Mini TT system

[La Poste]

Greetings.

I've got a friend who lives in Thailand in a house with no earthing.
It's a two wire system with a RCD/ELCB at the point of entry to the house.
They seem to do this in Thailand, put an RCD at the main incomer even though they have no earth circuit.
I guess something is better than nothing and the logic is if there is an earth fault to the frame of an electric heater for instance and you then touch
the frame of the electric heater and get an electric shock the main RCD will switch off the supply as long as more than 30ma flows through you to earth.

My friend is getting electric shocks off of his computer equipment, the metal frame of his PC.
Without going into the earthing system of the whole house would it be safe just to earth the PC chassis by means of an earth rod without involving anything else in the house?

I'm thinking if just the PC is earthed with a local rod this should take care of any leakage current that is building up.
My friend has no test equipment and we don't know anything about the local transformer or whether the transformer is earthed itself.

Is this a safe thing to do and what would you recommend in these circumstances?

Thanks.

 

[timbobelfast]

If it's your mates house then he can do what he wants. There are no Part P police in Thailand!

Anything is better than the state it is in now!

 

[timbobelfast]

You will probally find out the Thai 'electrician' is also a plumber and a farmer aswell!

 

[La Poste]

Yep you can do it yourself, I have just been told by an expat who is getting his mate in to do the wiring.

He says it is much safer to do it that way.

I think it's the setting up of a business as a local electrician you would have a problem with in terms of local bureaucracy and possible back handers.

 

[Strima]

Mate of spends six months a year out there doing building work and has no problems with the local 'authorities'...

 

[Engineer54]

Northern Thailand is Bandit country (or was). They make their own rules as they go along, normally whatever brings in the most money...lol!!!

I wasn't talking about big projects before, i was talking about general house bashing over there....lol!! Believe it or not, some of the better Asian electricians i've come across over the years, on the major overseas projects, have in fact been Thai. A very close second to good Filipino and Indian electricians...

 

[Engineer54]

Mate of spends six months a year out there doing building work and has no problems with the local 'authorities'...

Among other things, ...Right?? lol!! Hope he gets himself checked out on his return to Blighty...lol!!!

 

[Strima]

Among other things, ...Right?? lol!! Hope he gets himself checked out on his return to Blighty...lol!!!

Now that would just be pure speculation... :lol:

 

[Engineer54]

Now that would just be pure speculation... :lol:

You obviously haven't been to Thailand then, ...speculation let alone ''pure speculation'' doesn't even come close into the equation, if your mate is, or still a single, free, and happy go lucky guy. I'd say that, it's the very reason for your mate spending 6 months a year working in Thailand, ....And bloody good luck to him too...lol!!!

 

[Strima]

You obviously haven't been to Thailand then, ...speculation let alone ''pure speculation'' doesn't even come close into the equation, if your mate is, or still a single, free, and happy go lucky guy. I'd say that, it's the very reason for your mate spending 6 months a year working in Thailand, ....And bloody good luck to him too...lol!!!

He is single funnily enough...

He started out as a panel wirer then moved onto the building side of life, made quite a bit of cash in the UK and rents out several properties and uses his six months as a 'working' holiday sorting out holiday apartments etc. If I was single, I'd be there!!!

 

[Swicade]

The earth leakage to the PC in Asian countries is so that the internet gamer doesn't fall asleep while farming ingame credits (gold,etc) to sell for cash on ebay (and other associated internet sites).