Bedroom AC Outlets Loose Power
I have a 2016 Starcraft (part of Jayco) trailer. It has two AC outlets in the bedroom. Sometimes both loose power. When it happens, everything else on that circuit still has power. Here's what I fo...
Forum Discussion
allenm wrote:enblethen wrote:
NEC article 551 covers both the RVs and RV parks.
I did find under art 551.41 Para C exception 1 that it is not required for receptacles dedicated to appliances.
In my case, I don't think we can say the frig outlet is dedicated to the frig. It does happen to be the 1st outlet fed by that circuit in the WFCO box, but then it has 2 lines leaving it. One feeds the bath/kit GFCI line, and the other feeds the non-GFCI bedroom outlets.
My microwave outlet would be an example of a dedicated receptacle not requiring GFCI, even tho it's in a cabinet over the sink. It doesn't feed anything else.
By the way, my frig outlet is maybe 3" away from the louvers on its outside panel. I could see rain blowing in and getting on it.
It's a dedicated receptacle—nothing else reasonably plugs into the fridge outlet. It's not a dedicated circuit. Assuming the code exception is indeed specifically for a dedicated receptacle rather than a dedicated circuit, the design is compliant. I don't have the inclination to look it up for myself.
In my opinion, code exceptions notwithstanding, it is wisest to have the fridge outlet be GFCI protected even if not required by the electric code, since RV fridge elements not infrequently fail and leak power to ground, posing a genuine safety hazard. Likewise, it would seem wise to have the water heater element, if equipped, GFCI protected for the same reason.
