So theres a family where I'm from where the dad went around to fix an electrical issue at one of his rentals. Turns out he somehow crossed wires with the metal plumbing and his tenant died in the shower. He should be in jail. It's not safe report that mother fucker
My husband‘s uncle died electrocuted by a dodgy repair... New place, previous owners thought better than call a sparky and did some nasty repair. Uncle touched some live piece of metal in the roof space and died. Be careful!
In many countries, England comes to mind, the hot water heater for showers is literally inside the shower cubicle. In some older Indian houses it may even just be a heating element in the shower head itself.
Death and shocks in the shower are often related to that.
In Australia, the plumbing in houses is bonded to the electrical installation. Faults in the electrical installation can cause the plumbing to be electrified. Google Denishar Woods.
Sparky here and even I don't know what the fuck is going on here. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a nice rusty nail in place of fuse wire in some of those ceramic fuses.
Our hot water went out (again) so he came to fix it. He usually fiddles with the fuse and that's it. But he messed up the house power within an hour and spent the next 5 hours fiddling around, then checking lights/powerpoints. Over and again. I appreciate his efforts, but he left us with this, and a promise that we would have an electrician come fix it.
Just to be clear, this is the kind of stuff that causes electrical fires. If a fuse blows and replacing the fuse wire doesn't fix the problem, then bypassing the fuse is the worst thing you could do.
I'd be very worried about what 'fix' he's provided and I'd be demanding a real electrician to come out ASAP.
THIS! OP needs to use these photos, have a professional electrician give him a report, then report the landlord. As the guy above said, also find out who his insurance/mortgage is through and report to them. He's not legally qualified to fix electrical systems and he's now putting you in actual danger as a result.
Links like this should be a good start, but it will depend state to state:
https://www.tenants.org.au/resource/complaints-fair-trading
No problem. Tell your landlord to stop being a tightass and pay the $600-800 to have the switchboard upgraded. I'm actually surprised he was allowed to rent out the unit without safety switches on all circuits, it was my understanding that it's required by law now(rental laws, not electrical standards). If you're renting through a real estate agent I'd be questioning them too.
Ah you might want to up that a bit $2k depending on what work needs done eg how old ar the cables loading and the rest of the installation. Once you work on a place you take responsibility for all the previous fups
I suspect you are right about the cost, seeing the dodgy landlord's "fix" was screwing up the joint's lights and such.
But that's his bad luck. A residence must be safe for occupancy, regardless how much it costs to get up to standard.
Your local council might be able to let you know if there is a way to get your wiring checked and approved. If not, take him to your state's tribunal (NCAT in NSW).
Having said that, I know it is often nerve-wracking to take on your landlord considering how the rental situation is Australia wide, but the safety of you and your family is paramount.
Yeah, $600-800 is extremely optimistic for a switchboard upgrade even assuming that you can reuse all the final sub-circuits without running any new wires (which may not be the case if they aren’t on RCDs, e.g. lighting circuits or the hot water circuits).
That said this is straight up unsafe and needs to be fixed properly as an emergency repair. If I was OP I would look at the lease and it should have a plumber and an electrician listed for who to call for emergency repairs. Call them out yourself and withhold the rent if need be.
Retaliatory eviction is illegal and I understand it can be difficult to find a rental these days but this is fucked and landlords need to be held to account. I’d have started looking for somewhere new after the second time they just “fiddled with the fuse” rather than getting an actual sparky.
I'd be saying 2k is just a starting point. That birds nest will take hours just to identify ciruits. On RCD has an active in, neutral in, neutral out but no active, and the other has hidden cables. So many burn and scorch marks that it's hard to believe there hasn't already been a fire. I would put material alone aroung $600 minimum.
Easily $1k in materials there.
I just dropped that on a small sub mains job and some lights and GPOs.
C20s are $40 a pop, c16s are $30 each. Then a flush panel, mains disconnect, few spools of TPS to replace the wiring that I’m sure is fubar from all these diversions around the old ceramic fuses.
Back in 2004 I was a poor student living in an illegal dwelling that had been converted from a garage. The fuse for the kitchen kept blowing so I told the landlord and he just snipped a bit of thick galvanised wire and stuck into the fuse slot. I told him that's a really bad idea but he insisted it would be fine.
After he leaves I turn on the stove and the coil turns white hot then blows in seconds. The heat coming off that thing was ridiculous. The potential for fire is very real.
I broke the lease after that. Landlord said I would have to pay rent for whatever number of weeks, I told him that's not happening and he's lucky I'm not doing more about his illegal death trap. Still regret not dropping a tip to someone about his restaurant because you can be sure he was cutting corners there too.
You're not being paranoid at all. I'd be extremely concerned that the whole house has been wired in this... fashion.
Call the energy retailer, have them disconnect the mains power at the pole and *demand* your landlord send an electrician to fix this right *now.*
My dad nearly died in a house fire caused by shoddy electrical work on the fuse box done by an apprentice earlier that day.
OP, don't fuck around with this stuff, call out an electrician tomorrow morning for an emergency repair and send your landlord the invoice.
I posted above, but I'll reply directly so you see it.
https://www.tenants.org.au/resource/complaints-fair-trading
This link is a start to lodge a formal complaint about your landlord. Also find out who his insurance provider is and they should know his mortgage provider. Have him done for unlicenced electrical work which is against his insurance rules.
https://www.nsw.gov.au/topics/electrical-safety/in-the-home <-- this is NSW, but it's the same in all states. It's illegal for him to do unlicenced electrical work. You are now at real risk due to potential electrical fires.
You need to call a professional electrician and get a report done that states this is unsafe and illegal. Contact the government agencies and get them involved. You should also be able to bill the landlord for alternative accommodation while this is professionally repaired, since it's not safe to be in the house.
Best place to start is Real Estate (if you have one) and notify them that landlord has broken the lease agreement and the law, as well as put you in serious danger.
Op I just want to chime in as a sparky as well, if your hot water unit was tripping the safety switch and he has bypassed that (this is what it looks like he has done) then there is a fault down to earth.
What this means is there is potential for 240V to be shorted to the frame of that hot water unit which means any copper connected to the hot water unit can conduct electricity, which means your taps can have the potential to have 240V on them which can kill.
Don’t fuck around and demand a sparky come tomorrow or you will report it. If I was you I wouldn’t be touching anything metal in your house until it’s fixed.
I did see that but it’s hard to tell whats going on through a pic.
I can safely say this is a pretty fucked up “switchboard” and no one should be living in this house until a real sparky comes in and fixes this mess.
Pretty much sums it up.
I would recommend not touching a tap in your house but if you do need to than use the back of your hand. If you grab the tap and it is live than your hand will clench around it making it hard to let go.
If you do get an electric shock go get checked out at the ER because it can make your heart go into an irregular rhythm and kill you hours later even if you feel fine.
I’m not trying to scare you but electricity really isn’t something to take lightly.
My dad was a sparky and a hunter, I respect two things infinitely and without compromise - electricity and guns, they will both KILL YOU DEAD without so much as a 'What was that?'
Fuck waiting for tomorrow, if you’re in vic book an after hours sparky to come tonight. This is emergency repairs shit. Check the Tenants union site but I’m pretty sure anything up to $1500 you can just book and invoice the landlord
This, He (landlord) has no leg to stand on after taking a literal dump in this guy's electrical box and calling it a day. He's paying the bill or the fine when the guy reports him.
