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kuckwood's avatar
kuckwood
Explorer
Aug 10, 2016

campground liability

Need advice.Camped for the summer in our 1999 Damon Intruder motorhome at a older small seasonal park. RV in mint condition and never had electrical problems. After a storm and standing water near power pedestal converter and many appliances got fried. RV was checked out and power all ok. Everything replaced and 2 weeks later happened again. Same scenario. Campground owner says all electric on a loop and campground electric not at fault. RV dealer sent service man out. RV checked out. Everything replaced again. 3rd time it happened during day. Different RV repairman convinced owner to have electric checked. They came and checked coach and campground and could find no problems. Then power started to fluctuate and half of coach would be 170 and rest 120 volts. Electrician came out and replaced insides of power pedestal. Power continued to fluctuate and transfer switch went out. RV dealer is saying power surges made magnets in transfer switch fail . Campground owner is wanting us to pay for cost of electrician to fix pedestal. Our insurance will not cover our costs. Which came first bad transfer switch caused pedestal problems or pedestal caused transfer switch? Should we be held liable for cost of campground electrician? Thanks in advance for any advice. Since complete pedestal redo and new transfer switch all is well.
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  • kuckwood's avatar
    kuckwood
    Explorer
    Aug 10, 2016
    We had a surge protector. A very good one. Manufacturer told us it is only protection in short power surges not the type of situation we had. We also had plastic protectors around surge protector, and where power cord goes into RV to protect against any moisture getting in.
  • korbe's avatar
    korbe
    Explorer
    Aug 10, 2016
    There is a legal process available to you after all the finger pointing is done.
  • DownTheAvenue's avatar
    DownTheAvenue
    Explorer
    Aug 10, 2016
    kuckwood wrote:
    Since complete pedestal redo and new transfer switch all is well.


    This sums up the issue. Something in the pedestal was the problem. I am not an electrical engineer, but I am quite convinced that the pedestal caused failure of components in the RV, not the other way around.

    The park owner owes you money, and you don't owe him anything.
  • Mandalay_Parr's avatar
    Mandalay_Parr
    Explorer
    Aug 10, 2016
    The Progressive Industries EMS is the best you can buy. And Excellent customer service.
    It will protect you from all campground electrical faults.
  • Rbertalotto's avatar
    Rbertalotto
    Explorer
    Aug 10, 2016
    We all need surge suppressors. Crazy not to have one. You never can trust an RV park electrical system.....www.technorv.com
  • Ed_Gee's avatar
    Ed_Gee
    Explorer II
    Aug 10, 2016
    There is absolutely nothinig your transfer switch could do to cause a proper shore power system to go bad .... quite the opposite. That campground operator is nuts. ... it is he who is liable for damages to your coach. What campground is this, anyway?
  • azdryheat's avatar
    azdryheat
    Explorer
    Aug 10, 2016
    You shouldn't be responsible for repairs to the campground (I'm not a lawyer so I can't say for sure). I'd tell the owner to pack sand. He should be paying for the items his electricity fried.

    You need to tell us the name of the park so we don't subject our RV's to what you went through. Write it up in RV Park Reviews to warn others.

    This is a good argument for a surge guard. It would have detected the electrical imbalance and shut off the power to save your RV.

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