What you are seeing is probably a cultural thing. In the UK and with our cousins in the USA we live in a nanny state where the government sets health and safety laws to protect us... from ourselves. I remember once auditing a chemical testing laboratory in Germany and was surprised to see a lack of safety signage, no "wear your Safety glass", "don't touch this surface HOT", "wear gloves", etc. If you went into an equivalent Lab in the UK it would have been festooned with such signage. When I asked the Laboratory supervisor why no such signage he looked at me puzzled and said.. they are trained techinicans they know not to do stupid things.
The signage is NOTHING TO DO WITH SAFETY!!! ITS TO COVER SOMEONES ARSE IF SOMEONE GETS HURT. Same as a label on your HOT coffee!! Exactly the same with hi vis jackets, nothing to do with safety, just a way to check on your workforce! Hi -vis originally were only used in dangerous places, like a petrol/chemical site or "Air side" at a Airport. Its all about control and liability.
I think Germany would have similar regulations and standards as other western European countries, but if the German guy said "we dont need signs because the people are trained" its the dumbest thing I've heard. Firstly, if there was a fire at the chemical plant, the fire dept needs to know what chemicals are housed there so firemen dont die from chemical exposure. This is the law in most western countries. There are similar insurance requirements. Buildings are not just occupied by trained people. They get all kinds of visitors from customers, to cleaning staff, to outside electricians and trades working on the premises. The German guy sounds dumb if he really said that, but I find it hard to believe he really said that. Thousands of people die every year from electric shocks in countries like Thailand, India, Vietnam, and most non-western countries including many children. In some countries thousands of animals die too like monkeys. Many countries also have to worry about t****rists starting a fire or something then breaking the emergency generator. Im glad we have safer and more secure systems in most of the west. .
@tubester4567 first of all, all Chemicals Factories have a Emergency plan so People know what to do. Also all dangerous Chemicals are Labelled with there hazard identification number and Symbols. So the Firedepartment knows what danger lies behind. In some bigger plans there is even a Specialised Firedepartment. As an outside Contractor whe often times get safety instructions and have all the important documents for Emergency an the side. The reason why we don't over signs things is because we still emphasise on common sense and our training because you can have a thousand signs if you don't know them or you don't have trained personal you will have accidents. Also in Switzerland we have Electric Rooms only for instructed Personal BA4. In those Rooms there is the possibility that only a Fence keeps you from Accidentlie Elektrocuting yourself Oftentimes seen with the high Voltage Transformers in buildings
People have more respect for anything that dangles abroad. The first thing you do is touch it, or go in, they wouldn't. I told that when my company had a Indian office. Always considered the cables live.
"I just walked into a place I wasn't supposed to be and could of died"... heres an idea don't go walk in somewhere you are not supposed to be, you wouldn't go to the zoo and walk into a lions cage would you... you can hear that buzzing from outside, it's not someone getting his hair cut.
The LV consumer unit in your apartment is very interesting indeed...It's not only British _Style,_ it's actually _Certified to BS 5486!_ That's not a _Thai_ part, it's a *British* part in a _Thai_ installation! 😁 (Though I note with interest the main isolator and the layout of the board appears to gravitate to the _left_ hand side, as opposed to the British _right_ hand CU alignment. Thailand drives on the right, doesn't it? 🙃) Finally, you say at 12:35 that British standards would _never_ allow an innocent person to come that close to an HV circuit? I happen to live a stones throw away from a subterranean 130KV National Grid link that runs through my area, and transfers to elevated HV transmission lines about a mile west of here. Although the lines are put up at quite some height, you can still physically walk underneath them...And the conductors have absolutely *no* insulation around them whatsoever! ⚡🇬🇧😋
@@artisanelectricsdeleting the video about the redundancies, deleting all comments on insta about John, not giving his company a shoutout like you did with the Cory… all seems a bit sus, but as long as the boss gets a tan
@@artisanelectrics I dunno man. It's a peace of art at best, a statement piece. I can't see any practical use for it. A Tesla van would be better, because vans are far more practical than any pick-up unless you've off road.
the board in the carpark is for the mechanical services. such as co2 sensors and stairwell ventallation shafts in the event of a fire the close. The pump room will be linked to an FIP panel
surprised you managed to look around like that without a escort of some sort.....in new zealand you'll come across alot of " no entry authorised personel only " signs on the door's but not only that you'll likely find the door locked
3:26 It is the same in the US and China to wire the board with metal conduits. In the UK they prefer to use cable, more specifcally the MICC cable with cable trays.
