The Random thought thread

[onetrack]

I remember watching a snake at a highways edge once, back in the early 1980's. I was trundling along in my Mack and low loader, just picking up speed as I left the outskirts of a country town, and I suddenly sighted this snake in a strike pose on the RHS (gravel) road shoulder, from about 300 metres away.

 

I was puzzled as to why it was preparing to strike, until I looked further, and saw a little bird crouching in mesmerised terror on the LHS gravel shoulder! However, the noise of my approach snapped the little bird out of its mesmerisation, and it took off, flying upwards very rapidly.

 

To my amazement, this snake literally flew across the full width of the highway (highway bitumen seal is 8M wide), fully erect, just propelling itself along, sitting on the last 30cm of its body!

It lunged at the departing bird and missed by quite a distance, the little bird was too fast. But that rapid movement of the snake across the highway, just virtually sitting on its tail, was amazing to watch, it took probably just over a second to travel around 10 metres.

[facthunter]

That's faster than a DC 3,.  Nev

[red750]

When my son was cutting the lawn on Sunday afternoon, he said there was water leaking near the meter. By yesterday, we  had a virtual creek running across the lawn. We turned off the water at the meter which stopped the flow, but we had to turn it on a couple of times to fill the cisterns and for him to shower for work. The plumber has just finished repairing it.  ---  $3,400!!

[facthunter]

 Seems a Lot. .You did need it in a hurry.  THAT would put a hole in the budget. My sympathies. Nev

[octave]

A bit late for you Peter but maybe this is helpful to others.   We had a blocked external drain. When a tap was on water would bubble up from the drain and flow across the courtyard.   We searched for a plumber who advertised after-hours service. This service had a $90 call-out fee on top of the fee for service.  Two idiots turned up and confirmed that the drain was blocked (brilliant deduction)    They quoted $750 but said it could be more depending on what they found.  They also said that they had had a long day and they were tired so they said they could come back the next day (but still wanted to charge the emergency call out fee, which we refused to pay )  We said we would call them back the next day.    We decided they were useless but did not know how to go about finding someone better.

 

We eventually went through RACV trades.   You organise it online. You detail the job needed and RACV puts it out to tender amongst their approved tradies. You then get a quote back.   We got a quote for $550.  Two super efficient tradies came out put a camera through the drain and then used a jet wash.  They kept at it until the drains were squeaky clean.  We paid after they left through RACV.   The RACV guarantees the work.

 

A couple of weeks ago my parents-in-law (in their 90s) had a fault with their rooftop solar. They did not know how to go about getting it fixed, so we organised it (We live in Vic and they live in SA) We organised a trade through the RAA (on their membership) and someone came out and fixed the problem for $200 which I think is pretty reasonable and again the RAA guarantees the work.

 

We have decided that we will always use this method when we need a tradesperson.       I would assume that NRMA would offer a similar service.

[onetrack]

My 93 yr old Italian neighbour, Barney, has a Rheem instantaneous (natural) gas HWS. It stopped working, so he came over to see what could be done about fixing it. His English isn't good, and he has zero knowledge of the "computer world" - and he's deaf as a post, too - so it's all hard work for him.

 

I told him he could call Rheem, they have their own plumbers and repair vans, but it would most likely cost between $400 and $500, even if it was a simple part. If it needed more repair, it might be cheaper to replace it (it's a 2012 model), which he understood pretty well. I told him Rheem take $200 deposit out of your credit card just to initiate a callout - and their minimum charge is $260.

 

Of course, he doesn't have a credit card, he only uses cash at all times! - and when I said they would send him messages via his phone, he decided that wasn't the way he wanted to go (he has a cheap mobile, but hardly knows how to use it, and he only keeps it "for emergency").

So he said he had a plumber mate down at the Italian club, and he'd ask him if he could fix it. A week later, I asked how he was getting on with it. He said his mate looked at the unit, figured out it was "an electric part" that needed replacing, and it would take 2 weeks to get the part, and install it. I was surprised, I told him Rheem parts were easy to get, and Rheem will repair it in a day or two.

