Electrical shock. Help needed.

The 120 V hot must be somehow connected to the ladder, perhaps directly or through a device in the RV AND the safety ground from the RV to ground via the cord and pedestal is not good. Think of the present situation as an opportunity to narrow the search for TWO problems. Use a meter on AC range over 120V to test for voltage between ladder and ground while you ...
- unplug the RV cord from the pedestal (if hot skin stops it indicates the voltage comes from the pedestal, not some weird device like a toy shock box gag in the RV)
- trip the main breaker on the RV (if hot skin stops, it means the hot connection to the ladder is in the RV past the breaker: if not, I would be checking the pedestal for voltage between the safety ground and a nail in the wet ground. Also the neutral. If neither, the problem is narrowed down to the cord and connections between cord and breaker)
- trip the RV breakers one at a time (if hot skin stops with one breaker tripped, it means a problem on that circuit in the RV: unplug everything one at a time, check the wiring at outlets)

Unplugged from power, I would use a multimeter ohms range to check the resistance between hot and safety ground on the RV cord not plugged in at the pedestal- it should be at least 100 k ohms. And no more than half a dozen ohms between safety ground on the cord plug to a safety ground on an outlet in the RV.
Also check the resistance between the ladder and the safety ground on the cord.

I have the Progressive Industries EMS-HW30C installed, and STILL check the pedestal with the 3 light tester and a volt meter before plugging in.

Vach wrote:
If surge and power protection is overkill but completely eliminates this problem so be it. I'll overkill.
If hand testers are the best way, will do that, no problem.
What is the best way to eliminate electrical shocks in my RV?

BOTH of the above. None of it is really overkill.

TEST any new power source that you plug into.

The surge and GFI bar will add GFI protection if none exists in the RV or the pedestal.

Then just for piece of mind, plug your hand tester into an RV outlet once in a while and test the GFI function of the bar.

Then about all that is left is driving under a low hanging wire and snagging it on the A/C.

So lots of great input from you guys. Many mentioned the little yellow plug in tester. Some said NCVT, and one mention of a POV although I don't know what that is. I need to eliminate the risk of this happening again, can't stand to think what may have happened. If surge and power protection is overkill but completely eliminates this problem so be it. I'll overkill. If hand testers are the best way, will do that, no problem. What is the best way to eliminate electrical shocks in my RV?

The 110vac outlet in our garage was mis-wired. The RV wiring was correct.

tatest wrote:
To get what you are getting, there has to be a fault to ground in the RV, whether or not there is a good ground in the pedestal and a good ground all the way from power distribution to the pedestal.

Not true. As covered by Harvard in the post following yours.

I once had the ground wire from the power cord come loose in the electric juction box in our mh, this caused the skin on our mh to become hot. When I reconnected that ground/green wire, the hot skin went away.

Dusty

Yes, plugging the cord into a genset receptacle is an in-expensive transfer switch.
You nee to test your cord between the male connector to the 120 volt distribution panel.
First check between each of the male pins with all the circuit breakers off. You should have no resistance.
Next drag cord to where you can connect ammeter to test each wire for continuity. There should be near zero resistance on each of the conductors to it's termination location in your panel.

In order for my Winnebago Aspect to run off the generator I have to plug my 30 amp shore power cord into an 30 amp outlet powered by the generator. I think that is basically a manual transfer switch? Putting the power protector at the "house" end of the shore power cord should provide protection while on shore power and generator power, I think? Anything else?

The ground and neutral is separated in the rig. There should be no connection between them.
An open ground while allow induced currents to be on the metal portions of the rig.
I am still saying you have a bad ground in the shore power connection.
I would not run out and buy an expensive piece of equipment without knowing what is wrong first.
The only way a power and surge protector will protect everything including the genset power would be to install it between the transfer switch and the 120 volt distribution panel.