Tractor disaster

Due to popular demand, I’m posting our recent adventure. Recently we had a small disaster with the lawn tractor (before photo to the right, after photos scattered below). My wife was mowing and thought she felt a bee sting her ankle. She looked down and found that it wasn’t a bee—the tractor was on fire! She killed the engine, jumped off, and ran for the fire extinguisher in the garage. Of course, she was in the furthest corner of the yard away from the house, so this took a while. When she got back to the tractor it was burning pretty well, but it turns out the extinguisher was empty. Another dash to the house for a different extinguisher, but by the time she got back to the mower the blaze had taken hold and well beyond a hand-held fire suppressor. Back to the house to call 911 and ask for help.

By the time the fire department arrived (with two huge trucks and the Fire Marshall) the neighbors had gathered, including the people that apparently just bought the place next door. That was a great first impression I’m sure! The fire was brought under control but not before our mower burned to the frame. The (previously full five gallon) gas tank melted and added a lot of fuel to the flames, and I’m sure the oil pan did the same. The seat, steering wheel, belts, hoses, and every piece of trim completely burned—not a trace of them left. The tires exploded and the battery is now a half-melted box of slag. As you can see, all that is left is the frame, engine block, and blades. We were lucky that the entire yard didn’t go up in flames!

My favorite part: we received a notice from Craftsman in the mail that very same day letting us know the warranty had expired. What timing! Because this was an accident and not caused by a manufacturers defect (we assume anyway, no way to tell) it wouldn’t have been covered anyway, but talk about adding insult to injury! While the damage is covered by our homeowners insurance, a new tractor is less than our deductible so it didn’t really help. We currently can’t mow our yard (and Stacy says she ain’t ever mowing again no matter what!) but at least nobody was hurt.