burnt power cord plug and wires to it on cord

wa8yxm wrote:
Another thing I have found, The Quick connect type outlet assemblies they use in RV's are a bit..er.. anemic when it comes to space heaters..

I smelled hot wire,, Others have had failures of the outlet.

I installed a pair of 15/20 amp outlets (These have a "T" shaped neutral) fed them with 12GA wire bent around a genuine well tightened screw,, Each cable runs to a circuit breaker (one is 15 amps I'll upgrade some day other is 20) with no other loads on that breaker... No more hot wire smell.

I agree that the typical RV outlet is garbage, and poorly suited for heavy loads, like a space heater. The "T" neutral is only found on 20 AMP receptacles, however. They run a buck, or two, more than the commodity grade 15 Amp ones, but they are well worth it.

Mine was due to loose wires in the plug.

ScottG wrote:
I've heard that said before about RV outlets but I've had no problem with mine and I've used a space heater for just about every trip since it was new.
Even if an outlet did get hot with a space heater that isn't going to make a healthy 30A plug hot.

I agree, but two of 'em is pushing the 30 amp plug, epically when you add the fridge (3 amps) converter (Variable) TV, and other "Stuff".

Hi ScottG,

The OP was running two 1500 watt heaters. That's a total of 25 amps. A 30 amp circuit is not supposed to be used continuously at more than 80%--which is only 24 amps.

I'm with W8--I've placed all but 3 of the OEM outlets.

bsinmich wrote:
This is a good reason to carry a 50-30 amp adapter. You will get one side of the 50 amp power but each side has 50 amps so you get an outlet that has probably been used less and not as worn.

After I burned out my 30 amp plug from a worn receptacle that's what I do now if I fear I have a worn 30 amp outlet. My bad experience was at a very low end RV park during the summer when I was running my AC 24/7.

I've heard that said before about RV outlets but I've had no problem with mine and I've used a space heater for just about every trip since it was new.
Even if an outlet did get hot with a space heater that isn't going to make a healthy 30A plug hot.

Another thing I have found, The Quick connect type outlet assemblies they use in RV's are a bit..er.. anemic when it comes to space heaters..

I smelled hot wire,, Others have had failures of the outlet.

I installed a pair of 15/20 amp outlets (These have a "T" shaped neutral) fed them with 12GA wire bent around a genuine well tightened screw,, Each cable runs to a circuit breaker (one is 15 amps I'll upgrade some day other is 20) with no other loads on that breaker... No more hot wire smell.

Two 1500w space heaters on high is too much for a 30 amp RV.

This is a good reason to carry a 50-30 amp adapter. You will get one side of the 50 amp power but each side has 50 amps so you get an outlet that has probably been used less and not as worn.

I never run my two heaters at max... Like said above that almost uses up all of the available power I have. My electric heaters are just to add alittle more heat in certain cooler areas of the trailer.

I also never set my electric higher than maybe a #3 setting out of a possible 10 setting.

I find where the heater will turn ON and OFF automatically with the thermostat settings. The ideal setting might be on ON lets say 5 minutes and then be OFF for 10-15 minutes... I try to find that point using the different thermostat setting.

If the heater stays ON continuously then it isn't enough heat to do you much good...

The electrical layout is not designed to run those 12.5 AMP electric heaters on a continuous ON thermostat mode...

When camping at campgrounds with electric pedestals this is why I always plug my electric heaters into a separate extension cord and plug-in the Campground 20AMP service. Then it doesn't draw from the 30AMP service...

I also like to feel the connections everytime I am arou8nd then when running alot of high wattage items inside the camper. If the connections start getting more than HAND WARM I know something is not going right and will burn out the connections pretty soon...

These are the things we do when using high wattage items for long extended times.

You can look at the campground 30A pedestal connections and can spot a bad connection pretty easy. It will have black marks on the panel and corroded appearance on the blade connection. This will most definitely end up burning up your clean 30A cable connection...

Photo from GOOGLE IMAGES

Just what I do and look for when camping
Roy Ken