Its very rare to see MICC cables, considered to expensive, to much labour. Imagine a huge building all done in MICC- wonder if the ohms reading was ever below 1. Today believe it or not its underrated T/ E OR SWA reliant on the MCB or RCD and the liability is covered by the Test electrician!!!!! Fire? remember Grenville Tower-what actually started the fire? My guess electrical. I've even seen yellow plastic gas pipes in a underground car park, low enough to be hit by a SUV There is very little oversite by inspectors on commercial sites. I know I used to go round to test them and refused many. I come from the old school of electricians where pride and safety were paramount-thats been eroded over the years by the money boys in the Contract departments. Today its ALL about cost
You should come to Romania to see our electrical system. I work as an electrician here, and you will see two worlds of electrical works. The commercial sector that have the latest and greatest of IEC Standards and the communist era Electric with DIY installations. The government doesn't really regulate nor infer with the private sector and it's crazy how everything is wired up.
Romania was late with the introduction of fiber optic to buildings, which entailed the messy installation practice. However we do also have a very good system for that reason as well. We were late in implementing fiber optic which meant that we have the latest technology in europa. @@jim575757
You did not mention anything about "Earthing - CPC". In "most" domestic houses here in Thailand they do not run an "Earth" accept for the the electric shower yet 3 pin sockets are prolific here.
Gooe stuff Jordan. The fire pump room system is typically an electric motor coupled to a diesel motor driving the water pump. Alternatively the system uses the diesel pump drive only. This is used as a "booster" system for fire sprinklers and or building hydrants. The water supply can be from the water authority supple and or a large tank on site. There are small jacking pumps that keep the system pressurised. The electrical supply doesn't have isolators or RCD protection and so on so it keeps running. Same as smoke exhaust / stair pressurisation fans. Cheers
A cultural thing to be aware, is that thai people may not find it very polite, to have pointed out problems like this. At least, avoid situations where they feel they will "loose face" on having obvious problem pointed out. They do not have the same governmental resources to make infrastructure perfect, as we often have, in Europe. And it seems like the thai government already is aware as there is a cleanup of wires, including the mayhem of old copper wires mixed with the fiberoptics, going on on in cities. Just do not expect any miracles soon, most thai people do not have the economy to do things at our standards, in a long while, yet to come. Still - the electrical system on the infra-structure side, is as good as ours, even here in Norway, I would say perhaps even better than in the USA. Though talking about the USA, Thailand using USAs primitive plug system, hopefully will be adressed some day, but this is at the private side of the electric system. Official grounded connectors, used for washing machines and other equipment, are actually also used, and ACs must be connected with GF-protection, still again, probably not everyone respecting that. I always test the GF protection when taking a shower, and these heaters on demand, which also is used in the UK, is also something that must be phased out in the future, if we are going to have a stable net, with renewables, however - water heaters are not free. I would suggest that as a tourist, a polite letter after the trip, to the hotel or wherever you stayed, pointing out that tourists are maybe not so aware how to take care of themselves, so that you would recommend that there was focus to have this or that risk ammended. That could be anything from risky or faulty electric connections or equipment, to random holes in the streets, or random crowbars sticking out or up, low electric wires hanging etc. Focus on tourists maybe not being aware about the danger or challenge, to not critizise directly, to make the suggestion or complain being as polite and respectful as possible. Remember - the day Thailand affords to fix all this, we will already having been complaining that the rate of our money is really poor, compared to the Thai baht. 😅 It surely has changed, already and it will probably change more in the future, as we spend our money there. 😉
In north america, we don't require local isolation on motors. However, some industrial plants may opt to have "remote lockout points" by the motor so normal employees don't have to go all the way back to the electrical room just to tagout a motor.
you could learn it thiland electrics legally one day or another place. but its always intresting tho the training is hard but i think if my memorie was better id of tried that job
I've worked commercial all my sparky life. The adage is always treat everything as live and never go into a HV room without a knowledgeable person with you regarding HV! Dont assume anything, always be prepared for the worst. There are many good installations to a very high standard, which they should be but the commercial world is wide open to labour misrepresentation. Many are not qualified to ride a bike let alone go near any electrics. Dont assume they work to a standard, many times its cost that rules the installation standard. Your in the big boys world now, so take extra care. I'm not being condescending, just trying to tell you be careful. When you see guys die and burnt to a crisp, its no longer just electrics.
