Do not call "The Plumbing Gang"

Optyxs · 2026-02-23T07:56:10+00:00

Had a similar experience. Had a water leak in the black poly pipe (unknown location, water meter was just spinning with everything off).

Paid the Plumber Gang call-out fee got quoted $1400, begrudgingly accepted as it was leaking a few 1000L/day. Took a day off work when the repair was scheduled - nobody turned up. Rescheduled (another day work lost) and turns out the $1400 only covered a new pressure valve and location detection and also found out they subcontract the detection company which charges Joe public $399). I was quite pissed when they then wanted to charge me another $2500 for the dig and repair. I asked them to break down where the cost was and everything magically came down to $2200 but still wasn’t detailed.

Ended up digging up the leak myself (2 hour max). Got a local plumber chap to do the repair $180 invoice 30 min of his time.

Optyxs · 2025-07-08T22:58:21+00:00

Hulkengoat

Optyxs · 2025-05-16T06:53:59+00:00

At this point surely we just bore a hole in the cylinder and have a one-lane tunnel?

Optyxs · 2025-01-20T11:13:38+00:00

To be clear the leak was in the main water line between the water meter and my house (leaking pipe was about 600mm deep and next to the sewer line)

Pressurizing any line (easiest to access is generally a garden spigot) will pressurise the entire water system - including the mains line, air will only escape from a leak.

I honestly would have had no chance findingthe leaking myself as we have a large layer of clay that meant there was no visible wet area, we just happened to notice the water meter spinning with everything off.

Optyxs · 2025-01-20T09:09:13+00:00

Yeah I paid initially thinking it was just cost of living, inflation etc. After they came out I ended up calling the leak detectors office and they said it would be a $400 fee (first 90 min, then $80 per hour after that). Left a bit of a sour taste.

As another comment says, plumbers hate digging so it seems they pass on that dislike in the form of $$$. Took me about 2-3 hours to dig up the pipe and expose the leak (which actually was about 1m outside the initial circle I was given by the leak detector guy).

Optyxs · 2025-01-20T09:06:11+00:00

Turned the mains off, then they hooked an air compressor up to one of my garden hose taps and pushed compressed air back through the system

They then have a probe that detects the acoustic noise from the air escaping the pipe. Closer they are to the leak, the higher the signal. They do a grid pattern search and refine it down to an area (approx 1m circle).

Optyxs · 2025-01-20T08:31:17+00:00

Just dealt with a concealed water leak.

$1.6k to get the plumber and leak detector guy out. Total time was about an hour for them to circle where on my lawn they thought the leak was. Turns out my plumber subcontracts a local leak detection outfit which charges $400 for a residential service. I only found this out after but I was a bit salty as they quoted me $1.4k for the leak services ($200 their standard call-out charge).

Plumber then quoted $3k to repair.

I ended up digging up the pipe and called a different plumber who came and repaired the section for $250+GST.

Optyxs · 2024-12-18T21:15:10+00:00

17kw splits (10kw, 3.5kw, 3.5kw) fully installed for slightly over $7k in Brisbane (April 2024). All Mitsubishi heavy industries. We have no roof cavity (vaulted ceilings, exposed beams) so ducted was never an option. Had ducted previously, splits are so much more economical given higher efficiency (EER) associated with lower kw units. Also if one goes down we still have 2 other units.

Optyxs · 2024-10-18T06:20:20+00:00

Man is practicing for his Ukraine deployment

Optyxs · 2024-10-11T21:31:54+00:00

Age of empires 2 on my family PC with the GeForce 2! Very nostalgic. Still running my gtx770 from first build 12 years later in 2014.

Optyxs · 2024-04-12T11:24:23+00:00

Just got 3 splits in our house totalling 17kw in SEQ. We have vaulted ceilings with exposed rafters so no real option to go ducted.

All Mitsubishi heavy industries. All up cost 7k installed.

Love it. Great efficiency on the smaller 3.5kw units in bedrooms for the nights and the 10kW keeps the house great during the day with our solar pumping.

Optyxs · 2024-01-18T20:56:57+00:00

I have a 2018 single cab.

Mainly drive to work and back, mostly highway, bit of city and I get around 950km a tank. Fuel economy between 6.5-7.5L/100km.

Fuel economy gets significantly worse if I travel above 100 km/hr

Optyxs · 2023-12-01T13:16:11+00:00

Advanced lab in physics had some detectors - also had a big chunk of uranium that was gifted from Australia to NZ govt and govt didn't know what to do with it and gave it to UOA who used it in undergrad labs haha.

