Thread: Electrical wiring, the proper way.

Originally Posted by thailazer

Glad he is happy, but one needs to look at the current required. Our water heater and kitchen appliances required a run of 4 sq mm wire.

Oh, this is quite interesting.

So tell me Mate, what sort of kitchen appliances are you running that requires 4 Ml. ?

Unless you are running some heavy draw 30amp appliances you are talking bolliks.

I'm talking normal house hold stuff not a fookin Industrial kitchen.

For your leccy Bill terry. Do you have a Thai bank account. ?

I've said this before on another thread. If you want a good Uni trained electrician then go along to your electricity suppliers depot and ask there. Many qualified electricians work out of hours.

My brother inlaw has been the electrician up till now, I dont know lots about it but knew it was all wrong, now we use a trained electrician, who promtly redoes all that went before, it is worth it for peace of mind.

You building a house for the Handbag Tezza?

Originally Posted by Evilbaz

You building a house for the Handbag Tezza?

The next thing is either gold or the car.

My oven has a 10mm supply and all my showers and air cons have 6mm, I use my UK regs for my cable sizes here and they always work well as they are generally over the top but 100% safe and reliable

I was wondering the same thing, you planning a build Terry? Not a casual interest in electrical wiring for sure...

While on this electric stuff,why is the neutral in Thailand not earthed???

Originally Posted by ltnt

I was wondering the same thing, you planning a build Terry? Not a casual interest in electrical wiring for sure...

Interesting turn of events.

Though, Ter isn't the settling down type.
Handbag must be thrilled......or not.

I am sure he can be convinced.
There is one proviso.
He will need a financial sponsor to fund the build.
Terry57 has an illness - it is called long pockets - short arms.

Originally Posted by crippen

While on this electric stuff,why is the neutral in Thailand not earthed???

I know the answer to that 100% for sure. In Thailand the neutral carries a voltage of 2-3 volts. Connecting it to your earth will give you a mild shock if your shower is earthed and you touch any of the metal parts of the shower. You DO NOT connect your neutral to earth in Thailand.

Originally Posted by crippen

While on this electric stuff,why is the neutral in Thailand not earthed???

It "usually" is at the nearest HV/LV transformer, but to do a proper TNCS (or old UK PME system) they would need to earth the neutral near the dwelling or group of dwellings at the distribution pole. That's unlikely ever to happen.
The problem is that electrical infrastructure is so piss poor, particularly out here in the sticks that the neutral floats below the earth potential due to overloading, bad connections, distance. Google TNCS earthing.
We rarely get 220V at the shop, usually around 185-195V. So there's quite a lot of volt drop in the local distribution system, consequently it's possible to get shocks from the neutral conductor when standing on the ground.
If I connected our neutral to the earth spike then I imagine the earth wire would eventually burn as my earth spike would introduce - for me and my neighbours - a better path for the neutral current than the one provided by the electrical authority.

Stick to Residual Current Devices for safety.

Something to remember about Radial circuits or anything that has a big fuse or circuit breaker protecting it is that the appliance flexible cable also needs to be rated for say 20A. We don't have plug top fuses over here...So the phone charger, shitty table lamp, computer, printer or whatever, should all have cables rated for 20A, So it's best to keep the CB's as small as possible.

Originally Posted by mykthemin

My oven has a 10mm supply and all my showers and air cons have 6mm, I use my UK regs for my cable sizes here and they always work well as they are generally over the top but 100% safe and reliable

Mate, you cannot tell me you are using 10mm cable for your oven and 6 mm for your friggin Air con.

If you are using this ridiculous sized cabling its over kill madness.

I recon you have made a typo here. If not I would really love to actually see a pic of the cabling.

Please do it.

Ta.

Actually further more,

There are some qualified Electricians on this forum, I'd love to hear their take on the 10MM cabling to the friggin kitchen oven.

Originally Posted by ltnt

I was wondering the same thing, you planning a build Terry? Not a casual interest in electrical wiring for sure...

Nope, no plan to build or buy anything in Thailand.

My interest sparks from seeing the massive buildings and infrastructure in Bangkok and knowing they must be wired correctly.

Sky-scrappers are not wired by Somchai.

I then read about Somchai the Electrician fuking up using the wrong size cabling and dismissing the Importance of the Earth wire.

So that leads me into knowing that fully Qualified Electricians are available and its up to the punter to hunt them out.

If I was doing a build I'd be off to the local Electrical Authority to source a competent Electrician.

I could do it myself but I'm not a fully qualified Electrician.

Much better than Somchai though.

