[HN Gopher] Coober Pedy, the Australian mining town where reside...
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Coober Pedy, the Australian mining town where residents live
underground (2020)
Author : tomhoward
Score : 102 points
Date : 2021-06-19 14:09 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.businessinsider.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.businessinsider.com)
| vr46 wrote:
| I've been here and it's very interesting talking to locals and
| seeing the place. The article SHOULD have mentioned the golf
| club! It's basically desert and rocks and twinned with St
| Andrews! Brilliant!
| meheleventyone wrote:
| Yeah it's an otherworldly place. When we visited it also
| absolutely heaved down with rain which was a surprise!
| vr46 wrote:
| Must have been a bit of a relief, too!
| bitwize wrote:
| Sounds like one of the many whistlestops your party will stop in
| to rest, buy equipment, and sidequest in a JRPG.
|
| And the name makes it sound like a great place to host a KubeCon.
| daurnimator wrote:
| The council there recently sold off properties where rates had
| not been paid: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-16/coober-
| pedy-auction-r...
| saagarjha wrote:
| I have nothing to add but another pop culture reference from my
| childhood: Coober Pedy is one of the locations that the Cahill
| siblings visit in the sixth 39 Clues book, _In Too Deep_.
| osazuwa wrote:
| Found one on Airbnb https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/9906314
| pdpi wrote:
| Tom Scott had a fascinating video about the town a while back.
| Well, it was supposed to be about the town, and its water supply
| in particular, but became a video about the reliability of
| research and videos you find online.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaGTFeibOEk
| SkyPuncher wrote:
| Erik Anders Lang also has a neat video of their "golf" course:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMpr0ShaQak
| tppiotrowski wrote:
| At the time I visited in 2015, the residents told me that boring
| out a family home cost in the realm of $150,000 AUD which seemed
| like a bargain compared to the (still?) red hot Sydney real
| estate market.
| foxpurple wrote:
| You couldn't convince people to move to Coober Pedy if you paid
| them $150,000 to move there. The place is an interesting
| tourist attraction but the last place you would want to live.
| viraptor wrote:
| Sure, but then you end up living in Coober Pedy. For slightly
| more you can live in a basic house/unit regionally, or for
| twice the price, a nice house in a nice regional town.
| zbrozek wrote:
| I'm an American citizen and I needed to go to the hospital in
| Coober Pedy in 2009. It was after hours, so I rang the bell up
| front and a cheerful nurse responded on the intercom. My case was
| deemed sufficient to merit a response, so the nurse and a doctor
| both came over at once and booted up the place. I got my exam,
| some crutches, and a prescription in about an hour and $45.
|
| Also all the water is trucked in, so shower stalls are often
| coin-fed. Works OK except when there is no warning that you're
| about to run out of water and your face is covered in soap. Makes
| it hard to find and fidget with coins.
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| > Also all the water is trucked in, so shower stalls are often
| coin-fed. Works OK except when there is no warning that you're
| about to run out of water and your face is covered in soap.
|
| Seems like you'd get used to it quickly.
|
| In Chinese apartments (in Shanghai, at least), there is a small
| water heater dedicated to the shower. It stores a certain
| amount of water at a temperature you configure, and when it
| runs out, your shower will be cold. (You're expected to set it
| much hotter than you want the shower, and mix it with cold
| water, which is unlimited, to get the shower temperature you
| want.)
|
| This means it's impossible to take a two-hour hot shower. But
| it also means the showering process doesn't include "step 0:
| wait a few minutes for hot water to start coming out of the
| shower". When you turn on the hot water, you get hot water.
| It's really soured me on the American system.
| zbrozek wrote:
| Another place I stayed in Coober Pedy on another visit had a
| warning at 15 seconds which mitigated the problem. Both
| places only let you load up five minutes of shower time, and
| I found that my showers took 7-8 minutes.
| dragonwriter wrote:
| > It's really soured me on the American system.
|
| What American systems? There's _lots_ of different water
| heating setups in the US, including "small dedicated tankless
| heater for the shower", whole house tankless or hybrid
| system, etc., etc...
| oblio wrote:
| What's the American system?
