This is a warning to all, and it shows how easy it is for a problem to occur. I am thankful that the precautions taken of having my workshop equipped with a good circuit breaker system saved the incident from becoming a disaster.

This was my lucky break. But in other respects, the circumstances leading to the situation I was presented with when walking into the workshop, were less that lucky.

I had placed a battery on charge overnight, ensuring that the battery was sitting up with plenty of ventilation around it on an oil drum. The battery charger was also sitting on an adjacent oil drum and so I thought this would keep it out of harm’s way. The lead from the charger was hooked up on the wall, and I thought I had taken all the necessary precautions, to ensure it could be safely left.

When opening the door the next morning, I was presented with an odour of burning and the sight of the remains of a charred plug.

The extremely windy and wet weather overnight, had blown rain water in through the side of a skylight. This had run down the wall, and gathered on the battery charger lead, then down to the plug. It had obviously began to arc out for enough time to cause the damage, before the current draw had been enough to trip the circuit breaker.

Thankfully, no permanent damage, but it does go to prove that you can’t be too careful.

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