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SantiSuk

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Everything posted by SantiSuk

  1. Interested in any response. The concrete floor of my 15yo reserve/buffer tank (3m x 2m floor, 2m deep) is peeling scraps and could presumably leak one day. Thanks for posting
  2. I recently (one month ago) had the denouement to having had a similar problem to yours - declining flow when pumping, poor suction when vacuuming and an obvious ingress of air in the system as evidenced by a frothy appearance of the flow at the pumps inspection lid. Also a noticeable thump had been detectable for a few moths when I switched the pump off. I should have attended to it earlier - the suction got so bad that I could not get the flow working through suction from the pool side alone and had to partially open the valve to allow water to come from the pool bottom to supplement flow and eventually even that was not helping enough. In the last couple of months before denouement i also experienced a slight water jet issuing up from the pump lid when I switched off. Then on the fateful day a month ago, when I switched the pump off, the thump from the system became a loud bang, the pump lid flew off about two feet high and I was partially drenched with water. The pump lid had cracked. The Emaux pump supplier, Swimming Pools Thailand said they had no experience of such a set of events. I was going to call Emaux but first looked up the internet, googling "water exploding from my pump lid" (or something along those lines). I found a relevant post by a pool specialist who said that air visible in the flow through the pump would have been a sign of a leak and the first place to look (and most likely culprit) would be the pump lid itself. If not there it could be any of the valves, the filter or pump itself. I sucked hard contemplating replacement of my entire system, but the internal contents of the pump room were only 3 years old (piping and main valves installed 12 years ago). I decided that if the pump inspection lid was the prime candidate I would replace that and see what happens. Bought replacement pump lids and seals from SPT and lubricated the seals heavily with silicone gel. Nothing else was changed but I did clean the reserve tank and the footer valve in there (it tends to need cleaning every month). With great trepidation I tried it out, this time facing well away from the pump. Success! The pump returned to a quieter operation with clearly better flow and only a bit of air in evidence. When I did my first vacuuming it was evident that the pump was sucking much stronger - back to as new in fact. Still not back to performance as new in terms of a small amount of air mixed in when viewed at the pump lid but the good suction and flow rate and the comforting soft noise I get when switching off now has persuaded me to put off the full replacement of valves, pipes filter and pump. I will watch carefully for deterioration and take action well before it all goes downhill again!
  3. Picking up on this now old thread and avoiding the opinion fest on "the oldest profession", just to say that I think OnNut has net gained from the demise of the beer gardens cum pond at BTS OnNut and the increasing footfall in the Suk soi 50 entertainment alley (booze & food, rather than tugs & hugs) - opposite the Suk soi 50 car park entries for Lotus's OnNut - now that there are some good food options (nice crispy wood-fired pizzas, interesting selection of burgers and trimmings at Eazy Burger and the Japanese place on soi 50 itself (the latter seems to have recently moved out unfortunately?). Plus some bars where you can almost bank on being able to have a decent conversation with falangs and Thais (both genders) after 8pm - Cheap Charlies and the one to its right and left being in the forefront but there's two or three others which might have a good party vibe going on or some screened soccer on any particular night you call by. Just the opinion of an oldie (72) Brit expat who is glad he has a condo round the corner to mix with his Thai rural family existence in loveable Isaan. What do the younger-uns living here here think of SukSoi 50 alley?
  4. I think maybe the OP is posting re the two beer gardens with food service right next to BTS on the outbound side. One had a pond in the middle. They vacated earlier this year AFAIK (irregular visitor to my condo in OnNut from Isaan during Covid).
  5. We (me and my family from Sisaket Isaan) are supposed to be meeting up and staying with my Anglo-German nephew and his family at the Shangri-La Bangkok Hotel this Thursday and Friday night. The Shangri-La is on the river in the same area as the Mandarin, almost adjoining Saphan Taksin BTS station and just a couple of blocks west of Charoen Krung Rd. Bangkok Post last weekend were predicting that the Chao Praya would flood Charoen Krung Rd when the overload from the North arrives. They were talking specifically about Chinatown area. Knowing that area of Bangkok well (having stayed at the Shangri-La many times on business before retiring to Thailand 14 years ago and having owned a regularly-used condo in OnNut since retiring here) I would have thought that, if there is flooding in Chinatown, surely it will spread the few kilometers south and inundate those sois west of Charoen Krung Rd that contain Shangri-La and Saphan Taksin. Any thoughts? Has the Chao Praya overflowed into southern Chinatown before and did it get down to the area of which I speak? The hotel says 'we don't expect our area to flood' without giving specific reason for that confidence. They would say that wouldn't they.