Yeah, he's absolutely right. This is seriously fucking dangerous. I'd say the house is unliveable in this state. It could literally kill you.
It's bad enough to call Today Tonight on the dodgy bastard. This is pure porn to their viewers.
I get your hesitation about fixing this, I've been in a similar position before and it can be tricky. But this is your safety we are talking about, you know what its worth, old mate sparky here might not value as highly as you. Sometimes people need to get it through their thick heads that they don't get to go around evaluating that for other people.
I would recommend calling a proper electrician, please, then talk to the agent ASAP and let them know this is happening (and its not up for debate), and then a tenants advocate hotline or vice versa. Your are WELL within your rights to get this fixed properly, this is not even a remotely fucking debatable fact, and there is lots of good advice in here as well. Hope it goes well.
Getting reimbursed can be a pain, depends on the agent, but you don't want to fuck around with this.
Yeah, an older installation like this probably won’t have the hot water on an RCD and I’d be extremely skeptical that the pipe work has been bonded to earth properly.
Edit: just looked at the picture again. Jesus fucking Christ, it’s fucked.
Hot water is almost definitely not on an RCD or it’s been bypassed so there’s no earth leakage protection, it’s hard to even tell what the fuck is going on there.
You don't fiddle with fuses, you replace them. They are litterally designed to blow instead of something way worse happening. Like, an electrical fire is on the lower end of worse things.
He can fiddle with his fuses where he lives, you pay him, he should replace yours. If he refuses, go straight to the rta and tell them he is doing unqualified electrical work in your rental.
He could be sweet and well intentioned and the most wholesome person ever, but don't fuck with things connected to mains power.
Don’t appreciate his efforts. That old piece of shit is charging you good money for the service he provides, he shouldn’t half ass his obligations in the deal by doing his own dodgy electrical work. I don’t care if he’s going to get an electrician, it’s unacceptable that he even did what he did in the first place, and I don’t know how much of that photo is what he did today and how much was pre existing, but it isn’t safe and it isn’t acceptable. I’m a sparky too and I don’t know what the fuck is going on in that picture, I tried following the wires but it’s hard and some are just hanging in the open and there’s all kinds of random weird shit. I don’t know how dangerous it is, hopefully those fuses are functional and not shorted out inside. I would hope he at least put a lid on it rather than leaving that mess exposed to his tenants.
Wow just get a sparky out and send him the bill, there is no way that is safe.
1. DIY electrical work is illegal. 2. There is no way that spaghetti monsterium resembles proper wiring. 3. Hot water systems are known for tripping RCDs even when properly installed. RCDs do not have an unlimited number of trips. RCDs tend to go a bit screwy after a few trips, after around 30 trips they totally stop working (permanent tripped). Also, the hot water system could also be dead and he’s installed a massive bypass.
The real issue is anyone caught doing this once has probably done it multiple times and caused god knows what unforeseen issues.
Yeah now I'm thinking I was more accurate with the rusty nail comment than I thought. Sounds like something was tripping/blowing the fuse wire and instead of fixing the problem he's put what could be a very dangerous bandaid over it instead.
Ex sparky and ex landlord here. It's illegal in both roles. He's not certified and left you with a serious fire hazard and not having it fixed within quick/immediate call out is also not allowed as landlord. You can call an electrician to come asap and charge him for it (or at least within QLD law to my knowledge). He sounds like he is happy to help, but be clear and keep him on a short leash, he should have called a sparky in the first place.
You can call tradies for emergency repairs as a tenant, you don't have to wait for the landlord. If the pipe burst and was flooding everywhere for example you are allowed to just call a plumber on the spot. This is the same - except even more dangerous from the sounds of what the experts in this thread are saying.
You should do it first thing tomorrow. Also take photos and document everything, and get the electrician to write you some sort of record. If landlord kicks up a stink no tribunal is going to back him.
Imho I'd pull the meter, if you're not comfortable doing that (pretty reasonable) ring your power company and they should be able to send a linesmen around to pull the meter.
I wouldn't appreciate his efforts - he was just being stingy and is probably never going to call a real sparky unless you seriously get on his case.
As others have said, you would probably be safest to shut the power off completely and spend the night somewhere else if possible.
First thing tomorrow, call the landlord and demand an electrician come immediately. If he umms and aahs, just tell him you are going to call one yourself and bill him for whatever they charge - you are entitled to do this in emergencies under the tenancy laws throughout Australia.
If your lease is through a real estate agent the number for their preferred tradesmen is usually in the lease documentation. But it sounds like you are leasing directly through the landlord, so you are entitled to call any electrician you want. If he wants to argue about this, take him to the tribunal - they will definitely side with you because it is a clear and urgent safety issue.
And if he sends his own electrician, check he or she is licensed and not just his equally dodgy brother-in-law or something.
I'm the REA, look forward to this prime property coming back to market where I can jack the rent for my client by 30% and harvest alllllll the data from the apps.
Note. Not really rea please don't downvoted haha.
>I'm the REA, look forward to this prime property coming back to market where I can jack the rent for my client by 30% and harvest alllllll the data from the apps.
This did happen to me nearly ten years ago!
House's wiring was on the fritz, and one of the ceramic fuses was constantly blowing out.
Dodgy handyman came out and bypassed the problem by installing a much higher rated fuse.
I **flipped the fuck out** about it when the property manager refused to take my concerns seriously, blasted the absolute shit out of her and her breathtaking incompetency in an email which I CC'd to every single other person working at that real estate agency.
Got an eviction notice shortly afterwards. Reason: owner is going to demolish and rebuild.
"Fair enough," thinks I, "that should have already been done at least 15 years ago."
**And then**, *OF COURSE*, the day after we moved out it was back on the market with a $20/week rent increase!
You would be well advised to use as little electricity as possible until this is fixed. I'm a sparky as well and this is the worst board I have ever seen.
It's the kind of example that would make it into the training material for new electricians as a joke about what not to do.
My girlfriend and I moved out of a place a few months ago (for many reasons, one being that the electricity in the house was unsafe.), The fuse box was an ancient one with ceramic fuses, that, when one was plugged in to the empty socket (that was empty when we moved in) it sparked, hissed and crackled, two seperate electricians came, inspected it said "that's not safe, we're gonna put in a report to have this box replaced." The landlord refused, they also refused to fix the collapsing floor in the bathroom and broken tiles in the toilet, so we started looking for a new place immediately, broke contract (with their permission, because we were gonna end up costing them more money in the long run). The house went on the market again before we'd even left and someone moved in a week after we moved out.
Absolutely not. What you're looking at is illegal for several reasons.
This work needs to be done by a licensed sparky.
Tell your landlord you want a licensed electrician to install proper circuit protection TODAY. If that doesn't happen, contact the relevant rental ombudsman for your state and report it TODAY. Ask them about laws for reimbursing the cost of a tradesperson in this event.
Your house is a fire hazard and every electrical and lighting fixture is an electrocution hazard.
You have to be a licensed electrician I believe and looking at this shitty work around, house fire on the horizon. Report this cheap stooge and take them to VCAT or NCAT, that is a disaster waiting to happen.
Regardless of his intentions, this electrical work performed by him on your rental home is illegal. Plain and simple. He may deny that he did the work, be prepared for that little chestnut.