Originally Posted by terry57

Originally Posted by ltnt

I was wondering the same thing, you planning a build Terry? Not a casual interest in electrical wiring for sure...

Nope, no plan to build or buy anything in Thailand.

My interest sparks from seeing the massive buildings and infrastructure in Bangkok and knowing they must be wired correctly.

Sky-scrappers are not wired by Somchai.

I then read about Somchai the Electrician fuking up using the wrong size cabling and dismissing the Importance of the Earth wire.

So that leads me into knowing that fully Qualified Electricians are available and its up to the punter to hunt them out.

If I was doing a build I'd be off to the local Electrical Authority to source a competent Electrician.

I could do it myself but I'm not a fully qualified Electrician.

Much better than Somchai though.

Regardless whether infrastructure is wired to your standards and specs, Ter - life is lived and things get done.

You obviously haven't been here long enough to know this is the way they do it - commercial, homes, etc....

Those who wish to differ from the norm [there's many that do] proceed to wire to their own specs. End of story.

^True enough...And "end of life" a lot of times...

Originally Posted by terry57

Actually further more,

There are some qualified Electricians on this forum, I'd love to hear their take on the 10MM cabling to the friggin kitchen oven.

Nothing wrong with that at all. I bet he is not worried at all about voltage drop in the wiring when he has his oven, coffee pot, and toaster all going at the same time. Kitchen appliances can add up to a lot of current. The only problem with large conductors like that is that they are difficult to pull through conduit. Otherwise, if you have the desire and budget, make it better than it has to be.

Originally Posted by terry57

Nope, no plan to build or buy anything in Thailand.

Well that's to bad. I was looking forward to a really humorous thread from your build. Just curious, pretty serious interest for no plan to build however.

I would suggest you build next door to cnx37. He needs some entertainment during the lull of his build and the beginning of yours...

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

Originally Posted by crippen

While on this electric stuff,why is the neutral in Thailand not earthed???

I know the answer to that 100% for sure. In Thailand the neutral carries a voltage of 2-3 volts. Connecting it to your earth will give you a mild shock if your shower is earthed and you touch any of the metal parts of the shower. You DO NOT connect your neutral to earth in Thailand.

Our phase went off recently (transformer blew up !). The fans just ran a bit slower,the tv still worked ok. Confused me until I found there was 75 volts on the neutral to earth. Go figure.
(If the UK wiring regs are so brilliant,why are we now on issue 16,or is it 17 now????

Originally Posted by thaimeme

Regardless whether infrastructure is wired to your standards and specs, Ter - life is lived and things get done.

You obviously haven't been here long enough to know this is the way they do it - commercial, homes, etc....

Jeff, you just ain't getting it are you ?

I do not expect the Electrical system in Thailand to be wired up to my standards.

I am not a Tradesman but did complete 4 years of a 5 year apprenticeship as an Electrician so I do have a fair grounding in Electrical work.

I am telling you that the huge building and the massive infrastructure in Bangkok is wired to International standard.

You cannot tell me these malls, skyscrapers and such do not meet International standards.

I'll give you a little example, my condo is 35 story and 30 years old. When having a look into the Electrical panel located in my room the wiring is spot on. correct sized wires and a nice fat earth.

On the other hand if you are talking about a house out in some Moo ban located in Nakorn fookin Now where you could be correct.

I mean, any thing goes where Somchai Goes. This is a fact.

Originally Posted by thailazer

Nothing wrong with that at all.

I bet he is not worried at all about voltage drop in the wiring when he has his oven, coffee pot, and toaster all going at the same time. Kitchen appliances can add up to a lot of current.

The only problem with large conductors like that is that they are difficult to pull through conduit.

Mate, seriously,

If you are a qualified Electrician and you are telling me that using 10 mm twin and earth cable to wire a standard house is a good idea I suggest you go back to Electrical school.

If volt drop is the problem the correct way to do it would be to use the 10 mm as the run in from the power source to the house and then wire the house with the correct size cabling, that being 2.5mm twin and earth for the power and 1.5 mm for the lighting circuit.

Jesus, where is Baldrick ?

He is the electrical expert on this forum and will put this stuff to bed in 2 seconds.

10 MM wire for a standard house install.
bolliks.

Using 2.5 mm power cable is sufficient enough to run every house hold appliance 24/7 without any problem what so ever as long as the house and appliances are wired correctly and the correct voltage is being delivered to the house.

If the correct voltage is not being delivered to the house it would not matter if one used 50mm within the house, the system will not operate correctly.

I seem to recall a couple of tourists getting electrocuted in the swimming pool a while ago. Shitty wiring? Somchai strikes again.