  6. I have no knowledge, but out of interest I entered 'variable speed pool pump' in Google and I got lots of Thai hits with adverts from Lazada et al. I'm based in Thailand so I get Thai feed from Google. You may have to add Thailand to that search string if your Google feed is still your mother country.
  7. I have had good experience this summer with replacing 40 mg of atorvastatin - giving me the often-quoted result of muscle pain, exhaustion and sleep disturbance - by 10mg of the same plus 10mg of ezetimibe. The health threads in the UK are full of stories of people's resistance to statins but also stories that should tell you to keep pressing your cardio to get to an acceptable alternative by changing the statin or going for combinations with other lipid controlling meds like ezetimibe. Cost by the way - 250 baht for a strip of 10 (x 10mg 'Sandoz' of Japanese manufacture - equivalent to western brands) at my local pharmacy. More expensive than regular statins but worth it. Note of caution - the above conclusion is provided that my next - and first since the swap-over - lipid tests give the right results). I didn't know there were local generics; might give those a trial sometime once I've had confirmation from the blood tests.
  8. Very useful for anyone facing a hip replacement op to read this thread. All the stories you hear are of people coming out of he op saying how wonderful it is they can walk normally again (even had those stories relayed by family members who were living more closely to my mother when she had the op 20 years ago). Kinda makes you think that you should be 'pushing it' on the stick-less walking to get to that state. Had my op at Bumrungrad a month ago. Paid an arm as well as my leg of course and all went smoothly and you gotta love the quality of their hospitality, but I'm going to take it a bit easier now I've read your story. Received a couple of sheets of paper on release with the same exercises I was doing in recovery for 5 days in hospital but no real guidance about pacing oneself, when to back off and warnings on the potential implications of pushing it too quickly.
  9. I guess my concern if I were doing it to my system is how does one stop the pool not emptying its contents into your machine room, but if someone can address that then maybe I could be tempted to have a go. [Probably not - I'm too risk averse - I'm the sort that believes in paying for pros and having been a pro in another profession I have the resources to do that (but I would never knock those that have to or want to look for cheaper solutions]. I think my pump is a bit lower than the top water line of the pool - maybe you have to partially empty the pool in those circs but I'll bet the pool builders have some tricks to circumvent that. I am sure you need to fix the pump more steadily than you describe its current fixing status. You risk vibrations being pushed around the pipework and eventually compromising some seals (I would guess). I'd expect to build a concrete platform/block using formwork onto the floor to provide a stable base; should be within a decent builder's competence. Whether they are good at getting the alignment right is down to their experience/professionalism I guess. Alternatively the pump's input and output pipework can possibly be remodelled so that it reaches down to a pump fixed to the existing floor level. Emaux pumps have always done the job for me but no doubt Bagwain (an experienced pro who comments on this forum) will be along to tell you about something he believes to be better. As I understand it Hayward are good quality, but expensive in Thailand. I have a 90,000 litre pool (including reserve tank) and Swimming Pools Thailand advised me to use a 1.0 HP Emaux pump at the initial build stage. I got to thinking it was a little bit underpowered, so I upgraded to 1.5 HP when I replaced it after 10 years (the old one was by then leaking a bit past the main joint seal half way along the pump; could have tried new seals but wanted to upgrade anyway to ensure I got the right solution without paying for a second visit if new seals didn't solve the problem after 1st visit). As before - good luck!
  10. Very brave of you (or do I mean foolhardy?????) to think you can fit a replacement pump given your limited knowledge of how pools work. I reckon the question you should be asking is. "My pool is in {insert area where you live}. Does anyone have a recommendation for a pool company/shop that will advise on an appropriate replacement and do a supply and fit?". If you lived in the northern half of Isaan I would recommend Swimming Pools Thailand. (Southern half and their travel costs get a bit chunky in relation to the size of the job - I do use them but my requirements have usually been for several bits of kit at any one time) Good luck, from another Yorkshireman in Thailand!