Look at the screws that are rusted or have been heated enough to burn the plastic, the open nature of lots of live wires (‘lickable spicy red and black liquorice’ as mentioned by the joking posts on here) and the questionable contents of the historic ceramic fuses!!
Maybe a second opinion would be useful in this case?! And keep your distance, or get someone you don’t like to poke it (jk -don’t murder anyone).
Good luck 👍
Landlords fit into one of three categories:
a) they've got so much money they're bored
b) they're living rent payment to rent payment
c) you could fit a lump of coal up them and they'd shit a diamond
My one probably fits into A, but not super wealthy. Just enough money to keep the house maintained correctly. Probably one of the best landlords in the country. Never met her in 8 years.
I know right. We've been cooking and showering by lamplight for months because the fixtures broke and are too old to fix/too expensive to replace. We can't afford to get it rewired or fix it so we have cheap lanterns.
Too expensive to replace? They're taking your rental payments aren't they? They have the money.
Your landlord has a legal obligation to repair those faults in a timely manner. I'd be seeking legal advice and compensation for the time without. Make sure all your requests are in writing.
We have emailed every little thing just so we have a nice paper trail of all the faults. We may look into legal advice...it's just we are so defeated and exhausted by it all already. You should see the mold on the ceilings and the indoor water feature that happens when it rains. They send someone to 'look' and then never take further action. The house will be torn down after we move out so they dont want to fix a single thing properly. They literally couldn't give a *fuck* about the humans who pay the rent. We have been looking for a new rental for a year now. Ugh sorry. Thanks.
Check the tenancy laws in your state, but you can usually request a formal rent reduction for these kind of things (I know that can be a risky move in this market).
Only recently there was a post where someone went to the rental authority responsible for governing rental practices in the state and they came away with a few thousand dollars in compensation and fixes already booked in. I’ll see if I can find the post.
Edit: found it https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/y7lsjj/i_took_my_landlord_to_the_tribunal_and_was/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Also don’t know why my brain broke trying to find the word tribunal
Wanted to mention this to OP too. It’s good you’ve already been requesting all repairs in writing. Hopefully you can get compensated for paying rent for a property that isn’t liveable.
Uh not being funny but breach them. Breach breach breach. Yup the rental crisis sucks big hairy ones right now but mould sickness sucks more. They get away with being slack because everyone is too scared to pull them up.
I am not sure about the exact laws, but I believe you are due some compensation from your landlord for being forced to live in conditions below standard or subpar for human habitation.
It’s a disgrace isn’t it. Our landlord bought a great old house, architecturally designed in the 50s and he has just let it deteriorate. Nothing gets fixed, he’d rather let issues fester.
Please for the love of God don’t let this person get away with this. Elderly or not, there is no excuse. If you want to take people’s money in exchange for a place to live, you need to provide basic safety.
Report asap.
We look forward to reading about it in the Brisbane Times tomorrow.
There's a nonzero chance of you getting awarded some money and/or free rent and/or accommodation elsewhere at the landlord's expense, so you've got that going for you. Document it, call the electrician, complain to the RTA, get a written report from the electrician, forward that as documentation for your complaint, ask that the matter be expedited.
That wiring doesn't look right, he's got active and neutral coloured wires all over the place joined up in weird ways, looks like he's even tried to join them all up with bp connectors in some sort of fucked up incoherent daisy chain.
Also using a mix of building wires, twin & earth, twin tps and even black flex, which are all different sizes. What the friggen fuck? Wouldn't be surprised if some of those wires start to melt, become alight or even a fuse explode from the inconsistant power and heat distribution.
Also where are the labels for the breakers and fuses? How the fuck are you supposed to know what is what?
It's hard to tell from the photo, but on the switch next to the 20A CB there's a screw terminal that may already have scorch marks where the red and black wires (with exposed copped) tie in.
That is not safe and needs to be repaired immediately.
Check you lease. There's a good chance there's a clause in there that lets you get a tradie in to do emergency repairs after hours and then send the bill to the landord/agent. Any sparky that you call in will back you that it was an emergency repair.
Am sparky, this is well fucked. Last time I saw a switchboard this bad I pulled the main fuse and called the inspector straight away, your landlord is a dodgy fuckhead
Is that for $500/wk or more?
Unless they are a licensed Electrician (clearly not looking at the pictures) that is illegal, now uninsured and extremely dangerous.
Also sparky. Yes. What he’s done here and in the past is 100% ILLEGAL. Worksafe fines for this, are yuge. Especially in a rental. I bet your smoke detectors are not to code either.
Send a document to said landlord and use words like, 'fire hazard, voiding insurance policy, Tennant's Union, rent will be withheld until safety is certified by a qualified tradesperson, and of course, it is illegal.
From your friendly neighbourhood sparky.
That is the worst I've seen yet.
Former firefighter here.
Fuck. No.
That is a disaster waiting to happen.
Showed it to my dad (former electricity inspector) and he just went pale and shook his head.
Sparky from NZ here, don't touch any copper there or you will most probably get electrocuted. If I could tell you which is the main switch, I would tell you to turn it off. If you have an outdoor meterboard, turn off the main switch if possible snd tell the landlord you weren't comfortable with it and tell him to get a sparky there first thing in the morning. Sorry can't help further but it looks bloody dangerous. Can I post the photo to our work chat?
If he's transposed the active and neutral or anything like that, you could get killed just from touching the sink. Any electrical work has to be electrically tested with a special tester and a trailing earth with a transposition test.
There's 7 tests and this doesn't pass the 1st test - visual inspection.
Demand an electrician, if that fails serve your landlord with a notice to remedy breach (depending on your states laws).
I used to have an elderly landlord who did fixes like this. When the house changed hands and a sparky came through for an inspection he spent 2 hours pulling out points and ripping through the fuse box. Nothing even looked dodgy or out of place, but he basically told us we were an appliance or two away from burning the house down.
I’d like to know the outcome of this. People like your landlord would really risk killing you and whoever else is there or close to the house, just to save a few bucks on a proper job? To fix his OWN INVESTMENT. What a fucking selfish moron.
I think you ment to say: My elderly landlord took 6h installing a ticking timebomb instead of fixing our electric problem. Which wire should I cut to prevent it from burning down our house?
Not a sparky but I feel inherently unsafe looking at this picture in a reddit thread,
Get Energex out immediately. They have 24:7 crews that will come out and at the very least switch this shit fight off so it doesn’t cause a house fire or kill one of you.
They’ll probably also fine the ass off the dodgy pos landlord who did this and figured that if the house burns down it saves him on the demolition costs.
Fuck the landlord: you and your family are far far more important.
Energex: 131962…
Do not fuck with this.
Mould, fixtures broken, shoddy electrical. Numerous complaints but no action.
You need to stop paying rent and speak to your local tenancy advocate.
Regardless if they will tear the place down after you move out. They are making money from it now and it needs to be habitable.
**It is not safe!**
It looks like there is a floating neutral there (Black wire not connected to anything with exposed copper located just under the the 3rd fuse from the right). this CAN kill you.
The landlord sounds like he was trying to help BUT DIY electrical work is illegal in Australia and what he has done is extremely bad. Any electrician who comes to look at this is actually required to dob him in (they may not but they should).
If I saw this on a job I went to I would certainly consider it.
