Check your Shore Power Plug & RV wire connections regularly!
I've been RVing for 10 years and full-timing for almost 2, but last month I nearly started my rig on fire due to my RV's 110 electrical system going haywire.
My problems started one night last month with circuit breakers flipping when I was running my ceramic heater. I'd been running the heater fine for weeks and my RV is currently parked for the season, so nothing had changed from the day before. Once I reset the breaker the 3rd time, things seemed to work o.k. again, but within a few days I started noticing a slight smokey smell whenever I was running a "high-demand" electrical appliance (i.e. space heater, microwave, hair dryer, etc). The appliances continued to work so I didn't immediately investigate the problem. But a few days later when I finally did, oh good heavens!
Opening the access panel of my power center/converter revealed some severely charred 110 wiring (all of my neutral buss wires were burnt to a crisp!). I stopped using 110 electric immediately, and the next day, the park's electrician came to check my outside power pedestal for any miswiring or other problems. It checked out fine, so the problem was deemed with my RV. The electrician suggested I start troubleshooting from my surge protector all the way to my power center/converter to look for loose or faulty wires.
Long story short, I discovered that the wiring inside my shore power plug had become faulty due to one of the screw posts rubbing against the ground wire's insulation until it finally wore thru. This created a "hot neutral" condition which then burned up the neutral buss wires in my power center as well as the neutral prong receptacle of my surge protector (that the shore power plug was plugged into).
So my tip to all fellow RVers is to inspect your shore power plug regularly (at least annually), and routinely double-check all your power center wiring (and any other RV wiring you can easily access) for any loose connections as well.
I thought my fancy $200+ surge protector would keep my rig safe from any and all electrical problems. Nope! It can't prevent the RV-side electrical problems, it only protects you from those lurking at the power pedestal! I learned a valuable lesson...and dodged a major bullet by getting this fixed before a fire started!
If you're interested in further details and photos of my saga... check out my blog posts here and here.
My problems started one night last month with circuit breakers flipping when I was running my ceramic heater. I'd been running the heater fine for weeks and my RV is currently parked for the season, so nothing had changed from the day before. Once I reset the breaker the 3rd time, things seemed to work o.k. again, but within a few days I started noticing a slight smokey smell whenever I was running a "high-demand" electrical appliance (i.e. space heater, microwave, hair dryer, etc). The appliances continued to work so I didn't immediately investigate the problem. But a few days later when I finally did, oh good heavens!
Opening the access panel of my power center/converter revealed some severely charred 110 wiring (all of my neutral buss wires were burnt to a crisp!). I stopped using 110 electric immediately, and the next day, the park's electrician came to check my outside power pedestal for any miswiring or other problems. It checked out fine, so the problem was deemed with my RV. The electrician suggested I start troubleshooting from my surge protector all the way to my power center/converter to look for loose or faulty wires.
Long story short, I discovered that the wiring inside my shore power plug had become faulty due to one of the screw posts rubbing against the ground wire's insulation until it finally wore thru. This created a "hot neutral" condition which then burned up the neutral buss wires in my power center as well as the neutral prong receptacle of my surge protector (that the shore power plug was plugged into).
So my tip to all fellow RVers is to inspect your shore power plug regularly (at least annually), and routinely double-check all your power center wiring (and any other RV wiring you can easily access) for any loose connections as well.
I thought my fancy $200+ surge protector would keep my rig safe from any and all electrical problems. Nope! It can't prevent the RV-side electrical problems, it only protects you from those lurking at the power pedestal! I learned a valuable lesson...and dodged a major bullet by getting this fixed before a fire started!
If you're interested in further details and photos of my saga... check out my blog posts here and here.