  11. Yes consulting a specialist here in Thailand is good value. Even Bumrungrad you could expect to come away with a bill of less than 2,000 baht plus any imaging or other test procedures for an initial consultation with a leading practitioner. [major operations are no cheaper than the UK these days. 5 to 10 years ago I was several times pared back by my company-funded UK insurer with the comment that they were overcharging].
  12. I agree entirely with this assessment. I had a triple bypass at Bumrungrad 4 years ago, age 67. Much easier than I expected. I'm back again now and had a replacement hip a couple of days ago. Same again - I'm taking baby steps with a walker already.
  13. Many thanks guys. I know about saphan loi as my Bangkok condo has one outside which features in my instructions to Thai taxi drivers when up in town! I used it at Ubon airport a few days ago and the check-in girls understood my issue. However, when I just now talked my wife thru' your responses she said that KhunBENQ's sà-paan tîiap krêuuang bin shows a level of sophistication that might get the girls switching to Thai, believing me to be fluent. I'll try it out next time (next week) and see what happens.???? Many thanks to all.
  14. 'Air bridge' being the walkway that is moveable to connect the aircraft exit to the terminal departure gate.
  15. I have operated my pool with 3 different approaches over the 11 years I've owned it. First was simple manual dosing. Works fine if you don't mind regular contact with raw chlorine in either powder, granule or tablet form; it's cheap because there is no extra equipment to factor into the cost equation and no replacement elements needed to keep that equipment cost element from increasing annual costs. Next I had a salt water chlorination unit installed. Once you've written off the cost of the installation in your mind it's a cheap option (but bear in mind the chlorinator cell unit will need replacing every few years). It's also a very convenient mode. No need to mess with nasty chlorine but you will find yourself humping 25kg bags of salt around every 2-3 weeks or so (and maybe storing a stash if you want to cut costs - factory delivered salt tends to be noticeably cheaper than buying a sack at a time in Global or your local pool shop). It makes a lot of sense to upgrade to the salt chlorination method if you are away from home a lot. If nobody will be swimming in the pool you can probably overdose a bit and go way leaving the chlorinator to do its stuff for a month. Finally I recently (8 months ago) upgraded to UV filtration. Seems like its the least effort method of all three. I just put 300 grams of chlorine every 3 weeks into my 90k litre pool (+ or - 100g if my diary means I am having to dose after 4 or 2 weeks- it's needed to keep the pipes from getting mucky. I love the clarity and freshness of the pool water (except for the couple of days after dosing) thta UV provides. The replacement units plus installation costs make this the most expensive of the 3 options and I haven't yet got the cost profile worked out, but would not be surprised to find its average cost to be 1.2 to 1.5 times salt water chlorination once the replacement UV element has been factored in. Don't let the pros persuade you that manual dosing is prehistoric and messy and that the other alternatives are equally cheap. If you are used to handling chlorine and don't mind spending that bit of regular time doing so then carry on saving yourself a bit of money. Maybe if your pool users don't like the slight chlorination effect on their nose and eyes (only really noticeable for a day or so after dosing) it might persuade you to upgrade at some future point. Now to your germane point - what type of chlorine for manual dosing? Powder is the cheapest, granules next and tablets the most expensive. Even discounting the slight differences in cost, in my opinion (which others are quite entitled to disagree with) granules win hands down. Powder is a no-no for me. You can't chuck it into the centre of the pool without losing some of it to even a slight breeze (and you'll have to make sure your pets are not around during dosing time). What I like about granules is that if you do get a patch of your pool that is showing some greening on the floor or walls you can target granules to collect at a specific area. A couple of times over the years I have had a problem with grouting at the deep end showing a bit a of green/brown or a particular area of floor doing the same. For problem wall areas or at the bottom edges I use one of those plastic rice spoons (used to take cooked rice out of an electric rice cooker), dip it into the pot of granules and then shake it slowly so that granules drop into the very fringe of the pool or chuck it into the air so it lands over the target floor area - I find granules quite reliable for targeting work; powder is frustrating if you try the same! It sticks in unexpected lumps. Granules float momentarily then drop rewardingly straight down into the bottom edge (if its walls or the bottom corner joint that you are targeting). Works well in stopping the green in its tracks IME. [Of course it helps to have a go with brushing first]. Hope this helps.
