Forum Discussion

TheGriswolds's avatar
TheGriswolds
Explorer
Jun 27, 2013

Anyone had this condition before?

We have a Keystone Cougar that we bought new in January and love so far but the other day while in the driveway prepping for a trip I discovered something very strange. While the electrical was hooked up to my house (15 amp) to run the fridge and charge the battery a little I was inspecting the outside and washing some bug spots off the trailer. While my hands were around the bottom of the frame area I could swear I felt a little electric current, like a really weak electric fence. Not alarming but enough to get my attention. I also felt I could detect it when checking torque on the lug nuts when the wrench was on some of the nuts, and when putting the adnode (sp?) rod into the water heater. How big of a deal do you think this is? I'm calling the dealer soon anyway since it is under warranty just to bounce it off them but I figured I'd see what you guys thought.

20 Replies

  • dan-nickie wrote:
    Probably the house circuit wired wrong.
    Pick up one of these testers and use it wherever you plug in.


    X2
  • Agreed on the ground. Check to make sure your extension cord and any adapters still have the ground lug on them. Also get one of the testers shown above and check out the plugs in the garage, on the extension cord, and in the trailer.
  • dan-nickie wrote:
    Probably the house circuit wired wrong.
    Pick up one of these testers and use it wherever you plug in.


    Agree. This IS the best little tool to use easily to find out if you have an open ground which is what it sounds like. And YES it can be dangerous because you or a small child will and can become the ground.
  • Happens often and is usually a grounding problem with the circuit you are using.

    Can be deadly depending on the cause so it is always best to test the circuit before you plug in, especially if water will be involved.
  • Thats not right. If the house is wired correctly then it makes me wonder if someone swapped ground and Neutral bus bars in the panel. In other words they used the bus bar that's grounded to the chassis/frame for the neutral connections.
  • You could check the outlet with a tester to see if it is wired correctly. If it is, as suggested, there is a grounding issue with the trailer. It is important to get it fixed.
  • Probably the house circuit wired wrong.
    Pick up one of these testers and use it wherever you plug in.