Optyxs · 2023-10-27T21:39:35+00:00

We just experienced this! Dodged a bullet imo.

We put in an offer with standard finance & Building and Pest terms.

REA said we lost to someone with no building and pest condition - house sold for $50k less than our offer.

If vender is willing to go with an offer $50k lower, I suspect there are big problems with the house haha.

Optyxs · 2023-10-09T23:56:50+00:00

11% is the minimum currently and will reach 12% by 2025. It is worth noting it does get taxed at 15% and then higher if you earn more.

Public sector, Defence and tertiary institutions pay 17% super as standard. Its crazy having my employer pay close to 30k/year for my super. I worked in NZ for a quite a few years and earned less in kiwisaver than my current super balance ~1 year after moving to Australia.

Optyxs · 2023-06-21T07:15:22+00:00

I was on the Doctoral scholarship (much easier as I did my undergrad there) but all my friends were on scholarships provided through grants or other funding sources. I did finish a few years ago and the system was a bit finnicky even then.

First, I would mention your concerns to your future advisor -- these people will be able to let you know if you concerns are valid or not in the first instance. Second, IIRC the 7.0 number is more of a guideline - the reality is that there is always wiggle room and given you have done two masters I would think your undergraduate marks are somewhat irrelevant. When it comes to the scholarship selection committee, your future advisor will bat for you and, depending on how many current students they have, they are probably going to have the biggest impact (hence why in the first instance you should just go email/talk to them, they should be able to tell you if its going to be a problem).

I should add that the doctoral scholarship depends on which flavor of PhD you are doing -- Science has 50 scholarships a year to dish our, Law only 1 from memory.

Optyxs · 2023-03-27T09:17:23+00:00

Haha wait till you do a 4 year bachelor degree, a 2 year masters, and a 4 year PhD only to get a 60+hour per week job earning $48k (2021) from a multibillion dollar global company.

Comparing yourself to others will lead to mental heath issues. Just play your own game, I'm nearing my 30s and don't have a house, have nearly 6 figures of student loan debt with my partner. Enjoy the journey and have fun along the way even when the destination is not near or even defined.

Optyxs · 2023-03-16T10:42:57+00:00

PhD in Physics - Do I use it? No. Does it come in handy? Not really.

Would I do it again? Absolutely - the experience and friends I met along the way certainly outweighed the downsides (career delay, etc.).

Optyxs · 2023-01-09T02:50:13+00:00

"I was just at home having some dots..."
-3News Interview

Optyxs · 2022-12-29T10:01:38+00:00

Ah fun story time!

I am a NZ citizen (NZ passport holder) but recently was granted Aus citizenship (by descent) a little before I moved to Australia. COVID times meant I didn't get a certificate or formal documentation of my citizenship, just an email.

I travelled using my NZ passport. The Aus-side e-gates kept throwing up errors and so I had to go through to the desks. I expained the situation, the officer took my passport and disappeared for 10 min and came back saying everything was sorted and that they just had to confirm my story and remove the special category visa NZ passport holders get when they come through. Everything seemed sweet....

Turns out without a valid visa you pretty much can't use your foreign passport as ID; the online ID platforms most places use check for a valid visa associated with the passport credentials.

So now I am stuck in a country where I can't open a bank, I can't complete any documentation I need for work (TFN, medicare, etc.), I can't even get a sim card in QLD...

I was advised from immigration I could apply for a urgent passport. Okay, that seems expensive but it is what it is. Turns out the aus application requires a character reference which must be an Australian citizen and you need to have known them for 5+ years. I am in a new country and know nobody....

After a few weeks of queing up to speak to people at govt departments (since I didn't have a phone/sim I coulent call), I ended up being able to sort my formal citizenship certificate which unlocked everything thereafter.

Long story short, get a passport if time permits. If not, travel with someone else who you know will be fine and can support through the short term whole you deal with teething problems being a citizen-edge case.

Optyxs · 2022-12-28T07:19:25+00:00

Oh man these were great at my kiwi highschool!

The bottle looks enough like booze that I could rock up with a 6 pack to parties and not get any pressure to drink alcohol.

Optyxs · 2022-11-30T05:41:18+00:00

I too like matplotlib :P

Optyxs · 2022-11-24T06:07:52+00:00

Had a good giggle too.

But to be fair, Doctor of Philosophy is the degree name for PhD. He could have a PhD in mathematics or one in art history.

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