  16. My experience here in Isaan is that it has been very noticeable over the last few months that many drivers are driving slower to save money. Can be irritating, but overall not much effect because the slower vehicles make it easier to plan a non-consumptive overtaking manoeuvre!
  17. I was very pleased that the private hospital I attended 2 weeks ago when I contracted Covid (as a 71 year old with co-morbidities) was prescribing Molnupiravir as their antiviral of choice. Psychologically I was able to deal with the potential risks of my situation when the doctors replied to my questions about how this relatively recent drug (developed by the private sector - Merck - and given emergency FDA authorisation only 6 months ago) was performing for them with enthusiastic/positive comments. So presumably GPO was licensed by Merck to manufacture the drug for Thailand. I have no problem with having paid for it even if others who are less fortunate financially have got it free/reduced price thru' the state hospital system. What's the problem here? I don't see any reports that the private hospital's access to the drug has reduced the availability for the state system.
  18. Certainly works for bacteria in my personal experience. Dunno whether that translates to effectiveness for viruses. I have a lung condition called bronchiectasis (not bronchitis). It's deformation of the aeoli in the lungs (those are the twig-like structures in the branches of the lungs that transfer oxygen to the blood). The deformation creates excessive amounts of sputum and bacteria love to live in sputum. Bacterial infections are easily caught by sufferers and some of them can turn nasty - like into pneumonia. Prior to the masking requirements and over the course of the 6 years of my bronchiectasis (spent in Thailand) before Covid I would typically get 2 to 4 bacterial infections a year, one of which would be serious and half of those one a years would require hospitalisation. Since covid, ie the last 2 years I have had nil bacterial infections. Go figure why - ok some of it because I was less social but I think some of it was also down to the effectiveness of masking against bacterial invasion.
  19. Has a news forum but that's only one part of it. I guess if you only look at News you are entitled to regard it as non-social media.
  20. Err ... most people would, I think, regard Asean News as belonging to the social media firmament
  21. I haven't got the energy to look at all 3 countries but being a Brit myself I looked at recent UK data. Daily (7 day average) covid deaths were at a low of 121 a day in late Feb and yesterday were 214 - a gentle rise in between. UK has similar population to Thailand. Probably too early to draw conclusions one way or the other but I'll agree that if it does not carry on rising it would tend to support an open-up policy. Were I a policy maker I would want to watch this one carefully before jumping. ref: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=UK+covid+death+rate
  22. I see several posters roasting that same hoary old chestnut - comparing deaths from Covid with deaths from other causes and concluding that Covid is not unusually high and we should immediately live with it. The comparison is fallacious. Have to open up/live with it and then see where the number of deaths get to make a valid comparison. Until policy makers have some good hard evidence (eg from other countries or from a test opening of a region) about the shape of the ogre in an unrestricted environment they are understandably inclined to take a conservative approach.
  23. You assume that those who died with Covid and not from Covid are included in the death numbers. I've not seen any authoritative reports on how medics are instructed to determine when to attribute a death to Covid, if indeed there are any such instructions. Anyone?
  24. Reported numbers are probably quite useful as indicators of trends and for comparing one province/amphur with another, but not useful as absolute numbers. The number of reports here and elsewhere that 'stay at home/keep quiet' is a common response to self-administered testing is now overwhelming*; they can't all be conspiracy theorists???? *Though I have to report that my own experience amongst family and reports on others here in Isaan is that the usual response is to contact local health workers, not to hide, if ATKs are positive. May be a function of a relatively effective local health network in the village/small town environment ('you can run but you can't hide'). I could understand Bangkok being a different kettle of fish.
  25. Agreed. Its the "best case scenario". Worst case scenario is that we have not yet seen the damage caused by government spending on the pandemic and a global recession is only a whisker away. Equally likely IMO. Markets are gripped by young soothsayers desperate to talk up the market, believing it's all about sentiment not hard facts.
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