RV Grounding and Safety
Recently, on a Yahoo group devoted to the Winnebago View/Itasca Navion, a member posted about a potentially deadly experience he had. In the interest of safety I thought I should post it here: ~~~~...
Forum Discussion
I need to correct a statement I made.
When I said that some pricier units have GFCI protection, I based that on a chart I found at RV Upgrades. After speaking with Jeff at Progressive Industries (PI), I realized that the chart is misleading -- it has one row labeled: "Ground Fault Shutdown". To me, that implies GFCI protection. One of the less expensive units, the Surge Guard #44740, does have GFCI protection, but the others (if they have anything at all) have 'open ground protection', but _not_ GFCI.
That is too bad, since GFCI would provide protection from electrocution in situations like the View/Navion owner experienced -- an ungrounded electrical box or appliance becoming hot (energized) with 120V.
Jeff confirmed that there is no surge protector that can detect faulty wiring "behind it" (downstream) in the coach. There is also no way for a surge protector to detect ungrounded boxes, appliances, or pedestals. Some can detect if the _outlet_ itself is grounded -- but there's no way for them to tell if the box or pedestal (or anything inside the RV) is grounded.
He and I agreed that the situation described in the OP is probably rare, but it is also potentially deadly. Since most surge protectors do not have GFCI protection, it is very important to confirm proper grounding of any exposed metal that could become energized.
Jeff told me about a tragic incident in which a RV owner's granddaughter was electrocuted after returning to the RV from swimming. She was wet and standing on wet ground. She touched something that was ungrounded and had become hot (the shell of the RV I think) and was killed. I think in that case the problem was with the shore power -- the ground was open (no ground) and the hot and neutral were reversed. The same thing could happen if the RV frame was not properly grounded -- even if the best surge protector available indicates that everything is ok.
Better safe than sorry.
When I said that some pricier units have GFCI protection, I based that on a chart I found at RV Upgrades. After speaking with Jeff at Progressive Industries (PI), I realized that the chart is misleading -- it has one row labeled: "Ground Fault Shutdown". To me, that implies GFCI protection. One of the less expensive units, the Surge Guard #44740, does have GFCI protection, but the others (if they have anything at all) have 'open ground protection', but _not_ GFCI.
That is too bad, since GFCI would provide protection from electrocution in situations like the View/Navion owner experienced -- an ungrounded electrical box or appliance becoming hot (energized) with 120V.
Jeff confirmed that there is no surge protector that can detect faulty wiring "behind it" (downstream) in the coach. There is also no way for a surge protector to detect ungrounded boxes, appliances, or pedestals. Some can detect if the _outlet_ itself is grounded -- but there's no way for them to tell if the box or pedestal (or anything inside the RV) is grounded.
He and I agreed that the situation described in the OP is probably rare, but it is also potentially deadly. Since most surge protectors do not have GFCI protection, it is very important to confirm proper grounding of any exposed metal that could become energized.
Jeff told me about a tragic incident in which a RV owner's granddaughter was electrocuted after returning to the RV from swimming. She was wet and standing on wet ground. She touched something that was ungrounded and had become hot (the shell of the RV I think) and was killed. I think in that case the problem was with the shore power -- the ground was open (no ground) and the hot and neutral were reversed. The same thing could happen if the RV frame was not properly grounded -- even if the best surge protector available indicates that everything is ok.
Better safe than sorry.
