Ian
Cheers about the pond
Re nam fon I have never had a problem and can get upset guts easy, as I said I do use the tablets I bought in UK one tab to 20 liters plus when filling up it has to be raining hard for a while before we fill the tank. - a friend in Buriram has a plastic tank for rain but had a problem with alge so he put a cup of bleach in every three months or so and now no problem with that.(chlorine bleach that is )

Sounds good mate...what we have been doing is waiting for about 4 or 5 heavy downpoars to clear the dust off the roof then start collecting after that..
We then add these quite big tablets which kind of treat the water and should make it well useable..no idea what they are!!
We are the only people i have ever seen using them..but my missus reckons if we dont it will make us ill...I proved her wrong when i had my first cup or two...
I can drink it now not a problem but we have many shops close by so i usually go for bottled..but good on ya mate most foreigners seem to want to come her but not live the lifestyle...many of the richer thais i know still all drink rainwater....

Hi,

I've just got back from Thailand and this topic is covering lots of the things that I was looking at whilst out there.

Insulation:
Can you buy UK loft style insulation over there? I’ve seen that they sell rolls of it backed with foil in HomePro but is it available anywhere else? I want to keep the cold in and the heat and noise out of the bedroom, (those chickens have to go). I am considering putting it in the roof, walls and probably under the floor as the bedroom is above the main living area of the house.

Water Tanks:
As they have a habit of switching off the local water supply (we have two separate supplies, charged at different rates apparently) I am also looking at putting one of those metal water tanks on a tower at the back of the house. Has anyone else done this and what size tank did you buy?

Solar Water Heaters:
And finally, solar water heaters, where do you get them from? The locals all denied that they exist until I showed them the one near Makro in Khorat and the one on the roof of a big farang house in the village. It seems daft to me to have to use an electric water heater with the meter spinning madly when solar power is not exactly in short supply. I remember holidays in Greece where every house has one on the roof that is the only source of hot water (and that dash back from the beach to get the hot water before it ran out).

Thanks

J

Hi James
re - Can you buy UK loft style insulation = Yes most builders merchants also have a look at the sprayed closed cell polystyrene insulation, that is also available.

re - metal water tanks on a tower = tanks come in all sorts of sizes 2,000lt cost about 11,000baht and seem to be a popular size, do you need it on a tower as it's cheaper to have a pump and not a tower, plus easier for cleaning.

re - Solar Water Heaters = Aint got a clue the only ones I have seen and asked about are home made ones, never yet found them on sale commercialy. Apart from that the instant shower units are about 7,000 baht for a 4.3kw and electricity is fairly cheap compared to UK. Remember that the water out of a tank is never cold anyway it's always warm just with the air temperature. (Greece can get very cold at night not same Thai)

There were many things I didnt understand when I moved into a village but after a while I realised why certain things are done, like getting up early to avoid the heat, recycle everthing - no dustbinmen, no bright lights at night they attract insects, drink rainwater (see previous posts) it tastes good and it's cheap, have a car port not attached to the house great for drying cloths and cooking under no smoke gets in house. Window grills not so much of a burgular deterant but stops birds and larger animals from getting into house if you leave windows open (cats are a pain). Habbit of putting small fish in any water not used for drinking keeps mosquito lava down. Eating green mango better and quicker than any laxative on the market.

The only things I have never been able to find in Thaland are decent pork pies, Dunhill International cigarettes (apart from airport) and a propper egg poacher pan (which I brought from the UK).

All the best you cant beat living in a village in Thai in my opinion.
Regards
A very happy old boy in Thailand.

quote:

re - Solar Water Heaters = Aint got a clue the only ones I have seen and asked about are home made ones, never yet found them on sale commercialy.

I know lungbing (Derek) in Khon Kaen has had solar panels professionally installed. Not sure when he'll be logging in next but I'm sure he'll be able to advise. From memory I think the company he used was based near Udon Thani.

quote:

It seems daft to me to have to use an electric water heater with the meter spinning madly when solar power is not exactly in short supply.

I quite agree, I was very impressed with Derek's set up.

