How do you handle an electricity power cut?
By Garry | July 16th, 2010 | Category: Amazing Thailand | No Comments »
Amazing Thailand is probably one of the most apt descriptions for the country from a westerner’s viewpoint. Even after over a decade of living here full time, it still finds ways to amaze me daily.
A standing joke at Gaz Grange relates to Mrs Gaz’s assertions before we moved here, that the mains electric in Chiang Mai was terrible, and that even her dad’s village had a more stable supply with no power cuts (fai dap in Thai). Just over a year here has pretty much made a mockery of that assertion, and included having to pay for new feeder cables from the distribution pole to the house because the old ones were suspects in the endless procession of momentary blackouts.
Yesterday, just after midday, we had another fai dap, this time a long one. In fact, as I type this, the supply has still not returned 18 hours later, and the “how” of being able to use the computer is the Amazing Thailand moment for this article.
With the electric missing already for about seven hours, when dusk approached last night, it was obvious we were facing a night without power, and a long boring evening of thumb-twiddling and watching a candle flicker. The neighbours next door (on a different distribution line to us, and with electric) came to the rescue.
Thailand mostly uses a two-core electrical wiring and out here in the sticks it seems to work on the basis of giant ring-mains, as opposed to the spurs to each house that then run to ground, which the UK uses. I’m not sure of the tech stuff behind it, but that’s how I perceive it working, and I do admit to staying well away from playing with mains electrics in Thailand due to having very little comprehension of how any of it manages to work at all.
The “ring” system that seems to be employed is what allowed us to have power overnight – the neighbours came across with a long extension lead, one end plugged into one of their wall outlets, the other end plugged into one of ours, and voila! The whole house had electricity for the night.
Amazing Thailand at it’s innovative and practical best. I have to warn, if you’re going to do this, you need to “switch off” the dead “normal” supply at the mains breaker before you’re connected to your neighbour.
Now, roll on 8:00am so I can call EGAT and give them an ear bashing for what will by then have been 20 hours of non-supply to half the village. The locals just haven’t mastered the art of haranguing government enterprises into doing what’s needed. They (the villagers) have a term for that too – Amazing Farang – they cannot understand why we feel no loss of face when we get irate with incompetent government (or commercial) officials, for failing to provide what they still invoice us for.
I’ve added something new on my desk-side “wish list” – to get either a portable generator, or solar generator panels installed, just as soon as I can save enough to pay for them.
Right, now for coffee and cornflakes.
Garry
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