Thai Electrical Advice needed (long post)

i am currently in the process of decorating a 3 storey town house into something liveable .. with just very basic decorating .. nothing fancy .. which is why i'm doing it all myself mostly cos i dont trust any thai to do even a half decent job , and also cos its fun learning how to do things myself as im pretty DIY minded already ..when we (me and the gf) got the building we had no water running upstairs on the 1st floor where we wanted to live, the pressure was only enough for the ground floor, so i had to install a water tank and all the pipes etc which is almost finished , i can't do anymore until i get the pump installed and for that i need electric .. and that is where you guys come in .. hopefully

i'm not an electrician .. far from it .. and to be honest it scares the heck out of me..lol .. but i want my home grounded for my own safety , my gf's , all my home
appliances and also for the little nieces and nephews usually running around

What i'd like to acheive is :

1. Install only a new ground wire to link the existing wall sockets and replace just the fronts and upgrade the pins sockets from 2 to 3 (obviously) leaving all the existing wires in place and possibly the internal shells for the wall sockets (unless the 3 pin ones take up a lot more space and make this impossible, then external shells will be used) ,
2. Install a ground rod in the correct location , depth etc
3. Upgrade to a new Consumer Unit with the correct sized breakers , ELCB etc (but if possible keep the existing circuit breakers in place so later when i leave it can all be removed and put back to normal if necessary)

the existing circuits can stay as they are .. but i want the new grounded circuits added along side it all .. i want to do this the cheapest ( but still safe) way possible , i dont care much for the cosmetic side of how this all looks as the building is only rented and everything is only temporary (long term enough to bother having this done for now) but i can easily rip out any work ive done to put the building back to normal and take anything with me to the new place etc and re-use it all where possible (if they are in decent condition )

as there is a lot of things to show and many questions to ask so i will keep this intro to post one and then post a reply for each seperate question to make digestion a bit easier ..and answers easier .. also i dont have time to do it all now

ok 1st the existing system is 2 pin sockets etc with the big old circuit breakers?? and fuse



this is a rough electrical plan of how things are currently , sorry if its not very clear it makes perfect sense to me ..



basically the dark green line is the mains power coming in from outside
into the purple boxes which are circuit breakers (as in top photo)
the lighter green lines are thicker cables than the others and seem to just be taking the power from floor to floor
the red lines are the same as yellow lines .. but red show the power supply throughout the radials and the yellow just go direct to the light bulbs
the red squares represent the power sockets and yelllow are for the light switches
the blue squares are for where im going to want new sockets etc which are grounded

each point will only ever have certain things plugged into those areas ..so incase that makes a difference they will be as follows

- point one: will be the lounge area so will be the TV, DVD player, maybe a home PC at some point, my laptop, and a fan etc
- point two: will be the kitchen area , this will have a table top oven that is 2000W , toaster 1600W , hot pan 1000W , rice cooker 830W, kettle 600W, microwave 800W , food mixer etc and also a washing machine and fridge which im not sure how many Watt they are , both say only 220V- 50hz (photo's at the bottom.. of the labels on the units incase anyone can work it out into Watts)
- point three: is the toilet area which will have an electric hot water shower 4500W
- point four: is the bedroom .. not much in here , maybe a tv , the home pc might go in here when i get it .. and the laptop will be used in here often too
- point five: is under the stairs where the water pump (check photo below to work out Watts if needed) is going
- point six and seven: are not needed just yet and may be added at a later date , the the plans are for that area to be a pizza shop .. should be a brick fire oven but will need other appliances like food mixers , fridge , etc ( only mentioned incase it has a major effect on things)

the gounding and the circuit breakers are pretty much the only things im really unsure of .. i know how to put wires all over the building and connect them to the sockets etc , what i need to know is that im making the correct type of circuit for whats needed and with the right size fuses etc
i know the grounding rod needs to be in a ''wet'' or ''moist'' area of ground for better conductivity etc .. but thats the problem .. thailand is covered in concrete , front and back of the building is full of concrete ,
but the place i've decided to put the ground rod is next to the pump under the stairs out of the way (point E)





the grounding rod is not solid copper as i found out when it was nearly halfway down ( the rod had a hole drilled through a few centimetres down from the top for the clamping bolt and nuts to go through .. this weakened the neck and it bent and snapped off after smacking it with the hammer ) instead it is a grey metal inside with a copper coating approx 1 metre long

i had to improvise and find a new clamp to attach the ground cable from the water pump to the rod .....does this seem ok ?





1st i just want to get some power to the water pump ( and have it grounded ) so i can finish installing the water pipes and test them for leaks etc without the risk of getting any electric shock from the pump

i shut off the main breaker ( the far left breaker in the top photo )
then went and took the plastic face off a switch upstairs ( number 10 on the building plan ) after '' gently pulling it out to view the wires on the back i was glad i had decided to inspect it as the wires were not even screwed in properly and just came right out ..lol




so i will check the rest and secure them all before turning the power back on ..but before i go poking around with screw drivers near electrical wires .. how can i be sure there's no current left in the cables? i have an electricians tester screwdriver but never used it before so do i just touch the tip on the wire and press the button on the end of the screw driver to make the light show (and if the cable is live the led will light up) or do i need a multimeter .. if so how to use that properly?

once all the existing sockets are checked and ok .. i want to run a cable from the light switch at point 3 to under the stairs for the pump to plug into at point E ..

- how would i configure the wires behind the switch for that at both points (3 is just a light switch but E will have a 2 pin socket and a switch to turn it off )

Left is the switch, right is the 2 pin socket for rating info:




the cable is marked :
ANT cable type vaf 2 x 2.5 sq mm pvc/pvc 300 volt 70C tis 11-2531 table 2 tcc cable

this is my pump....sorry its in thai

Toodkeng said:

i have an electricians tester screwdriver but never used it before so do i just touch the tip on the wire and press the button on the end of the screw driver to make the light show (and if the cable is live the led will light up) or do i need a multimeter .. if so how to use that properly?

Click to expand...

My first advice would be to throw the "electricians screwdriver" off the top of the nearest building and go out and buy yourself a multimeter. Those screwdrivers are not safe for testing circuits and should never be used to prove dead. There will be instructions with the multimeter and if they are in Thai and you can't read them then have a look online. There will be plenty of information on how to use a multimeter.

My second advice would be to ask around and see if there are any electricians who would be able to help you with guidance on this project. While you do understand some of the basics it is clear that you are a little out of your depth. You've already realised the importance of grounding and obviously asked here instead of charging straight in (which is a definite positive!) but there other things to consider such as testing your install. Unfortunately a trusty multimeter won't be any good for measuring things like earth fault loop impedance (for your grounding) and this equipment will start to add up if you buy it yourself. If you can find a good local electrician then you may be able to get guidance on how/where to run everything and they will be able to test the installation and pick up on any problems.