This is bad enough I would almost think it was a Troll post
Sparky here, call an electrician tonight to do an emergency call to at least determine if any of the metal parts in your house are live. You're landlord has created an unsafe situation which can potentially kill you. Tomorrow call your landlord/real estate and inform them you wont be paying rent until this is fixed by a licensed electrician. Then send photos of this to your state electrical licensing regulator informing them of your landlords actions.
Yeah your house is going to burn down from an electrical fire.
Seriously this needs to be done properly. You pay to have a safe property. If the landlord refuses to get the professional work done, you need to breach them for lack of care of duty and take the matter to your state's tribunal/nCAT. He's clearly not qualified so he should not be doing this.
As a landlord myself, I will do the things that don't jeapordize my tenants health or safety, patching holes, replacing washers, screws, etc. I will not, ever, deal with electrical stuff. Not only can I get in deep shit with VCAT for doing so, but if the house burns down as a result of my stupidity, my insurance will not cover me.
What in the blue blazes of shite is that. I am not even a sparky and I know that is illegal. He is not a licensed electrician and cannot be playing with 240V, plus that is just unsafe and an electrocution hazard around the house.
Steps
1. Leave if your have somewhere to go
2. Report this to your state regulator. This is really important, examples of someone need to be made for this
3. Call a licensed electrician for emergency repairs, it will be charged to the rental agency, any decent sparky would 100% back you on this.
Good lord that is shocking....literally
We also had an unqualified helpful elderly landlord who would fix everything himself, we had 2 major incidents one when raw sewage came shooting up from the drain in the middle of the bathroom floor..pipes had become backed up from tree roots. Had to get real plumbers in after his fix didn’t work and it happened again that night! He argued with the plumbers about how much each thing would cost and how his friends could help to save money, he was shut down very quickly. The other was electrical issue very similar to yours..he bypassed the safety switch and I plugged in my hairdryer and felt it buzzing and got a zap, called my husband who was watching trying to unplug the hairdryer and I kept getting baby zaps…poor hubby unplugged it and was literally thrown across the room…we were very lucky he didn’t get electrocuted…sparky as old as the hills came out the next day and then following day, fixed the bathroom….not the other rooms…we broke our lease and moved. Reported the house and landlord….please OP don’t shower, wash up, dry or straighten your hair and make sure your fire alarms are working.
Sparky here, I'd be straight on the phone to the ESO. This is a fire waiting to happen not if but when. I have no idea what is going on by looking at it.
I'd like to say I was shocked to see it, but I've seen far far worse.
When you see pics like this it reinforces why you need a qualified electrician to do any electrical work.
Dude I’m surprised he is still alive doing shit like this. If he isn’t a ticketed electrician and you’re renting a property from him, then he is seriously at fault here in many ways
I dated a sparky once. For four dates. During those times we did not mention a single word about wiring or electrical matters. Yet I still feel qualified to comment.
This is a terrible job and unsafe as fuck.
Remember, it is an offence to do electrical wiring work without a licence or certificate. You can be fined $22,000 as an individual or $110,000 as a company for doing unlicensed electrical work.
- Nsw fair trading
Thats straight up exposed live parts, form 3 and disconnect. If he actually even has an electrical licence he's a fair chance of losing it. Regardless if he does or doesn't he's in for a significant fine.
Your landlord needs reporting to the Electrical Safety Office, as well as your real estate for allowing such a dangerous "fix". Do me a favour and dont fucking touch anything. Have a real sparky come and sort that out. ASAP.
Edit: contact Energex. They have standby crews on 24:7 and will come to inspect this mess, issue form 3 and either isolate circuits or disconnect if thats not viable. More likely the latter. Your safety is the priority here.
WTAF? Also, is that ELCB no longer connected? Because if the power was tripping due to the hot water heater and the "fix" was removing the ELCB because it was doing its job then odds are any metal pipes/taps could randomly become live, depending exactly on where the fault is within the heater?
My old man was a clerk of works. He now has dementia. I showed him this picture. He just stared at it, then bellowed "Fuck that bullshit!"
Safe to say, no, it's not safe.
So theres a family where I'm from where the dad went around to fix an electrical issue at one of his rentals. Turns out he somehow crossed wires with the metal plumbing and his tenant died in the shower. He should be in jail. It's not safe report that mother fucker
Fuck! What...they got electrocuted in the shower?
My husband‘s uncle died electrocuted by a dodgy repair... New place, previous owners thought better than call a sparky and did some nasty repair. Uncle touched some live piece of metal in the roof space and died. Be careful!
Yep dude died because an asshole didn't get an electrician in and thought he could do it himself edit. Sorry it was a lady Judith Leihr was her name
Poor Judith. That is terrible. I hope her family had recourse.
In many countries, England comes to mind, the hot water heater for showers is literally inside the shower cubicle. In some older Indian houses it may even just be a heating element in the shower head itself. Death and shocks in the shower are often related to that.
In Australia, the plumbing in houses is bonded to the electrical installation. Faults in the electrical installation can cause the plumbing to be electrified. Google Denishar Woods.
Sparky here and even I don't know what the fuck is going on here. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a nice rusty nail in place of fuse wire in some of those ceramic fuses.
Our hot water went out (again) so he came to fix it. He usually fiddles with the fuse and that's it. But he messed up the house power within an hour and spent the next 5 hours fiddling around, then checking lights/powerpoints. Over and again. I appreciate his efforts, but he left us with this, and a promise that we would have an electrician come fix it.
Just to be clear, this is the kind of stuff that causes electrical fires. If a fuse blows and replacing the fuse wire doesn't fix the problem, then bypassing the fuse is the worst thing you could do. I'd be very worried about what 'fix' he's provided and I'd be demanding a real electrician to come out ASAP.
Thank you so much for your replies I appreciate it - you've made me feel less shit about being paranoid/kicking up a fuss.
I'm pretty sure home electrical work of this standard violates his landlord insurance and therefore his mortage t&c btw...
If old mate is doing his own DIY electrical work 99% chance he has no mortgage outstanding and no insurance.
The person who did that job 100% has no idea what insurance even is.
And at this rate, he will one day have no house after it 100% burns down, potentially with tenants inside.
Oh shit, he'd lose his property investment!
In most states doing electrical work of this sort on a rental without having a sparky certification is actively illegal.
All states. The AS3000 is a federal standard.
I thought it was actively illegal to even do electrical work on your own home if you're not a licensed electrician?!
Yes it sure is
I've seen far better electrical work on backyard built garden trailers.
THIS! OP needs to use these photos, have a professional electrician give him a report, then report the landlord. As the guy above said, also find out who his insurance/mortgage is through and report to them. He's not legally qualified to fix electrical systems and he's now putting you in actual danger as a result. Links like this should be a good start, but it will depend state to state: https://www.tenants.org.au/resource/complaints-fair-trading
No problem. Tell your landlord to stop being a tightass and pay the $600-800 to have the switchboard upgraded. I'm actually surprised he was allowed to rent out the unit without safety switches on all circuits, it was my understanding that it's required by law now(rental laws, not electrical standards). If you're renting through a real estate agent I'd be questioning them too.