 

He said, "I don't think my mate wants to repair it, would it be easier and quicker to get a new one?" (a new replacement gas HWS is $1350 for a basic installation here, and it goes up if any difficulties are encountered).

I said, "Rheem will repair it for you quickly, and as I said, it will probably be $400-500, do you want me to organise it?"

He looked relieved and said "Yes, I'll pay you what it costs, and pay you as well!"

 

I said, "I don't need any payment Barney, but I'll get it organised for you". I rang Rheem and inquired about parts supply, and they said they can supply almost any part needed for nearly all Rheem HWS's in use, and the worst wait would be 2-3 days.

So I got them to put me through to Rheem service, where the (older) lady was very good. She took all my details down carefully and read them back, and advised the $260 minimum and $198 up-front charge (which I knew about), and initiated a call-out.

I got a text with the job allocation number within minutes, and the next text was advising the job would be done the following day. The following day I got a couple of texts advising the repairers timing of arrival, and he arrived pretty much on time, in the early afternoon.

 

He quickly diagnosed the problem as a U/S igniter (about a $40 part) and he had one in his van - but the model of HWS Barney had was a bugger to work on, because it was older and the igniter was buried deep in the HWS.

He set to, and had to undo about 50 screws and pull off part after part, panel after panel and bracket after bracket. After about 45 minutes, he had the igniter out.

He said the current models were a doddle to repair the igniter, and he would've had it done in 10 mins, if it was a current model.

 

When I asked him about the life of a gas HWS, he bluntly stated. "10 years!". So he reckoned this one was past its use-by date! - but it still looked O.K. and didn't show any signs of corrosion.

He pulled a new igniter out of his van and had it in and finished about an hour and 15 mins after starting the job. He signed it off and left, and the HWS was working spot-on.

I went to my computer and there was the bill! - $339.13 in total - and the money was already gone from my credit card!

 

I went and told a grateful Barney, gave him the invoice (the job was booked in his name and he would need the invoice for any claims), and he insisted on giving me $340 plus $50 for my trouble - despite me insisting I didn't need any payment, I just wanted to make sure he could have a hot shower!

I think he got out of it pretty lightly, cost-wise, and he would've almost certainly have been ripped off by private plumbers.

 

Edited yesterday at 07:21 AM by onetrack

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

$340 sounds very reasonable for that job. I was quoted $550 + parts for the replacement of a piece of that flexible silver air conditioner ducting under my house, but my house is high-blocked with tons of headroom, so much that steps are needed to get to the ducting joints. A possum scratched and bit holes in it to get in and call it home.

[facthunter]

I don't like gas heaters, They need electricity to start them.  Nev

[onetrack]

I have a Rheem gas instantaneous HWS, and it has no external electricity requirement. It contains a little "turbo-generator" (Rheems wording), which is simply a small, inline, water-driven turbine that produces electricity that ignites the gas upon opening a tap. It has no pilot flame, but has a backup 3.7V rechargeable battery, and it's been virtually trouble-free for about 11 years. 

 

However, a small solenoid crapped itself the year before last, and once again, it was a 5 min repair job, but I paid over $500 for the repair - obviously because that solenoid was a pricier item than an igniter. Interestingly enough, the Rheem repairman said it was the most common fault in my model, and he always kept a few on hand in the van.

 

The HWS manufacturers eliminated pilot flames probably 15 years ago, as it was deemed a lot of wasted gas and unnecessary pollution.

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

A possum scratched and bit holes in it to get in and call it home

That is what duct tape is for.

 

And let's not get into arguing over "duct" or "duck" tape

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duct_tape

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

I considered tape but the damage was extensive and would require a major patching-up job to fix it. I'm leaving it to the A/C expert to access the damage and recommend the best and easiest way to repair it, then he can do it, the ducting sort of swings in the breeze. It's not a simply hole anymore, it's almost torn in half due to my fooling around trying to deter the possum from being able to reach it. It hung by it's tail trying to grab the ducting. I set up a trail camera and got some pretty hilarious movies. I felt sorry for it, without any success, all it could do was walk away and not come back.

