding cable ratings.
For some reason in my mind I thought UK ring mains were 4mm cabling, maybe not then. (Perhaps that was for a spur off a ring main?)
I do remember showers used 6mm cable though, as you say.

[GMoney2312]

2 hours ago, Bluesofa said:

It's the largest single phase meter the PEA supply.

Yes, they said we were a small factory now.

[GMoney2312]

3 hours ago, Faraday said:

Has my invite got lost in the post ..?

Everyone is welcome, just no dogs, just your women. (Or men...not here to judge!)

[GMoney2312]

3 hours ago, Faz said:

'fuse boxes'

Oh the fuse box, oh the memories!

[Faraday]

19 minutes ago, GMoney2312 said:

Oh the fuse box, oh the memories!

Scrabbling around in the dark with a torch that is almost dead, trying to find the fuse wire ..

Such fun!

[GMoney2312]

Update Again! 

This one is Packed!