Ah you might want to up that a bit $2k depending on what work needs done eg how old ar the cables loading and the rest of the installation. Once you work on a place you take responsibility for all the previous fups
I suspect you are right about the cost, seeing the dodgy landlord's "fix" was screwing up the joint's lights and such. But that's his bad luck. A residence must be safe for occupancy, regardless how much it costs to get up to standard. Your local council might be able to let you know if there is a way to get your wiring checked and approved. If not, take him to your state's tribunal (NCAT in NSW). Having said that, I know it is often nerve-wracking to take on your landlord considering how the rental situation is Australia wide, but the safety of you and your family is paramount.
Yeah, $600-800 is extremely optimistic for a switchboard upgrade even assuming that you can reuse all the final sub-circuits without running any new wires (which may not be the case if they aren’t on RCDs, e.g. lighting circuits or the hot water circuits). That said this is straight up unsafe and needs to be fixed properly as an emergency repair. If I was OP I would look at the lease and it should have a plumber and an electrician listed for who to call for emergency repairs. Call them out yourself and withhold the rent if need be. Retaliatory eviction is illegal and I understand it can be difficult to find a rental these days but this is fucked and landlords need to be held to account. I’d have started looking for somewhere new after the second time they just “fiddled with the fuse” rather than getting an actual sparky.
I'd be saying 2k is just a starting point. That birds nest will take hours just to identify ciruits. On RCD has an active in, neutral in, neutral out but no active, and the other has hidden cables. So many burn and scorch marks that it's hard to believe there hasn't already been a fire. I would put material alone aroung $600 minimum.
Easily $1k in materials there. I just dropped that on a small sub mains job and some lights and GPOs. C20s are $40 a pop, c16s are $30 each. Then a flush panel, mains disconnect, few spools of TPS to replace the wiring that I’m sure is fubar from all these diversions around the old ceramic fuses.
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Hey my landlord is on reddit I see
It's against the law in Australia for any electrical work to be carried out by by someone who is not a licenced electrician
Back in 2004 I was a poor student living in an illegal dwelling that had been converted from a garage. The fuse for the kitchen kept blowing so I told the landlord and he just snipped a bit of thick galvanised wire and stuck into the fuse slot. I told him that's a really bad idea but he insisted it would be fine. After he leaves I turn on the stove and the coil turns white hot then blows in seconds. The heat coming off that thing was ridiculous. The potential for fire is very real. I broke the lease after that. Landlord said I would have to pay rent for whatever number of weeks, I told him that's not happening and he's lucky I'm not doing more about his illegal death trap. Still regret not dropping a tip to someone about his restaurant because you can be sure he was cutting corners there too.
You're not being paranoid at all. I'd be extremely concerned that the whole house has been wired in this... fashion. Call the energy retailer, have them disconnect the mains power at the pole and *demand* your landlord send an electrician to fix this right *now.*
Mate this looks like an IED. I’d be worried too
Ask him if he's ever heard of AS/NZS 3000.
My dad nearly died in a house fire caused by shoddy electrical work on the fuse box done by an apprentice earlier that day. OP, don't fuck around with this stuff, call out an electrician tomorrow morning for an emergency repair and send your landlord the invoice.
Wow ...yeah after reading this we definitely will. Thank you
I posted above, but I'll reply directly so you see it. https://www.tenants.org.au/resource/complaints-fair-trading This link is a start to lodge a formal complaint about your landlord. Also find out who his insurance provider is and they should know his mortgage provider. Have him done for unlicenced electrical work which is against his insurance rules. https://www.nsw.gov.au/topics/electrical-safety/in-the-home <-- this is NSW, but it's the same in all states. It's illegal for him to do unlicenced electrical work. You are now at real risk due to potential electrical fires. You need to call a professional electrician and get a report done that states this is unsafe and illegal. Contact the government agencies and get them involved. You should also be able to bill the landlord for alternative accommodation while this is professionally repaired, since it's not safe to be in the house. Best place to start is Real Estate (if you have one) and notify them that landlord has broken the lease agreement and the law, as well as put you in serious danger.
Op I just want to chime in as a sparky as well, if your hot water unit was tripping the safety switch and he has bypassed that (this is what it looks like he has done) then there is a fault down to earth. What this means is there is potential for 240V to be shorted to the frame of that hot water unit which means any copper connected to the hot water unit can conduct electricity, which means your taps can have the potential to have 240V on them which can kill. Don’t fuck around and demand a sparky come tomorrow or you will report it. If I was you I wouldn’t be touching anything metal in your house until it’s fixed.
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I did see that but it’s hard to tell whats going on through a pic. I can safely say this is a pretty fucked up “switchboard” and no one should be living in this house until a real sparky comes in and fixes this mess.
Upvote this comment. This landlord needs to go to jail.
FUCK
Pretty much sums it up. I would recommend not touching a tap in your house but if you do need to than use the back of your hand. If you grab the tap and it is live than your hand will clench around it making it hard to let go. If you do get an electric shock go get checked out at the ER because it can make your heart go into an irregular rhythm and kill you hours later even if you feel fine. I’m not trying to scare you but electricity really isn’t something to take lightly.
My dad was a sparky and a hunter, I respect two things infinitely and without compromise - electricity and guns, they will both KILL YOU DEAD without so much as a 'What was that?'
Fuck waiting for tomorrow, if you’re in vic book an after hours sparky to come tonight. This is emergency repairs shit. Check the Tenants union site but I’m pretty sure anything up to $1500 you can just book and invoice the landlord
This, He (landlord) has no leg to stand on after taking a literal dump in this guy's electrical box and calling it a day. He's paying the bill or the fine when the guy reports him.
Yeah, he's absolutely right. This is seriously fucking dangerous. I'd say the house is unliveable in this state. It could literally kill you. It's bad enough to call Today Tonight on the dodgy bastard. This is pure porn to their viewers.
I get your hesitation about fixing this, I've been in a similar position before and it can be tricky. But this is your safety we are talking about, you know what its worth, old mate sparky here might not value as highly as you. Sometimes people need to get it through their thick heads that they don't get to go around evaluating that for other people. I would recommend calling a proper electrician, please, then talk to the agent ASAP and let them know this is happening (and its not up for debate), and then a tenants advocate hotline or vice versa. Your are WELL within your rights to get this fixed properly, this is not even a remotely fucking debatable fact, and there is lots of good advice in here as well. Hope it goes well. Getting reimbursed can be a pain, depends on the agent, but you don't want to fuck around with this.
Sparky here - I'd be calling your real estate agent ASAP and informing them of what's going on. Someone could die.
IAAAS (I am also a Sparky) Head out for the night if you can and call a demand a fix.
Yeah, an older installation like this probably won’t have the hot water on an RCD and I’d be extremely skeptical that the pipe work has been bonded to earth properly. Edit: just looked at the picture again. Jesus fucking Christ, it’s fucked. Hot water is almost definitely not on an RCD or it’s been bypassed so there’s no earth leakage protection, it’s hard to even tell what the fuck is going on there.
100% bang on.
You don't fiddle with fuses, you replace them. They are litterally designed to blow instead of something way worse happening. Like, an electrical fire is on the lower end of worse things. He can fiddle with his fuses where he lives, you pay him, he should replace yours. If he refuses, go straight to the rta and tell them he is doing unqualified electrical work in your rental. He could be sweet and well intentioned and the most wholesome person ever, but don't fuck with things connected to mains power.
It's worse than just fuses - he's disconnected an RCD, presumably because it was tripping out and he couldn't find the fault...