Regards

I really think if you want to keep room temps down you need to vent the roof, these tiles get seriuolsy hot in the mid day heats....i think insulation is good below and in wall cavitys but i personally wont bother with it anywhere in the roof space...you can get these free running ventilation/extractor fans that fit in the roof and will only let hot air out...hot air rises and will just jump at the chance to get out via a vent...
Putting insulation at ceiling level will just stop hot air getting out of your room and eventually push it back down to you...if your roof has no airing or vents this heat will eventually radiate down but if it is given a chance to get out of the roof space it will take this option...
Normal things like darkened glass, shutting blinds or curtains and keeping doors shut keep our house at normal levels...never really use aircon.....
On the solar water heater front i guess it all depends on what amount of hot water you need, we dont use any at all...washing machine has cold feed, shower water runs warm through natural heating, and to wash the car i turn on the hose in the morning to fill the pipe then go back in the evening and the water which has laid there all day is boiling,......
As mervyn said if you had a tank the water would be warm anyway but i guess its all down to how much you use and how often....also got a gut feeling this will be well pricey...
I was going to invest in a tower when heading back there but will now be looking at a set up like mervyns above as way more practible....

You must be able to get the panels somewhere as when i was helping a swedish guy put up a house a few years ago a friend of his had a real basic system and said it was perfect for what he needed.....
He had this set up on his roof and had warm water basiclly all day and very hot water in the afternoon..

He had 3 panels like above but slightly smaller, he had a missus and 3 kids so obviously needed a bit of water ...i couldnt find out more because he spoke a language all of his own

Ian
It looks like those panels above would be very easy to copy with bits from a local from a builders merchants, all that would be required is a slow circulation pump and mount those pipes in a black box, or paint those pipes matt black. Insulated tank with a bit of wiring to two sensors to compare temperatures of roof panel and tank connected to the pump. Gives me an idea I might just try - washing machines take a lot of hot water.

Just on the hot air side of things we dont have the roof space ventilated as such because when the place was built the tiles are all wired onto the steel roof trusses and natural gaps occur to let the heat out, the tiles do get hot but the roof is high enough to prevent radiated heat transfering down to bedroom ceilings. Walls in normal Thai built houses have no cavaties! the over hang of the roof keeps the sun off the walls and hence they keep cool. Tintted glass throughout is great and the cost difference for the whole house was only 3,000baht (tinted V clear). The most important thing that I find is air movement as opposed to cooling, so we have ceiling fans and floor fans about everywhere. I do intend when I get round to it to get one of those big f-off fans that can be used outside when there is no breeze it also will blow the mozies away. Talking about mozies we have the electronic mozie scarers in several rooms and it keeps the house mozie free, unless at night we (she) leaves a door open and have bright lights on inside. The electronic units are a bit pricey about 1500baht each (Carrefour Pattaya)but save ten fold on what would be spent on sprays.

quote:

Originally posted by mervyn:
Talking about mozies we have the electronic mozie scarers in several rooms

Would that be the blue UV/high voltage type that kills mozies and flys ? The sort that you see in food shops. I did consider buying some in a local shop and taking to LOS. Do they work, or are Thai flies to smart for them.

Talking of mozzies....before we finishes this house we lived in a thai wood house, real comfortable and i liked it a lot....(if it hadnt been for my scratch card addict wife then we would still be living there or i would have tried to get another wood one made)...what i found is that when we first arrive that i would get eaten alive for about 2/3 weeks then they seem to leave me alone...i get the odd one on the ankles but that was about it...had to sleep under nets though...Now we in concrete alls ok as long as everything shut at night...
The family a few house away had this device that kept clicking all night long, no idea what it was.i just used the green leaf spray from tescolotus. Took itching away ok..
i know a guy who has a condo in korat city who get bit bad every time he goes out...poor sod if you saw his legs you would tell him to pack bags and move on....mozzies got a taste for him......

Ray
Not the V/U high voltage ones but a small black box that emmits a inaudable high pitch sound and also something to do with magnetism it says, you cant hear it working at all but a couple of LED are on to show its working - and they work great for us.

Paul, Thank you for those few kind words.

Yes, I have a solar hot water system. Two panels on the roof give us constant hot water which is stored in a large tank on one of the walls in the roof space.

In the hot season the water needs 25% hot and 75% of what passes for cold here to be acceptrable for a shower. If you don't see the sun for three days in the wet season then the temp goes to ambient, but soon picks up when the sun comes out.