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| You turn on the hot water, and you get cold water. Then you
| sit and wait for a few minutes until you start getting hot
| water.
| Rebelgecko wrote:
| I have taken literally thousands of showers in America
| and that isn't consistent with my experience at all. If
| it takes more than ten seconds for my shower to heat up,
| it means that the water heater is dead and waiting any
| longer won't make a difference. The only place I've had
| to wait longer than that (but still not long enough that
| I'd go sit down to wait) is at some hotels, maybe because
| their plumbing is longer?
| Hnrobert42 wrote:
| You may have lived mostly in apartments or small homes.
| In larger or multi-story homes, the water heater may be
| some distance from the shower.
| devoutsalsa wrote:
| I've stayed in places where it can take a minute or
| longer for the hot water to show up.
| hellbannedguy wrote:
| Yea, it's most homes, and apartments.
|
| The cost to remodel, and permit proses, causes owners to
| just live with it.
|
| The drought should make the plumbing permit free.
|
| Too many small towns, and even rich counties, are
| counting on those permit fees for income.
| Aeolun wrote:
| You still sit and wait though? Of course 10 seconds is
| not comparable to a few minutes, but the mechanism seems
| like it would be the same.
| Judgmentality wrote:
| A few minutes is an exaggeration. I would guess 15-30
| seconds. Obviously it will depend on location. Some
| places it happens faster, some places slower. But I'm
| fairly certain I've never had to wait more than 60
| seconds anywhere in the US.
|
| In fact I just went and checked with my shower - 23
| seconds. And I haven't used any hot water since last
| night.
| phaedrus wrote:
| No, it _can_ take a few minutes. A big factor is the
| diameter of the pipes used to carry the hot water. See:
| This Old House videos on the topic. Bigger is NOT better
| here; a larger pipe may take several minutes to empty out
| of cold water before hot water starts reaching you.
|
| In the rental house we just moved from a couple months
| ago, the last homeowner did several amateur projects (or
| hired a handyman who worked at that level). They fitted a
| larger, elevated water heater, but also "upgraded" the
| water pipes in the attic to a ridiculously large
| diameter. Between that and the rental property management
| fitting water-saving low-flow fixtures, you could turn on
| a hot water faucet and go boil tea on an electric kettle
| (or something) in the meantime. By the time you're done
| _drinking_ the tea, the running water _might_ be getting
| warm.
| Judgmentality wrote:
| I believe you, but my hunch is you're an outlier. I've
| lived probably a dozen places in the US, not to mention
| the likely hundreds of places I've slept throughout my
| life. I don't recall every having to wait more than a
| minute for hot water.
|
| Ultimately this is just my anecdata. Maybe your story is
| more common than I realize.
| Retric wrote:
| Anywhere can have plumbing issues and having wide hot
| water pipes is a problem as it waste energy when they
| cool down.
|
| In such cases run the hot water in your sink it
| dramatically increases the flow rate. Alternatively,
| install a tankless water heater next to the shower.
| reaperducer wrote:
| _You turn on the hot water, and you get cold water. Then
| you sit and wait for a few minutes until you start
| getting hot water._
|
| Depends on where you are. In places I've lived in the
| southwest, you turn on the hot water and you immediately
| get hot water. You turn on the cold water, and you
| immediately get very warm water.
|
| Because it's the desert. And the water comes from
| outside, so it assumes the ambient temperature. In the
| winter you might get "cold" water, but it's nothing like
| the cold water you get in places like Boston or
| Minneapolis.
| m4rtink wrote:
| Had similar experience in Beppu, Japan. Not only is it at
| the southern tip oj Kyushu, but also very vulcanic with
| hot springs everywhere - like, there is actual scolding
| steam comming out of pavement in some places, specially
| in the Kanawa district!
|
| At first I wondered why they have those mini fridges in
| japanese hotel rooms and this is why - only way to get
| cold water in the summer is t put it into the fridge
| first! :)
| axiolite wrote:
| > it also means the showering process doesn't include "step
| 0: wait a few minutes for hot water to start coming out of
| the shower". When you turn on the hot water, you get hot
| water. It's really soured me on the American system.
|
| The "American System" such as it is, is a byproduct of
| increasing efficiency. If you buy an old house, built when
| shower heads were 5GPM, the piping was sized to handle that
| load. When you switch to 2.5GPM shower heads (mandated as the
| maximum by federal law in 1994), or lower (1.25GPM is easy to
| find and what I use) then you've got 4X the amount of water
| setting in the pipes that needs to be slowly flushed out.