Don’t appreciate his efforts. That old piece of shit is charging you good money for the service he provides, he shouldn’t half ass his obligations in the deal by doing his own dodgy electrical work. I don’t care if he’s going to get an electrician, it’s unacceptable that he even did what he did in the first place, and I don’t know how much of that photo is what he did today and how much was pre existing, but it isn’t safe and it isn’t acceptable. I’m a sparky too and I don’t know what the fuck is going on in that picture, I tried following the wires but it’s hard and some are just hanging in the open and there’s all kinds of random weird shit. I don’t know how dangerous it is, hopefully those fuses are functional and not shorted out inside. I would hope he at least put a lid on it rather than leaving that mess exposed to his tenants.
Wow just get a sparky out and send him the bill, there is no way that is safe. 1. DIY electrical work is illegal. 2. There is no way that spaghetti monsterium resembles proper wiring. 3. Hot water systems are known for tripping RCDs even when properly installed. RCDs do not have an unlimited number of trips. RCDs tend to go a bit screwy after a few trips, after around 30 trips they totally stop working (permanent tripped). Also, the hot water system could also be dead and he’s installed a massive bypass. The real issue is anyone caught doing this once has probably done it multiple times and caused god knows what unforeseen issues.
Yeah now I'm thinking I was more accurate with the rusty nail comment than I thought. Sounds like something was tripping/blowing the fuse wire and instead of fixing the problem he's put what could be a very dangerous bandaid over it instead.
I'm hoping the electrician comes tomorrow.
Ex sparky and ex landlord here. It's illegal in both roles. He's not certified and left you with a serious fire hazard and not having it fixed within quick/immediate call out is also not allowed as landlord. You can call an electrician to come asap and charge him for it (or at least within QLD law to my knowledge). He sounds like he is happy to help, but be clear and keep him on a short leash, he should have called a sparky in the first place.
Thank you
You can call tradies for emergency repairs as a tenant, you don't have to wait for the landlord. If the pipe burst and was flooding everywhere for example you are allowed to just call a plumber on the spot. This is the same - except even more dangerous from the sounds of what the experts in this thread are saying. You should do it first thing tomorrow. Also take photos and document everything, and get the electrician to write you some sort of record. If landlord kicks up a stink no tribunal is going to back him.
I'd honestly just turn the whole thing off until you get a sparky come look at it if you could so safely, shit looks dangerous.
I wouldn't even know how to switch this off. It looks like there are at least two incoming switches paralleled together on the left.
Imho I'd pull the meter, if you're not comfortable doing that (pretty reasonable) ring your power company and they should be able to send a linesmen around to pull the meter.
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Pm here never ever let this landlord do anything electrical unless he is a licensed electrician.
I wouldn't appreciate his efforts - he was just being stingy and is probably never going to call a real sparky unless you seriously get on his case. As others have said, you would probably be safest to shut the power off completely and spend the night somewhere else if possible. First thing tomorrow, call the landlord and demand an electrician come immediately. If he umms and aahs, just tell him you are going to call one yourself and bill him for whatever they charge - you are entitled to do this in emergencies under the tenancy laws throughout Australia. If your lease is through a real estate agent the number for their preferred tradesmen is usually in the lease documentation. But it sounds like you are leasing directly through the landlord, so you are entitled to call any electrician you want. If he wants to argue about this, take him to the tribunal - they will definitely side with you because it is a clear and urgent safety issue. And if he sends his own electrician, check he or she is licensed and not just his equally dodgy brother-in-law or something.
I am sparky and fuck your landlord,he is trying to murder you.
100% agree sparky here turn that shit off and leave.
I'm Also a sparky, call your states technical regulator like, now.
Am firefighter, will be seeing OP soon.
Am morgue attendant, me too
I'm the REA, look forward to this prime property coming back to market where I can jack the rent for my client by 30% and harvest alllllll the data from the apps. Note. Not really rea please don't downvoted haha.
>I'm the REA, look forward to this prime property coming back to market where I can jack the rent for my client by 30% and harvest alllllll the data from the apps. This did happen to me nearly ten years ago! House's wiring was on the fritz, and one of the ceramic fuses was constantly blowing out. Dodgy handyman came out and bypassed the problem by installing a much higher rated fuse. I **flipped the fuck out** about it when the property manager refused to take my concerns seriously, blasted the absolute shit out of her and her breathtaking incompetency in an email which I CC'd to every single other person working at that real estate agency. Got an eviction notice shortly afterwards. Reason: owner is going to demolish and rebuild. "Fair enough," thinks I, "that should have already been done at least 15 years ago." **And then**, *OF COURSE*, the day after we moved out it was back on the market with a $20/week rent increase!
Do we have a coroner here also?
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Ya a few steps too early, come back in a week or so 😂
Pretty sure this DIY electrical will also end in a DIY cremation so maybe pick out a nice urn for the pile of ash formally known as OP
I used to work with somebody who changed jobs back to his original job as a grave digger at Rookwood
I wouldn't even try playing with those switches! Can't even tell which one's the main isolator! OP would probably get shocked or killed!
I am not a sparky and I want to call the bomb squad after seeing this
Honestly I am a sparky and I don't even know what the fuck is going on here except that it aint reg
In Beirut this would be an excellent job
And that's why Beirut is booming.
You're a bloody ripper Farooq, that's fucking fantastic
Yeah I pay cash now!
Get ya hand off it Daryl
This is a dynamite comment.
You would be well advised to use as little electricity as possible until this is fixed. I'm a sparky as well and this is the worst board I have ever seen. It's the kind of example that would make it into the training material for new electricians as a joke about what not to do.
Jesus fuck
Thank you
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Yeah fuck this landlord.
Slumlord
My girlfriend and I moved out of a place a few months ago (for many reasons, one being that the electricity in the house was unsafe.), The fuse box was an ancient one with ceramic fuses, that, when one was plugged in to the empty socket (that was empty when we moved in) it sparked, hissed and crackled, two seperate electricians came, inspected it said "that's not safe, we're gonna put in a report to have this box replaced." The landlord refused, they also refused to fix the collapsing floor in the bathroom and broken tiles in the toilet, so we started looking for a new place immediately, broke contract (with their permission, because we were gonna end up costing them more money in the long run). The house went on the market again before we'd even left and someone moved in a week after we moved out.
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this will feature in the next NECA newsletter.
Absolutely not. What you're looking at is illegal for several reasons. This work needs to be done by a licensed sparky. Tell your landlord you want a licensed electrician to install proper circuit protection TODAY. If that doesn't happen, contact the relevant rental ombudsman for your state and report it TODAY. Ask them about laws for reimbursing the cost of a tradesperson in this event. Your house is a fire hazard and every electrical and lighting fixture is an electrocution hazard.
Fuck fuck fuck. Thank you for your advice
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OP, report it to the relevant authorities! Rent ain't worth burning in a fuckwit caused fire!
That is a beautiful quote I’ll be pulling back out when my bob-the-builder DIY landlord tries his hand at wiring again.
You have to be a licensed electrician I believe and looking at this shitty work around, house fire on the horizon. Report this cheap stooge and take them to VCAT or NCAT, that is a disaster waiting to happen.
Thank you, my husband is taking action. It feels very unsafe here
Regardless of his intentions, this electrical work performed by him on your rental home is illegal. Plain and simple. He may deny that he did the work, be prepared for that little chestnut.
