RV Hot Skin (Exterior electrification)
This past weekend my wife was electrocuted when she stepped onto the trailer steps and grabbed the handrail while in bare feet. She was subsequently thrown from the rig and landed in the grass. She ...
Forum Discussion
larry cad wrote:
Please stop blaming the green wire! It is not the problem. Think about this: half of the stuff you have in your RV, and/or house does not even have a green wire! And yet, it all works ok. If the green wire is so bad an actor, why isn't is required EVERYWHERE????? The answer is that the green wire is not necessary for a safe electrical system. It is not an active component in an electrical system. The green wire is a redundant safety device which can come into play when there is ANOTHER problem. In this case, there is another problem, probably the white and black wires are reversed in the power line from the house because the OP is using a two wire extension cord with no ground pin to insure it is plugged in correctly. Remember the comment about all the equipment in your RV and house that doesn't have a green wire? That means it also doesn't have the ground pin on the plug. Think about this. In the code book, the white wire is referred to as "the GROUNDED conductor". If the white wire is connected properly along the power path, by default, the black wire is also connected properly. If both are connected properly, no shock hazard exists. If a white wire connection gets broken, and IF there is a green wire connected properly, there is not a shock hazard. (Obviously touching the black wire by accident will give you a shock no matter what)
You're half right. The "green wire is "just" a safety. The missing "green wire" connection allows the hot wire to touch something it typically would not (like the metal frame of the camper) making it into a "hot skin" If there had been a ground connection the hot wire touching the grounded metal frame would have tripped the breaker.
there are 2 problems to fix.