|
| Any competent builders of new homes will minimize the size of
| hot water pipes to greatly reduce the amount of cold water
| that needs to be flushed out. Instead of 3/4 or 1/2" pipes,
| 3/8" or even 1/4" pipes may be adequate for a 1.8GPM
| (California 2018 maximum) shower, and greatly reduces the
| amount of cold water standing in the pipes.
|
| The US system of using natural gas (or electric heat pumps)
| offers about 4X better energy efficiency than smaller
| resistive electric point-of-use water heaters. In warmers
| climates (southern US, and much of Asia) the difference can
| be small. And the centralized US system can be retrofitted
| easily enough. There are pump systems which can be installed
| under bathroom sinks where you just push a button and the
| cold water is pumped through, automatically shutting off when
| it becomes warm/hot.
| meristohm wrote:
| Why not just take ambient-temperature showers, and save hot
| ones for special occasions, if ever?
| dsr_ wrote:
| In my town, outside of Boston, the water coming out of the
| faucets in mid-June is about 55F without mixing in hot
| water; an ambient-temperature shower might be reasonable
| for a week or three per year.
| echelon wrote:
| > It's really soured me on the American system.
|
| Tankless hot water systems have been available for awhile.
| Sounds like this is what you want to install.
|
| Couple this with a pump/recirculation system and you'll have
| instant, endless hot water from any faucet or shower.
|
| Granted, you won't have this option if you're renting and at
| the mercy of a landlord. But you can look for this in future
| apartments.
|
| Some condo associations won't let you install them as it
| requires additional external piping for air intake and
| exhaust.
| ldkdmsksk wrote:
| you know you can install tankless heaters at the shower in
| the US if you want instant hot water?
|
| sinks too, theyre even easier. you can find kits at Home
| Depot.
| reaperducer wrote:
| The last three places I've lived in the United States all
| had tankless systems.
|
| Like most comments on HN, "American System" is a gross
| oversimplification of a nation of almost 400 million people
| and experiences.
| andrewzah wrote:
| As an American, most places that I've lived in across the
| country had a delay before the hot water kicked in. Of
| course anyone can modify their home to do whatever they
| want, but we're discussing the average system in place in
| most residences.
|
| It's not a "gross oversimplification" if it's the typical
| result.
| vermilingua wrote:
| Having stayed in an "underground" (nowadays we'd call it passive
| design) BnB out there, it really is remarkably comfortable
| compared to the outside temperature. During the days it's
| bakingly hot, and freezing and dry at night; but always pleasant
| in the rooms, with no need for A/C or heating. Ventilation is a
| bit of a problem as you might expect, it got a bit stuffy.
| danuker wrote:
| By "stuffy" do you mean just stale air, or is there also excess
| humidity?
| alcover wrote:
| > no need for A/C or heating
|
| Soon to be very valuable...
|
| I think houses without a basement will drop in value in the
| near future.
| superfunny wrote:
| Scenes from the 1980s movie "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" were
| filmed at Coober Pedy
| seanhandley wrote:
| I loved visiting Coober Pedy. It reminded me of The Flintstones -
| you're in a room carved out of the rock and yet there's a TV in
| the corner.
|
| Also it's a real "prospector town" since the massive mining
| companies consider it cost inefficient to mine there at scale so
| it's full of characters.
| bumbledraven wrote:
| https://archive.is/B8uH6
| [deleted]
| bbarley wrote:
| Making your underground home in sandstone reminds me of Minecraft
| in real life! Very cool (literally).
| reaperducer wrote:
| In the 1800's and early 1900's, it was not uncommon for miners
| in the American southwest to build homes into the ground,
| simply because there was no other material available.
|
| If you go to Shoshone, California, you can wander around their
| abandoned cave homes. There's a bunch across the street from
| the Inyo County Sheriff's substation. Just go up the dirt road,
| around the hill, past the cemetery.
| wanderingstan wrote:
| Interesting engineering note at the end of the article: "However,
| most mining is fully mechanized today."
| _emacsomancer_ wrote:
| That note made me wonder what exactly mechanized opal mining
| looks like.
| jsqu99 wrote:
| Coober Pedy was highlighted in an episode of Instant Hotel on
| Netflix here https://www.netflix.com/title/81023011
| yurishimo wrote:
| It was a good episode! I can hear the locals talking in my head
| just remembering it. It's worth a watch if you're into
| architectural television.
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(page generated 2021-06-19 23:00 UTC)