Building an Australian style house in Chiang Mai

[Max&Bee-in-CM]

Bee's back into building form (reluctantly, very reluctantly - the comment was "when I see someone building I want to vomit" - my sentiments are not far off).
Anyways, yesterday was the start of rerouting of the garden taps and isolating the water circuits, by Tuesday the house and garden will be wired on different pipes. Hopefully no more big leaks. When we leave, all and any pipes near the house will be turned off at the source, and our gardener will only use the pipes for the garden. Another lesson learnt costly!
I also want to say a word of appreciation to Ford - our little Focus, "the car that can", is still going strong, I shudder thinking how many thousands of kilograms of metal, conwood, cement, soil, doors, rebar, planks, bamboo, it has lugged to the land.

[Max&Bee-in-CM]

We've cleaned and refilled the 2 little ponds we have with fish.
Nothing fancy, just the strong little fish that don't mind sunlight.
And at 5 baht/fish, can't really go wrong.

[Max&Bee-in-CM]

So far we've got three things to eat - mulberries, mangoes, and big white flowers (??)
All the mulberry bushes have grown really well around the house, and we got a crop of a few kg so far.
There are also way to many mangoes to eat, waiting a few more weeks for the sweet ones.
And some white flowers that fall off the large trees every morning that grandma likes to eat, although I have not tried them yet.

mulberries:

mangoes:

breakfast flowers:

[Max&Bee-in-CM]

I'm completely confused!
3000L of clean fresh water from 3 of our tanks disappears in 3-4 hours.
The pump keeps pumping but there is no water coming out of anywhere!
This problem started after we isolated the garden pipes from the house.
So now we have one pipe leading from the pump in the water house that splits into two, one for each side of the land.
The other pipe off the water pump goes into the house.
But all the garden taps and pipes have been checked, nothing is leaking.
There's also no wetness on the soil, neither in the surrounding rice farm in case it all dumps somewhere under.
The only way to solve it is to turn off the valve on the pipe leading to the garden system - then the pump stops pumping and the water remains in the tanks.

So the question is, how do you find where water is leaking if there is no sign of water leaking? And it ain't a drip - it's 3000L in a few hours.

[Roger Ramjet]

So the question is, how do you find where water is leaking if there is no sign of water leaking? And it ain't a drip - it's 3000L in a few hours.

Max,
I think you'll find the pump is pumping it back from where it came from, which means your pump is more powerful than the supply pump. I had the same problem at Pak Kret when a brass (Chinese made) return valve failed. If you have any return valves I would start there, otherwise I would close the intake valve after the tanks are full and see what happens then.

[BKKBILL]

I also had a check valve fail. iI there is water in the tank closing your town water supply at the meter is a good way to check that part. Also check if your main house water supply has failed with your meter valve close open and close the main house supply and see if the pump cycles.

I’m sure you checked all the toilets making sure all the tank valves are holding.

Another thing would be to close the line at your hot water tank, that would eliminate your galvanized lines, pictures starting on page ten.

If all your garden piping is disconnected from the house the other possibility it’s under the concrete slab.

One other thing would be to look for damp walls where all the water risers to fixtures are.

[schuimpge]

If it's a return valve, you can easily spot it. Just have the tanks fill up a bit, switch on the pump and check the water-meter. When it's spinning backwards, you'll be emptying the tanks back into the water-supply lines.
Hope you'll get it solved without too much work.
Cheers,
Luc

[Roger Ramjet]

Max,
Two days and no reply. What is happening? Don't tell me your house has floated away, or all the water was going into the computer.

[Max&Bee-in-CM]

Thanks all for the suggestions
Have not been able to find the issue as yet after a few attempts.
We don't use any village/mains nor have any outside connections, our supply is a 60m deep 4" well with a "smurf" water pump. We also don;t have any water meters nor one way valves. I remember a one way valve discussion years ago, but was told no way the water will flow back down into the well.
Plus, the smurf water pump is very powerful I doubt the house water pump is any more powerful nor would have backwards water flow into the well. I think the water pump would also have some mechanism for one way flow, and would not let water flow backwards into the well (I could be wrong here).
We don't have any water meters nor can I see any easy way to check if there is any back-flow into the well, although I seriously doubt that would be happening (a clear PVC pipe would come in handy here but I don't think they make those).
The reason I make this statement is when we are losing water in the main tanks, the smurf well pump is pumping constantly, filling the tanks, but the wtaer loss is fatser than the smurf can refill the tanks (which is also another quite strange fact for me!!)
The problem is definitely in the garden pipes circuit - if I close off the main pipe (2") leading to the house with the ball valve, and close off the garden main pipe (1.5") with its ball valve, there is no water loss. As soon as I open the garden supply ball valve (house is still turned off) the water pump starts pumping and the tanks will empty in a few hours, but there is no obvious sign which garden tap or connection is leaking. The smurf well pump is pumping during this time trying to fill the tanks).
My next step is to cut the garden PVC in several sections and attach ball valves along it, then sequentially turn them off and see what happens.
I'm very confident it's not the house circuit, as when both the house and garden circuits are off, the water pump is quiet and doesn't pump. If the house circuit is turned on and the garden circuit is still off, the pump does not pump unless a tap is turned on in the house, then once the tap/toilet is turned off, the pump stops pumping, as it should be.

[BKKBILL]

From what you say think your plan to isolate the garden circuit with valves is the next logical step.

Strange not seeing damp areas though.

[Sunpax]

Hi Max and Bee just want to say hello.....

[gliffaes]

Be careful the catfish dont eat the other fish

[Max&Bee-in-CM]

It's been a busy few days. First the smurf burnt out. So the water tanks ran dry. While dad was looking for a replacement in the city, gardener Heng decided to start burning the tree cuttings. Why on Earth would one star to burn grass rubbish when there is no water to hose down the trees and surrounding area is beyond me. Fire Safety 101.

Anyways, the fence burnt off, the 3-phase subterranean cable burnt a few metres in.... what can I say.

[Max&Bee-in-CM]

So we decided to take this chance to start making a new fence.

Anyone have the latest prices for the following type fence in Chiang Mai?

All up (materials+labor) per metre & labor per metre or per section. I heard that building crews charge labor/2m section.

Anyways, some idea of the current costs.

[eyecatcher]

I built two boundary walls in the last year,one at 14m and one at 29m and really had no intention of letting anyone else do it; however we did ask a couple of lads who were building a similar wall around the corner.

Based on a wall exactly like your picture, but 1.8m high the labour rate was quoted at 750bt/m run. This included rendering one side only.
For the materials; well based on the two walls I did which were actually 1.6m high and rendered one side for the 14m and 29m I spent 441bt/m and 408bt/m respectively.

for clarification I used pre cast concrete posts and q con blocks on a concrete strip footing, all strapped.

With that in mind a 1.8m high wall all in should be circa 500bt mats+ 750bt lab= 1250bt/ lin m

And I still ask myself how some folk are charging 1500 and even 2000bt per metre or even square metre

I have documented it of course but who knows where it could be