Garage flooded - electric lawnmower

Wassa123

Hi all,

We went away for the week and our garage flooded due to a storm.

When we came back the garage has drained and was mostly dry, just dirty water marks and soggy bits of cardboard as evidence of the flood.

The electric lawnmower was the only electric thing in reach (on the floor), and I turned it upside down and a lot of water came out.

Is it best to just leave it for a while to try and dry it out? Attack it with a hairdryer or fan heater?

TheCyclingProgrammer

Just leave it to dry naturally.

Ebe_Scrooge

Yep, leave it to dry naturally, it'll be fine. If you start attacking it with heat there's a ( admittedly small ) chance that you'll melt / damage the insulation on some of the wiring.


If you happen to have any sachets of silica gel lying around you could place those in the vicinity to speed things up a bit ( I always save them when I find them in things I've bought, because I'm a skinflint and I figure they may come in handy for things such as this ! ). Or else the old-fashioned method of some pots of rice. But if you just leave it for a few days in a dry environment it'll be fine.

shaun_from_Africa

When you've finished drying it out and are ready to test it, if you haven't already got one in place, make sure that you put an RCD in the system.
If it's fully dried out then it's unlikely that there will be a problem but with electricity it's always best to be safe.

Norman_Castle

Leave it outside in the sun and in a breeze.