u/Senior-Job5727

Have read some post mentioning old dodgy rentals owned by the old Greek man who is everybody's landlord (the ones that haven't burned down yet) and this place was literally that for decades. The post might have mentioned a shower zapping people too (which freaks me out a bit).

Can upload pics of certain things but afraid people would tell where I live (we live on top of a restaurant).

Nothing like that has happened and I've seen safety switch and breakers go off. It has seemed fine for ages. Old but ain't broke (that I know of).

Should the powerboard say the outlets are grounded?

I would just call an electrician to look things over but I have to know that something is bad enough to raise it with subletter who can raise it with LL, but not so bad that someone might come in and say the new landlord should condemn the building unless they pay for huge renovations and we get kicked out because of code #$6893^$#@*( of the #*#*# That us poor ole dumb gronks wouldn't understand and we have to move all our shit to a new rental that's a devil I don't know and twice as expensive on a 6 month lease.

Anyhow, sorry. I would really like to get an electrician in but it would be way easier if I could point to something that's generally a reasonable, legally-required, modest upgrade or a pressing concern. Or, I could try to fork out for an electrician but have no idea how extensive their testing will be and how long it will take.

If they would give me a report that I could give to the subletter and new landlords (they are a corporate business, this would be very professional and impersonal, but subletter is being shitty about this) then I would happily pay a bit more rent for the peace of mind of living here. And if it's dangerous, then fuck them, honestly. I don't know if I'm just neurotic, though.

New powerboard says sockets in my room and kitchen are not grounded (at least not directly). Is that required in QLD?

Subletter poked a multimeter prong (red wire) into a bottom/ground hole in the powerboard and said that it showed a certain amount of voltage that wouldn't show up if it wasn't grounded and said my cheap powerboard (Belkin) wouldn't be reliable. Why would there be a disrepancy between his multimeter and powerboard? If he knows what he's doing? Two Belkin powerboards have the red 'not grounded' light on.

Anyway, i don't really understand if this is bad except it's probably better to have grounding. We have a metal toaster in the kitchen that keeps breaking and it's blamed on crumbs and sticky levers and shit like that. I suspect that the ill-advised, cavalier stuff that we have done for ages here is starting to show consequences, though.

The guy renting the room out says that the safety switch protects you from electric shock, that the threshold that it detects a fault mean you get zapped with pretty much nothing. I asked if that means you can stick a knife in the toaster or in the bath.

I think it could be that every once in a while, the house breakers and/or safety switch get activated, and that seems fine (it goes to the ground breaker), but I just don't want to miss anything dangerous, like if there's residual current just hanging around? I want to be able to use my PC's and my bedroom's power had been from an extension cord poked through a tiny hole above the outlet in front of the toilet (I can't tell if the wiring was there before it was turned into a bathroom, or not, but I suspect the wiring is older).

Dodgy-looking retrofittings (eg. outdoor tap, propped-up corrugated iron, silicon everywhere), damp + gas pipes, water pipes, wires near each other downstairs. So I want to know where the faulure points are.

tl:dr

Might be no grounding on powerpoints, one safety switch for GPO's but not for oven or lights, bunch of other stuff. What to look for in old Queenslander long-term rental houses?

Hope this isn't boring AF, I'm grating on people talking about this so much. Objectively, what should I be sure of, to not have fire where we can't extinguish, to not be zapped?

Restaurant downstairs would also be very pissed if we got condemned (but also sure they don't want zapped)

Thank you!! <3

Skip to plan if tl;dr/'he said, she said' related stuff/waffling

The rental market is shit, and this house is pretty comfortable and I know that the overload trip switches on the powerboards go when something breaks, and/or the ground switch and/or at least one safety switch (I am told it has one for the powerpoint circuits but have not looked at the switchboard yet).

There are smoke alarms in pretty much every room (except the bathroom).

The problem is that my room has been powered by an extension cord that has been poked through a hole bored into the wall and the head wired on to it (I had thought the friend I rent the room off told me when I moved in ten years ago that an electrician did it, but then they said they didn't say that).

That cord's outer insulation has separated from the plug heads and I've been wrapping it with insulation tape.

That cord has been plugged into a powerboard that is probably 20 years old and sits in front of the toilet. I think we've gotten away with it because the bathroom is fairly big. It's a Queenslander with high ceilings and a lot of air coming through it.

That cord in that powerboard has worked and still works, but it's obviously bad.

The plug itself looks about 100 years old but I'm hoping that's a good thing. It ain't broke. It's one of those round, protruding, thick ones.

We have a couple of fire extinguishers and usually someone is home.