[facthunter]

They are territorial and protected if that matters..   Nev

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

13 minutes ago, facthunter said:

They are territorial and protected if that matters..   Nev

Yes, I researched before wanting to grab a big stick to hit it over the head. Not allowed to kill them, not that I'd do that anyway, yellow beak minor birds maybe, they came in and chased all the willy wag tails away that used to nest around my place, they were like pets, they loved hanging around my house and I watched their chicks grow into teenagers.

 

I had to make it so the possum left voluntarily, according to the law, or trap it for re-location. I chose to make it very difficult for it to get shut eye in the ducting and leave of it's own accord. I was new to all this business, and the obstinate little critter was out-smarting me until I noting it's pattern of coming and going by listening for noises below the floor boards, then I set the trail camera to those times and viewed it's behaviour the next morning. Finally I made it so hard for entering the ducting, it gave up never to be seen again. Strangely, it never tried to scratch a second hole in one of the other lengths of ducting, there's three, going to different points under the house. I'm thankful it didn't.

 

[spacesailor]

The possum that climbed the power pole , lost it's fight with " deadly " electricity. 

can the power c7ompany be sue'd over the illegal killing .

spacesailor

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

Good point .... it would be deemed justifiable possumcide

[facthunter]

You got details of that one, space?  Nev

[spacesailor]

Yes ! .

I took my neighbours kids to see their first possum .

The following morning , I took a plastic bag to put it in the bin .

But , I had been beaten by the next door kids taking 'their' parents ! Who bin'd the victim .

spacesailor

 

[red750]

My Festiva refused to start a couple of weeks ago. The battery had plenty of charge, it had half a tank of petrol, but would not fire. I'll admit, I'm no mechanic, so I called RACV road service. The service mechanic couldn't get it to start and said Get a tow truck and take it to a garage. That could have been expensive and there were other problems - air con not working, clutch starting to slip, difficulty getting it into 2nd gear, problems with suspension. Probably not roadworthy. I figured repairs would cost more than it was worth. I bought another car with less than 75km on the clock which had previously been registered in NSW. The dealer had to reregister it to sell it in Victoria.

 

I picked it up yesterday, and the new rego was 2BU.7DZ. My son said "I have a nickname for your car -- Two beers under seven dozen." 

 

 

[onetrack]

So, do we get more details, such as make, model, etc? - and is it red?

[octave]

It is a silver 2004 Holden  sedan, I looked it up on rego check. I can give you the VIN if you like 🙂  

[red750]

 

Holden Astra Classic, 74600 km 3 mths rego, RWC, 12 months warranty.

 

 

 

[rgmwa]

Not even 4,000km per year. Bargain! Must be the proverbial one lady owner model. Check for handbag strap wear on the choke knob. 

[red750]

In the past 2.5 years, I've driven 7.500 km. Thatequates to 60,000 km in 20 years. Could have been a retired old fart like me. That includes 22 km/day return, 3 days a week going to the Men's Shed where we are sharing with another group. In March we move to a new location where the travel will be 8 km/day return.

[onetrack]

Astra had so many models, it's nearly impossible to find anything on the Classic. But the general impression is they weren't too bad a car, even though they were designed and built by Opel.

They were built in Belgium, so that's possibly an advantage in build quality.

 

However, their weakness is the crappy timing belt, which needs replacing at 60,000 kays, and you're well advised to replace the water pump while you're at it.

Also, there's a coolant hose at the back of the engine that can spring a leak, and you only find out about it, when the engine is cooked.

 

Check the cooling system thoroughly to ensure there's no corrosion or dodgy-looking hoses (squeeze them to see if they're still pliable, and not showing signs of perishing).

Ensure the coolant is replaced regularly, and the cooling system is properly flushed, and you'll eliminate 90% of the problems that will see you break down.

[rgmwa]

One of our daughters had an Astra. Good little car.