How Do I Earth the House ?

[Wasp]

........

[CaptainNemo]

I'll be there next week and I've always been worried about this house .
It's not Earthed . Not in any way in the World is this place Earthed .
All the Sockets are 2 prong sockets and my UK gadgets get a 2 prong Thai plug attached to them while we are there .

I know nothing about Electricity . At all . But I have seen guys on here taking a big rod and shoving it into the ground in order to Earth the place .

If you start from assuming I am 100% gormless --- is there anyone who can give guidance to a gorm on what ' Earthing ' entails ?

Please ??



Wasp

I guess you've already googled for this kind of thing?
Electrical Grounding for Dummies 101 | Phoenix Technical Group

What is it that you really want to know? What the local pitfalls are in Thailand? How to secure an earthing rod? How to wire it into the house? What bits to get? Even with all that, are you confident enough to do it yourself?
I expect it's a little less organised and regulated than it is in the UK, with the old nth edition wiring regs etc..

Perhaps you want to rewire the house with UK sockets? You might get a shock (in the non-electrical sense) when you look behind those faceplates! Do you have all the info about the supply that's coming into the building?

[pseudolus]

I know nothing about Electricity

In that case, wrong question.

Try "Does anyone know a good electrician who can earth my house for me, rewiring the place putting in three pronged sockets in.

thanks in advance. Location is XCSPNPPNNSI".


That should do it.

[baldrick]

Get a Thai sparky who does understand earthing and elcbs and pay for it to be fixed

[CaptainNemo]

For the sake of peace of mind, offer a local UK electrician a two-week holiday in your house... he'll have it sorted in a day probably... price of a flight is what you might pay anyway to have it redone after it scares you...

[pseudolus]

No Need for that - Ron who owns the Barking Frog on Mabprachan lake Pattaya is a sparky for 40 years, and run a small sparky business on the side. Loads of these types about but of course depends on location.

[Wasp]

I have zero faith in any Thai workmen . If you tell me there are good ones .... I believe you . I'm sure all those deluxe condos in Bangkok are properly wired up . But out in Korat ....... how do you find one you can trust .
Even Missy's indolent brother is a " Sparky" ...... and he gets work ....... but everything he touches looks like a bodge .

I remember people taking a great copper rod and ramming it into the ground and then I assumed they connected it to the fuse box . I wasn't considering rewiring the whole house . But it makes sense to do so .

OK --- does anybody know a GOOD sparky out in Korat ? Nonthai would be excellent .


Wasp

[Wasp]

I guess you've already googled for this kind of thing?
Electrical Grounding for Dummies 101 | Phoenix Technical Group

I never think about doing that . I never think about Youtube either .

I shall go looking .

W.

[fishlocker]

Gravity.

[pseudolus]

........

I'll be there next week and I've always been worried about this house .
It's not Earthed . Not in any way in the World is this place Earthed .
All the Sockets are 2 prong sockets and my UK gadgets get a 2 prong Thai plug attached to them while we are there .

I know nothing about Electricity . At all . But I have seen guys on here taking a big rod and shoving it into the ground in order to Earth the place .

If you start from assuming I am 100% gormless --- is there anyone who can give guidance to a gorm on what ' Earthing ' entails ?

Please ??



Wasp

How's that editing working out for you waspie?

[Dillinger]

Buy them all a big pair of flip flops and tell em not to leave them outside

[terry57]

The thing is this,

If ya gunna Earth the house then all the sockets need to be earthed as well. The house sockets need to be changed to three prong and the Earth wire actually connected to the fuker.

Also to finish of correctly a Safety cut needs to be fitted.

Ya gota do ya home work and find a coont who is fully qualified and knows his stuff.

Why don't ya front up to the Local Electrical office and try that.

Somchai is fooked.

[terry57]

Anyway Waspy,

I thought that ya posted up that you and ya Bint were finished.

[Latindancer]

I was fiddling with the hot water heater in the shower in my Bangkok condo a few years ago. So firstly I disconnected the power. I saw that it had an earth leakage device fitted, and these things cut off the current in micro-seconds in case of any kind of leakage.

But on looking closely I saw that it was hooked up to the non-active lead......when it should be on the active lead. I could have got fried by the electric shower heater at any frigging time.

Or worse still, I could have come home to find the wife dead in the shower.

[Troy]

........

If you need to ask then don't. Get someone who knows what they're doing instead.

[terry57]

Or worse still, I could have come home to find the wife dead in the shower.

Yer, My Handbag knows shit about electricity like most Thais and considering our washing machine is connected to a socket with no Earth it's a bit of a worry.

Fookin hate these dumb arsed Somchais and more so the Law that lets any coont do leccy work with no consequence.

The Educated Thais are OK though.

[Headworx]

Find a whitey if you want the work done properly and value your life!. A fully qualified local Electrician is some bastard with a test-pencil and a pulse, the fact that he hasn't yet fried himself means he must knows what he's doing (according to locals).

Did I mention to find a whitey?.

[terry57]

^

They can build these massive structures in Bangkok and do world class electrical work yet ya struggling to find some coont who will wire up a 3 pin plug properly. ????

Amazing Thailand innit.

[Norton]

Get a Thai sparky who does understand earthing and elcbs and pay for it to be fixed

Yep. Plenty in korat city. As terry says, house will have to be rewired with an earthing wire. Materials - earthing spike, new junction box, new 3 prong plugs and 3 conductor wire thoughout the house. Labor will depend on your existing wiring.

[Pragmatic]

I had big problems with my earth in my house whereby I/we were getting electric shocks when taking showers. I did a thread on it but I'll cut this short. I tried many electricians who failed to solve the problem along with many budding TD electricians. All failed to find the answer. Eventually I went to the local electricity company and they sent out an engineer (Uni trained). Problem sorted.
My recommendation to Wasp would be to go find a QUALIFIED electrician that works for the electro company and get him to fit an earthing system for you.

[Latindancer]

^ 555 ....Probably the same prob as in my condo : earth leakage device fitted, but to the neutral lead instead of the active one !

[Pragmatic]

555 ....Probably the same prob as in my condo : earth leakage device fitted, but to the neutral lead instead of the active one !

In Thailand the negative that comes from the pole carries 3-4 volts. Why, I've no idea. The electrician connected the negative wire to earth in my consumer unit. Therefore making my earthing system live with 3-4 volts. Hence the shock when taking a shower.

[Klondyke]

^When the neutral on your main board has a proper grounding the 3-4 Volts would vanish...

[Pragmatic]

^When the neutral on your main board has a proper grounding the 3-4 Volts would vanish...

There lay the problem. It doesn't, it just makes the earth live.

[Klondyke]

Wasp, you do not need to overdo your fear from electricity (and from Thai workers either).

What kind of appliances are you going to deal with? Almost all of them are nowadays with full plastic body, so no danger to your body.
Exception a water heater (if any), or some other heater.

Yes a proper grounding of the neutral should be made at the main board (or wherever the first few breakers are installed).
And if a separate grounding is made to the body of the heater, the better. Then, a separate earth leakage breaker 30A is good to be installed at the incomer of the heater.

If you have all this, you do not need to think about a rewiring your house for your temporary stay (how many weeks?).

There are much worse situations to be worried about in Thailand than the electricity...

(You can believe me, I am an electrical engineer. And you surely know the saying: "The shoemaker's wife always goes barefoot").