Nobody else has had concern about this, and I didn't either (I did, but I presumed the much older friend who's tended to this building and is the first in a crowd, or a room of people to respond if there's a fire hazard).

I bought a powerboard from a hardware store (ugly orange one with surge protection) and the plastic switch exploded off it. Wasn't sure why, but I saw there was a bit of oil still on it from when a bottle was knocked, that I was complacent about and just wiped off (it's supposed to be a tough board and all these ancient boards were fine). That freaked me out a bit.

Also exploded a P.S.U. when I switched the voltage switch on the back to lower, and maybe higher (the P.S.U. was dying and you're not meant to touch that, but I forgot).

I mean, the setup is just obviously shit but the place is clean and we're not, like, monging out and completely mindless about things.

Anyhow, point is, I might get screamed at or have to move out if I call in the big guns or do what I think is the safest, most legal option here.

Boring the tiny hole to the size of a plughead to directly plug my Belkin 8-socket powerboard in, to plug my computers, lamps, fan, laptop, and sometimes the laser printer or amp and very occasionally, the mid-20th-century church organ. Plug the hole with spakfilla and some kind of little rubber thing (one would exist).

That way nobody would have to change the plug or run an extension cord.

The problem is that nobody would be able to use power in the bathroom. I already moved and replaced the really old powerboard with a new, individually switched one ('Jackson' from Woollies) that you can hang off the ground. Just so it's not right in front of the toilet. Once, I had to push the extension cord back in because it had come too loose for some reason.

I don't want to just rag on my housemates but I need to tell you the situation because it kind of sucks, either way, and I may be forced to compromise (unless I have authoritative advice and enforceable, indisputable boundary).

My next plan, to incrementally whittle away at risks (not set in stone, still have Bunnings reciepts):

-1.Unplug the dodgy ~2-3m extension cord and powerboard (I don't even like the new one and don't know if it's better than the old one, aside from not having crud rattling inside it, and having individual switches and an overload trip that should be functional)

2. Plug in a 5m heavy duty 10A rated extension cord (HPM)*

*This, I thought of taking back and getting an 'Extra Heavy Duty' one because I read that thicker wires mean less resistance, maybe less heat/power loss and therefore more safety. Almost got a caravan cord but they were all 15A, and I get the impression from what I read that mixing things of different amperage is where faults could occur (I think they were talking about drawing power through a 10A wire with something needing a higher-rated cord, rather than the other way around, but could a 15A cord draw too much power from a 10A socket? **

**Which reminds me, of what I was initially going to say (the analysis is never-ending). Purchasing a 10A 'Extra Heavy Duty' cord would cost so much that I am wondering if I should just bite the bullet and fork out for an electrician to put a powerpoint in my room and inspect the house (despite what the handyman says).

Also, would there be risks to having 1.5mm wire instead of 1mm? Does it mean the lead has more power and more potential to cause danger in a powerboard, powerpoint, or another point of failure, even if it is rated at 10A?

3. Plug that extension cord into my new powerboard. Also rated at 10A. Tried to get a better one (hoping Belkin is good)

4. Maybe wrap some silicone SOS tape around the plug head in the bathroom (but hope it doesn't make it worse and trap moisure, plus I feel bad that someone might get a new electric toothbrush or miss the ambient lighting in there).

TBH.
Tempted to compromise with the guy I'm subletting off and just put my 4-outlet Belkin (10A too) in the bathroom and daisy chain, just to not look like a bitch (nobody plugs much in there but I had put a lamp in there and someone was charging a toothbrush, and I'd rather a vaccum or iron short a powerboard than be plugged into the dual-outlet socket, even though both fucking suck and maybe shorting out the whole house's power instead of just my room would disincentivise use).

There's also a 1.8m splitter plug (same HPM yellow 'heavy duty' one) which housemate/leaseholder/friend was happier about (I wish he would just tell me why he wants more plugs in there, and didn't get all worked up when I said that the most logical way to do this would be to make a bigger hole and not re-wire anything or need an extension cord)

Anyhow, any constructive weighing in, tips, quotes, explanations, maths, science, politics/rental/interpersonal advice would be kindly appreciated.

I did snap and call my friend a f-ing idiot already and we've been mad at each other (i don't want to do that again). It's hard to gauge the real urgency here and find and apply real data.

Thanks if you got this far.

The next phase will be inspecting the switchboard to locate the safety switch, and seeing how many there are, and what for. Any and all advice regarding old Queenslander houses and mixed commercial-residential rentals would be appreciated too.

What a privilege and an honour, to be able to ask stuff to real tradesmen on the internet!