@@fergspan5727 They were British colonies or had significant influence from the Brits to be fair. If we had isolators here in Portugal people would turn them off at random lol
Great vid you can hear the fans blowing to assisted transformers to cool the pair of them down at a glance each at least 2.0 MVA cannot hazard what the local distribution is, they are resin core ANAF and the load is what you can hear and will feel as they are running at full tilt , that’s the electrical flux between the the different voltages. Nobody envisaged 20 years ago that AC would explode exponentially in the same period … you could make a fortune selling PFC and energy optimisers lol … get some rubber gloves and wellies though lol,😮
It all works so no problem..if it doesn't work then Buddah take care.😂 Health & Safety, what's that? 😂 As those of us who live here know...TiT or This is Thailand...
Nice video Jordan. You were filming the consumerpanel in the apartment. What struck me was the 50 amps main breaker and the 40 amps RCD. This is not allowed in the Netherlands. In the worst case, more than 40 amps can flow, causing the RCD to burn out. Something that is allowed in the Netherlands are plastic consumerpanels. Can you tell me why it's forbidden in the UK?
Well technically you shouldn’t fit new ones really but they aren’t exactly banned as we still have thousands in use and doubt they will ever entirely fade away.
The regulations say that consumer units should now be made of non combustible material to avoid fires in the event of loose connections etc as in the past fire fighters have been called out to too many plastic consumer unit fires
That's similar in a way to the installations in the UK. They have two 63A RCDs feeding the MCBs and 100A fuse upstream for overcurrent protection of the whole installation.
Yeah Thailand. On the plane you can almost feel the health and safety regulations reach up to embrace you when your plane crosses the EU border. You have to wonder given how dangerous Thailand is that perhaps Buddhism is the right religion.
I used to work for an HV Switchgear manufacturer and I find it insane that the door to the HV incomer was unlocked. That is a fatal accident waiting to happen. No doubt that it WILL end badly for someone eventually.
If the fire pumps work the same way as they do in the UK, the system will detect a pressure drop when a sprinkler head goes off and the pumps will start. Unlike in the movies only one sprinkler head will go off, the one that breaks due to heat. There will be the odd drench system around, but I have never seen one.
Drench/deluge systems are usually in small areas of a larger facility. Gunpowder room at the ammunition factory for example. Or covering a non closeable access that passes thru fire walls. I've worked on several over the years.
I live part-year in Colombia, and what I see different from the UK, is that we are not run by the nanny state; we are allowed to have common sense. Nobody would go into any of those plant rooms because they KNOW they are dangerous places and touching things might hurt or kill them. In the UK, there are so many rules and regulations, that it shields people from danger to the point of stupidity. People really need to take more responsibility for their own actions, instead of looking to blame someone when they do stupid things. We just had some alterations done to our house electrics (you can see the electricians at work in one of my videos), and the standard is well below that of UK, but it's still safe....just different. Another subject, but a good example ... on most street corners there is a drain, measuring about 3 feet by 2 feet, big enough to swallow an adult. They are in line with the pavements, where one would step off the kerb to cross the road. Invariably, there are no gratings over them, but you know what...nobody ever falls into one. People here can see the obvious danger and have the common sense to walk round them. For the reasons of less legislation, less control, less authoritarian interference, I LOVE living here.
Maybe on the other side of the world people just simply KNOW, when there is a label on the door "ELECTRICITY", that AUTOMATICALLY MEANS DANGER? Maybe there are countries where people know they better not put their fingers, where it's not theirt place? Asking for a friend....
I live in Thailand and for a while operated a dry ice cleaning services company. Thai building codes changed around 2010 when a ground was legally required for all new construction. I'd be hired to clean industrial equipment or MDBs (live 'cause we can!) Dry ice cleaning creates large amounts of static electricity in the pellets which then dump the charge into what ever you are cleaning. We would require the client to sign consent forms where they had to confirm they had an accessible earth. In reality, few did. Even newly finished factories had poor, insufficient or no earth. We took to taking a copper rod and making our own ground! It is a regular discussion here on expat forums when a new foreigner tells the local electrician to put in a light on the stairs with two switches at top bottom. "Can't be done!" is the typical response from the local guy! Standards here are low, safety is not a mindset here, and signing off is best done with an envelope of unmarked bills...
