240v 30amp recepticle fries another one!

JiminDenver wrote:
Man am I glad we never plug the trailer in.

As far as "professionals" goes...I've seen a huge decline in the knowledge and abilities in the people I hire for my clients. Gone are the days of companies keeping the old dudes that knew what they were doing, now they are canned for younger, cheaper and fresh out of school with just enough knowledge to pass a test. In my time they still would have gone through 4 years with someone that knew what they were doing, not any more. Now you are paying them to finish their education on the job and if they mess up, they will find any excuse in the book to deflect blame.

Jim,
What I see in my area is lack of broad knowledge because of specialization. I do encounter the green horn, occasionally, and their work should be controlled by the journeyman that has them under wing.
The specialization characteristic is that some contractors do a majority of their work in one type of environment--highway-heavy, industrial, etc. To get one of these guys to add in a residential receptacle, you can almost hear the gears crunching while they try to remember best practices and what code is.

Sorry to hear about the OP's situation, fortunately the contractor stepped up to the plate and chose not to deflect the blame.

Thanks Tin, What lights would show if outlet is wired for 220v like the one the op encountered? Thanks, Pete

Tin Pusher wrote:
wa8yxm, yeah, I'm more concerned with effects than causes :)

In this we agree.. However from a financial point he (or his insurance company) needs to know the cause.. if it is accident, (Burned neutral up-line far enough that he wound up on the wrong end of the tetter-totter power system) that's "Act of God" or "Accident" and his insurance pays.

If some idiot wired it wrong.. THEY pay.

And for the person who posted the 3LT.. those are good, but in the scenaro I am talking about, Will show normal or very strange depending.

(Very strange is all 3 lights, different brightness). This last can happen naturally in an RV park.

pcmentor29, Well, if the ground is open, you get one yellow light in the center.
If the neutral is open, you get one yellow on the right.
If the hot is open, you get no lights.
If the hot and ground are reversed, you get one red light, one yellow on the right, and so forth per the LABEL.

wa8yxm, yeah, I'm more concerned with effects than causes :)

Using the above tester and adapter. What should happen if the outlet is miswired? What lights should come on? Pete

Tin, in the case of that link.. It might have been something other than an electrician's error. It might be a burned out neutral in the park.

But yes, that is a good example of why you test first and plug in later.

Man am I glad we never plug the trailer in.

As far as "professionals" goes...I've seen a huge decline in the knowledge and abilities in the people I hire for my clients. Gone are the days of companies keeping the old dudes that knew what they were doing, now they are canned for younger, cheaper and fresh out of school with just enough knowledge to pass a test. In my time they still would have gone through 4 years with someone that knew what they were doing, not any more. Now you are paying them to finish their education on the job and if they mess up, they will find any excuse in the book to deflect blame.

The thing about a TT-30R receptacle is that they are clearly marked on them what the voltage is like in the photo here: Nema TT-30R info. It's clearly marked 125V, not 125/250V as in the dryer recept. shown lower down on that page. Even the identification of the terminals on the rear (brass and silver) would be another clue.

I don't know how a licenced electrician would overlook that, but it does happen. Somebody was asleep at the wheel.

One thing's for certain, unfortunately you'll hear more of this happening as the camping season progresses. Another good reason for a "surge" protector.