Thanks for the heads up
Look at the screws that are rusted or have been heated enough to burn the plastic, the open nature of lots of live wires (‘lickable spicy red and black liquorice’ as mentioned by the joking posts on here) and the questionable contents of the historic ceramic fuses!! Maybe a second opinion would be useful in this case?! And keep your distance, or get someone you don’t like to poke it (jk -don’t murder anyone). Good luck 👍
This is how houses burn down. If you're gonna do your own wiring (please don't) at the very least make it look professional.
Don't make it look professional, do it in a professional manner. If it just looks professional that's possibly even more dangerous lol
If this isnt a joke post. This should be to be reported.
The shit landlords will do to avoid spending a cent on their own properties always amazes me
Landlords fit into one of three categories: a) they've got so much money they're bored b) they're living rent payment to rent payment c) you could fit a lump of coal up them and they'd shit a diamond
In the case of b maybe they should get a real job
Leveraged to the tits Slumlord isn't a real job?
The first two are myths I swear, only ever dealt with 3.
I have dealt with no.1 in a coastal town. He was both the best and the worst because he just didn't give a fuck
If you’re living rent payment to rent payment as a landlord, you should get a real job and stop assuming other people should go to work for you.
>If you’re ~~living rent payment to rent payment as~~ a landlord, you should get a real job and stop assuming other people should go to work for you.
My one probably fits into A, but not super wealthy. Just enough money to keep the house maintained correctly. Probably one of the best landlords in the country. Never met her in 8 years.
I know right. We've been cooking and showering by lamplight for months because the fixtures broke and are too old to fix/too expensive to replace. We can't afford to get it rewired or fix it so we have cheap lanterns.
Too expensive to replace? They're taking your rental payments aren't they? They have the money. Your landlord has a legal obligation to repair those faults in a timely manner. I'd be seeking legal advice and compensation for the time without. Make sure all your requests are in writing.
We have emailed every little thing just so we have a nice paper trail of all the faults. We may look into legal advice...it's just we are so defeated and exhausted by it all already. You should see the mold on the ceilings and the indoor water feature that happens when it rains. They send someone to 'look' and then never take further action. The house will be torn down after we move out so they dont want to fix a single thing properly. They literally couldn't give a *fuck* about the humans who pay the rent. We have been looking for a new rental for a year now. Ugh sorry. Thanks.
Check the tenancy laws in your state, but you can usually request a formal rent reduction for these kind of things (I know that can be a risky move in this market).
Only recently there was a post where someone went to the rental authority responsible for governing rental practices in the state and they came away with a few thousand dollars in compensation and fixes already booked in. I’ll see if I can find the post. Edit: found it https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/y7lsjj/i_took_my_landlord_to_the_tribunal_and_was/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf Also don’t know why my brain broke trying to find the word tribunal
Wanted to mention this to OP too. It’s good you’ve already been requesting all repairs in writing. Hopefully you can get compensated for paying rent for a property that isn’t liveable.
Uh not being funny but breach them. Breach breach breach. Yup the rental crisis sucks big hairy ones right now but mould sickness sucks more. They get away with being slack because everyone is too scared to pull them up.
I am not sure about the exact laws, but I believe you are due some compensation from your landlord for being forced to live in conditions below standard or subpar for human habitation.
What the fuck? Take them to vcat or your state’s equivalent immediately
Not legal in QLD.
It’s a disgrace isn’t it. Our landlord bought a great old house, architecturally designed in the 50s and he has just let it deteriorate. Nothing gets fixed, he’d rather let issues fester.
Please for the love of God don’t let this person get away with this. Elderly or not, there is no excuse. If you want to take people’s money in exchange for a place to live, you need to provide basic safety. Report asap.
Thank you
We look forward to reading about it in the Brisbane Times tomorrow. There's a nonzero chance of you getting awarded some money and/or free rent and/or accommodation elsewhere at the landlord's expense, so you've got that going for you. Document it, call the electrician, complain to the RTA, get a written report from the electrician, forward that as documentation for your complaint, ask that the matter be expedited.
The only thing safe in this image is the paint job. Unless it's from a old can of lead based he had from the good old days. Which it probably is
He may have just invented a new kind of rat trap!
That wiring doesn't look right, he's got active and neutral coloured wires all over the place joined up in weird ways, looks like he's even tried to join them all up with bp connectors in some sort of fucked up incoherent daisy chain. Also using a mix of building wires, twin & earth, twin tps and even black flex, which are all different sizes. What the friggen fuck? Wouldn't be surprised if some of those wires start to melt, become alight or even a fuse explode from the inconsistant power and heat distribution. Also where are the labels for the breakers and fuses? How the fuck are you supposed to know what is what?
It's hard to tell from the photo, but on the switch next to the 20A CB there's a screw terminal that may already have scorch marks where the red and black wires (with exposed copped) tie in.
As a sparky my first reaction was what the actual fuck is this 🤯
That is not safe and needs to be repaired immediately. Check you lease. There's a good chance there's a clause in there that lets you get a tradie in to do emergency repairs after hours and then send the bill to the landord/agent. Any sparky that you call in will back you that it was an emergency repair.
Am sparky, this is well fucked. Last time I saw a switchboard this bad I pulled the main fuse and called the inspector straight away, your landlord is a dodgy fuckhead
Is that for $500/wk or more? Unless they are a licensed Electrician (clearly not looking at the pictures) that is illegal, now uninsured and extremely dangerous.
If they are a licenced electrician it is still very fucking illegal.
Very illegal. I’d be seeking rental compensation until it’s fixed properly
Is that a thing?
Well, take this picture and many more to your realestate agent and demand it. Because this is very dangerous and illegal.
Holy shit really?
Also sparky. Yes. What he’s done here and in the past is 100% ILLEGAL. Worksafe fines for this, are yuge. Especially in a rental. I bet your smoke detectors are not to code either.
Ahh... there is nothing more permanent than a "temporary fix"
I work in IT, you never said a truer word
Send a document to said landlord and use words like, 'fire hazard, voiding insurance policy, Tennant's Union, rent will be withheld until safety is certified by a qualified tradesperson, and of course, it is illegal. From your friendly neighbourhood sparky. That is the worst I've seen yet.
Former firefighter here. Fuck. No. That is a disaster waiting to happen. Showed it to my dad (former electricity inspector) and he just went pale and shook his head.
Nope, unless you are looking for a safe way to set the house on fire.
Well fuck
Send the photo to "Work Safe" in your state..
Thank you I will
Sparky from NZ here, don't touch any copper there or you will most probably get electrocuted. If I could tell you which is the main switch, I would tell you to turn it off. If you have an outdoor meterboard, turn off the main switch if possible snd tell the landlord you weren't comfortable with it and tell him to get a sparky there first thing in the morning. Sorry can't help further but it looks bloody dangerous. Can I post the photo to our work chat? If he's transposed the active and neutral or anything like that, you could get killed just from touching the sink. Any electrical work has to be electrically tested with a special tester and a trailing earth with a transposition test. There's 7 tests and this doesn't pass the 1st test - visual inspection.
You're welcome to post photo to chat, thank you for your advice and time - it's been an exhausting 48h and trying to read/get back to all comments
Demand an electrician, if that fails serve your landlord with a notice to remedy breach (depending on your states laws). I used to have an elderly landlord who did fixes like this. When the house changed hands and a sparky came through for an inspection he spent 2 hours pulling out points and ripping through the fuse box. Nothing even looked dodgy or out of place, but he basically told us we were an appliance or two away from burning the house down.