In Canada, we don't usually have isolator for every single appliance/load. Some are required by code/regulations for specific applications. For example, a residential heat pump must have an isolator right next to it. Generally, there are no isolators for indoor appliances. For example, an electric range will be plugged in a socket or hard-wired. The only way to cut power to that device is to turn off the corresponding circuit breaker in the load centre. Many appliances must have their own circuit and corresponding breakers. Some common examples of that are: dishwashers, refrigerators, ovens, ranges, washers, dryer,s water heaters, air conditioners, HVAC air handlers. We typically have a lot more circuits than what I see in the UK in your videos. For example, my 90 square meter condo (flat) has 24 separate circuits each with its own breaker. A typical cottage or bungalow with a 200 Amps service will probably have between 30 and 40 circuits, if not more.
I presume part of that is down to the lower voltage which will in turn mean a higher amperage required for same power (without having thicker gauge wires) - this wll put a lower limit on the number of appliances that could be safely handled and will tend to necessitate more circuits.
@@_chrisr_ Quite possibly. Indeed the available power with 120 V is half of what is available with 230/240 V. But give the ratio, about 1/2, that would mean that a typical flat in the UK would have around 10~12 circuits which does not appear to be the case.
@@samuelgilbert9734 The building I am in now, a bungalow, has 10 circuits. It was rewired back in 2010. Many older properties just have four circuits - sockets, lights, water heater and oven. Also need to take into account the use of ring circuits in UK which are often 30/32 amp rated which reduces the number of circuits needed - although we try to have more than one circuit for each use type so that there is some redundancy.
HV Transformer Room/Cabinet need to have clear sign that There is HV Electrical Shock Harzard insid (apart from which it should always locked). Yes it a code violation here also. And I always tell the building owner if I see something store in the electrical room. (The janitor or someone always does). It not good for safety as it may catch fire if there is arc or electrical explosion inside.
Another factor is that in many Asian countries there is a huge culture around what’s right and wrong. While those doors may be unlocked they probably look at it from the culture of if they are not supposed to be there they don’t open it.
In most of the world, outside the oh so controlled zone of the West, life is definitely more relaxed. I see a lot of interesting DNO connections at reachable level in the street, and other creative electrical connectivity which usually involves wrapped connections in plastic water bottles and insulation tape, where I live in Africa. Certainly electrical standards have not progressed beyond the 1980's here even though notionally they follow BS7671. It is unusual to find RCDs anywhere. Like Thailand C type breakers predominate - not a type B to be found anywhere. Although there is a bureaux of standards you do find twin and earth which is red and blue colours supplied in flash-coated copper on steel wire - an instant house fire in the making. You have to insist on copper if you are having installation work done - and check!!
I am in the 70th year and I have seen much in the US. Our power is 120/240 split phase, and if you do not have a 200 amp panel for a home, you are living on borrowed time. In my home which I wired in 1974 to a 200 amp panel and my 120 volt 20 amp circuit served 5 duplex receptacles and I am no farther than 5 feet at the most from any outlet. My house lights are on 15 amp circuits and no more than 6 lights per line. Today with led lights I could use 1-2 lines for the whole house… I wired heavy and safely using 12-2-WG for the house. I do have 5-6 240 volt circuits, ie, hot water tank, electric boiler for heating, stove, clothes dryer, shop heater, and a circuit in my electronics shop, all wired to code at the time I wired the house. I was originally trained as an electrician, then electronics, both 2 year courses. Now I am a geek in my old age, I love technology. But no matter wherever I go my electrical training came in handy. I still keep an updated NEC code book on my iPhone. One placed I worked, I was chief cable TV engineer and I was not afraid to change out field power transformers when they died or was just plain noisy!!! Love your channel and keep up the good work. DE N2JYG in Sherman NY USA
Looks to me that apart from the unlocked doors most of that kit wouldn’t be out of place in the UK. I seriously doubt you were anywhere near the HV side of any transformer. Having worked in factories with internal air cooled transformers, yes they do have a scary hum to them but the HV is usually switched from a separate room. Dedicated fire pumps don’t “fail safe” they usually fail to running condition. No local isolators, overloads, rcds etc, even normally closed main contractors ( need control voltage to stop them running). Better to burn out the pump than the building. Great video loved it
That would be cool! I’ve already left Thailand a month ago though and now I’m in Vietnam - my trip in Asia ends soon and I will be back in sunny England middle of Jan.
Good to see Jordan ruffing it up, in a building complex where 99.9% of the population could never afford to live. I see all that copex and can only think of Bundy moonlighting.
It sure seems that they are setting themselves up for a terrorist attack by leaving everything open to the public. Great video Jordan, Thanks for sharing!
