Small Engines (Lawn Mowers, etc.): My lawn mower drains my battery, battery, lawn tractor battery draining

Question
I have a Husqvarna Model YTH2448 24 HP  and I have to keep charging the battery, because it drains it out.  I use it one time and park it and within 30 minutes the batter is dead, no charge.

Answer
The first thing to establish is if it's the battery or the mower.  The simplest way to do this is to disconnect the battery cables from the battery and monitor the voltage over a few hours to a couple of days with a voltmeter.  Just check the voltage with a voltmeter every couple hours.

If it doesn't drain unhooked, then hook it back up and look for voltage past the key switch with the voltmeter.  I would say the most often cause is a bad key switch when it's not the battery.  

Draining in 30 minutes is pretty fast.  I would actually start by checking my charging system.  With the key switch off, the battery should have around 12 volts.  With it running, there should be an increase of 1-2 volts when measured at the battery.