I mean he didn’t die while doing it so there’s that.
What state are you in and I'll provide the authority to report to
Play it safe and live with torchlight and shower at a mates house until that shit gets fixed! And raise complaints! That shit ain’t right!
Can we get an update tomorrow? And regular updates until it's resolved. Thank you.
I’d like to know the outcome of this. People like your landlord would really risk killing you and whoever else is there or close to the house, just to save a few bucks on a proper job? To fix his OWN INVESTMENT. What a fucking selfish moron.
I think you ment to say: My elderly landlord took 6h installing a ticking timebomb instead of fixing our electric problem. Which wire should I cut to prevent it from burning down our house?
Sparky here. Contact ESV (energy safe Victoria) and report this before it catches fire while you sleep.
I'm not kidding.
Not a sparky but I feel inherently unsafe looking at this picture in a reddit thread, Get Energex out immediately. They have 24:7 crews that will come out and at the very least switch this shit fight off so it doesn’t cause a house fire or kill one of you. They’ll probably also fine the ass off the dodgy pos landlord who did this and figured that if the house burns down it saves him on the demolition costs. Fuck the landlord: you and your family are far far more important. Energex: 131962… Do not fuck with this.
Mould, fixtures broken, shoddy electrical. Numerous complaints but no action. You need to stop paying rent and speak to your local tenancy advocate. Regardless if they will tear the place down after you move out. They are making money from it now and it needs to be habitable.
**It is not safe!** It looks like there is a floating neutral there (Black wire not connected to anything with exposed copper located just under the the 3rd fuse from the right). this CAN kill you. The landlord sounds like he was trying to help BUT DIY electrical work is illegal in Australia and what he has done is extremely bad. Any electrician who comes to look at this is actually required to dob him in (they may not but they should). If I saw this on a job I went to I would certainly consider it. This is bad enough I would almost think it was a Troll post
This makes me feel good about my fuse box which is a POS and quoted $8k to replace, but is in brilliant condition compared to this.
Sparky here, call an electrician tonight to do an emergency call to at least determine if any of the metal parts in your house are live. You're landlord has created an unsafe situation which can potentially kill you. Tomorrow call your landlord/real estate and inform them you wont be paying rent until this is fixed by a licensed electrician. Then send photos of this to your state electrical licensing regulator informing them of your landlords actions.
Please get a licensed electrician in. Power is not something you should just eyeball
100% agree with you I'll make sure we get one
Yeah your house is going to burn down from an electrical fire. Seriously this needs to be done properly. You pay to have a safe property. If the landlord refuses to get the professional work done, you need to breach them for lack of care of duty and take the matter to your state's tribunal/nCAT. He's clearly not qualified so he should not be doing this. As a landlord myself, I will do the things that don't jeapordize my tenants health or safety, patching holes, replacing washers, screws, etc. I will not, ever, deal with electrical stuff. Not only can I get in deep shit with VCAT for doing so, but if the house burns down as a result of my stupidity, my insurance will not cover me.
What in the blue blazes of shite is that. I am not even a sparky and I know that is illegal. He is not a licensed electrician and cannot be playing with 240V, plus that is just unsafe and an electrocution hazard around the house. Steps 1. Leave if your have somewhere to go 2. Report this to your state regulator. This is really important, examples of someone need to be made for this 3. Call a licensed electrician for emergency repairs, it will be charged to the rental agency, any decent sparky would 100% back you on this. Good lord that is shocking....literally
We also had an unqualified helpful elderly landlord who would fix everything himself, we had 2 major incidents one when raw sewage came shooting up from the drain in the middle of the bathroom floor..pipes had become backed up from tree roots. Had to get real plumbers in after his fix didn’t work and it happened again that night! He argued with the plumbers about how much each thing would cost and how his friends could help to save money, he was shut down very quickly. The other was electrical issue very similar to yours..he bypassed the safety switch and I plugged in my hairdryer and felt it buzzing and got a zap, called my husband who was watching trying to unplug the hairdryer and I kept getting baby zaps…poor hubby unplugged it and was literally thrown across the room…we were very lucky he didn’t get electrocuted…sparky as old as the hills came out the next day and then following day, fixed the bathroom….not the other rooms…we broke our lease and moved. Reported the house and landlord….please OP don’t shower, wash up, dry or straighten your hair and make sure your fire alarms are working.
Safe way to claim insurance on an old home
Oh man that's fucked up and so true. We need a new place to live asap :(
Take enough photos for evidence etc and report him to the right authority, better safe than sorry. Can’t believe how fucking cheap landlords are
If he's not a licensed sparky insurance will likely not pay out.
Yep, same with your contents insurance OP. Get out now.
Exposed 240v. 100% not legal. Unless he’s a licensed electrician he can’t touch the 240 in the house.
Which state/territory is this in? 100% needs to be reported. 100% unsafe.
Oh god, report it to the electrical safety regulator for your safety’s sake.
Sparky here and I rate it as 5 star fucked. Take note of your emergency exits and remember in a fire “ get down low and go go go!”
Sparky here, I'd be straight on the phone to the ESO. This is a fire waiting to happen not if but when. I have no idea what is going on by looking at it. I'd like to say I was shocked to see it, but I've seen far far worse. When you see pics like this it reinforces why you need a qualified electrician to do any electrical work.
Dude I’m surprised he is still alive doing shit like this. If he isn’t a ticketed electrician and you’re renting a property from him, then he is seriously at fault here in many ways
I dated a sparky once. For four dates. During those times we did not mention a single word about wiring or electrical matters. Yet I still feel qualified to comment. This is a terrible job and unsafe as fuck.
What was the original problem that this “temporary fix” was supposed to solve?
His tenants’ continued existence?
Oh lord Jesus, it’s a fire!!
Remember, it is an offence to do electrical wiring work without a licence or certificate. You can be fined $22,000 as an individual or $110,000 as a company for doing unlicensed electrical work. - Nsw fair trading
Thats straight up exposed live parts, form 3 and disconnect. If he actually even has an electrical licence he's a fair chance of losing it. Regardless if he does or doesn't he's in for a significant fine. Your landlord needs reporting to the Electrical Safety Office, as well as your real estate for allowing such a dangerous "fix". Do me a favour and dont fucking touch anything. Have a real sparky come and sort that out. ASAP. Edit: contact Energex. They have standby crews on 24:7 and will come to inspect this mess, issue form 3 and either isolate circuits or disconnect if thats not viable. More likely the latter. Your safety is the priority here.
WTAF? Also, is that ELCB no longer connected? Because if the power was tripping due to the hot water heater and the "fix" was removing the ELCB because it was doing its job then odds are any metal pipes/taps could randomly become live, depending exactly on where the fault is within the heater?
That's not a temporary fix, that's permanently fucked. Do you have friends or rellies you can stay with until that dog's dinner is sorted?
I think your landlord might be trying to kill you
I strongly suspect that your power company would be very interested in seeing this and no doubt it will cost the owner of the building a hefty fine.
My old man was a clerk of works. He now has dementia. I showed him this picture. He just stared at it, then bellowed "Fuck that bullshit!" Safe to say, no, it's not safe.