Rolling Along..

One evening last year I arrived home to find the master fuse producing a fizzing sound with smoke gently rising from it...
the emergency response team from western power distribution arrived two and a bit hours later (in flip flops) and found this, dripping wet...

The chared black bit should cover all but the cm or so at the end and be red.

We reckon water was getting in outside, running down the length of the cable and forming droplets of water large enough to bridge the gap between the +ve and -ve wires causing a short, slowly eating away at the plastic insulator as it went. The smoke starting when there wasnt enough insulator to keep -ve and +ve apart.

Minor disaster averted