Here's one for the books

["R.H.Campbell" <rh.campbell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I got a call from a large business customer of mine that the Power 832 had
completely shut down and nothing was working. So I immediately hit the road
and was there in about 5 minutes time. By the time I got there, people were
complaining about a foul, noxious odour coming from the small utility room
where the panel was located. As I got to the door, I could see the smoke
coming from under the door.

Anyway, upon entering, I could see this foul brown smoke was coming from the
alarm can. When I opened it up, the main board immediately burst into flame
from the oxygen that was now available, and that had not been available
previously due to the intense smoke inside the can. I disconnected AC and
battery, and was able to blow the fire out, but needless to say, the board
was toast (literally), and the whole system had to be replaced. What had
happened was the bridge rectifier on the board had shorted in some fashion
and ignited.

But thinking about it afterwards, this panel could have burned the whole
damn building down. Who says low voltage equipment poses no risks !!!!!

RHC