There is no pump in the system. hot water rises and moves itself round the system.

It cost 50,000 baht 2 years ago and was fitted by a company called Thai-German Solar, now called Solar Solutions and they are at Km post 47 on Mittrapharp Road between Khon Kaen and Udon Thani in Kao Suang Kwang tambon, KK province. I have their brochure here . They have a Thai language and a separate English one. German technology. One minor leakage after ftting when it got very hot for the first time and they were there quickly and fixed it for free.

Their web page is

http://www.solarsolutions.co.th

and the second picture down on their site is my bungalow.

They can do solar panels to generate electricity but it needs a large area to generate enough to run a house, and IMHO isn't yet financially viable. But they did show me a nifty solar panel about the size of a paperback book that opened up like a book and was enough to recharge a mobile phone for free or power a small water pump for a fountain.

Derek,

Khon Kaen

Derek
That is great thanks for the info

No problems, that's what this forum's for.

Any questions, ask away.

Derek

Thanks for the info chaps, exactly what I was looking for, I hope that this thread runs on for a while longer as the information that is coming out is excellent.

The diy solar heater made out of that blue pipe appeals as a fun project to get the locals talking.

Derek, the system you have looks really good, I was thinking of the European style ones that have the tank at the top of the panel, but putting the tank in the roof and just having the panels on the roof is a much better look. I wonder if they deliver to Phimai....

J

quote:

I hope that this thread runs on for a while longer as the information that is coming out is excellent

This certainly is a very informative topic.

I've featured the thread so it will always be displayed at the head of Migration / Emigration / Living in LOS section of the forum.

Cheers all.
Lee

just uploaded final pics of a house build in korat....pic quality isnt amazing as these are captured from a video cam but hopefully it will show many of the important features in building a home in thailand..
This house was built in 3 and half month from nov04 to feb05 and cost roughly 850,000bt....
Before sourcing our own materials and hiring local labour we consulted with about 7 or 8 differnt builders and from the plans of this house was quoted anything from 1.2 to 1.7 million showing that vast amounts can be saved if willing to take on the challenge yourself....

construction 04/05

Just on the sola heating
I was playing yesterday and decided to see if there was any difference in the time the washing machine took to do the same wash but with warmer water. The result was a ten minute reduction in time and I presume that was less heating, all I did was connect two hose pipes to the water supply lay them out in the sun and then connected the washer to the end the water in the pipes certainly got hot with the sun.
Result I have more interest in solar heating to save electric on the washer.

thanks for keeping this thread going it is really interesting.im off to uthai thani september.have bought the land and the foundations have been down 6mths or so .i now have to get the wifes uncle up from bangkok(he,s the builder and yes hes good ive seen his handywork in bkk).finalise the details etc but youve given me lots to consider.one question for those whove built.did you get the plans drawn or did you use the builders.?reason for asking is my builder bought his plans for thye houses hes built and we modified them with my wishes.(imagine that,me the wife her father brothers etc +the builder and his sons none of whom speak english,trying to discuss items such as tread depth on stairs and door heights)
one more thing is a thai metre different than ours as my measurement of my land was about 80m x 45m wheras the f-i-l was about 1/2 .paid 100 k baht + 30 th for the foundations

Robert I think you should find metric is the same no matter where, but the list below is a conversion

1 sq. wah = 4 sq. m.
1 acre = 2.471 rai (or 43,560 sq. ft.)
1 ngan = 100 wah (or 400 sq. m.)
1 hectare = 6.25 rai (or 10,000 sq. m.)
1 Rai = 4 Ngan (or 1600 sq. m.)


hence

4,000 sq Wah = 172,222 sq ft = 16,000 sq m = 40 Nagn = 10 Rai = 4.00 Acres = 1.60 Hectare

not quite as cutting edge but you can Buy a water cooler from Big C and Tescos they cost around 4/5000 baht, then you buy a refil every week the good water is about 50p the not so good about 10p, chilled water on tap it was one of the best things i bought whilst living in Los

TJ
For 6500baht you can get a water chiller with a fridge underneath it for cans now that is good. By the way chilled rain water is the best yet water.