Interior fuse keeps blowing

Today's update: First off I want to thank everyone for welcoming a rv newbie to your sight. With out the input, I wouldn't have thought of half these things. I just re-checked the fuse and .. I'm very happy to say... no red lights.. all fuses appear good still... I only did two things differently then I had been... one I had an open slot at the end of the breaker panel.. so I moved the wire from number 9 fuse and added it to the empty number 11 spot ( one screw /moved wire ) simple.. and added fuse... The second thing I did different was finding the blue mystery wire and temporary tape it out of any metal. Now that wire goes to something. I found that wire when I was installing the drain tube on the back of the refrigerator in the outside compartment. Looking at that compartment, the Refrigerator linew is on the right. And that blue wire is located on the right with a bunch of other wires... what made it stand out to me was everything was was bundled together in clouding blue wire but it was stuck on the middle of the insulation and wasn't connected to anything. I can see a very small metal circle inside that wire. And it was very close to the metal plate. I'm wondering if it was just close enough to make contact from time to time... hints blowing the fuse.... I know something isn't connected properly... the blue wire looks good its self just not connected where it should be. I don't see anything it can go into.. but it goes into something... ive searched high and low.. online and asked everyone I can think of for a diagram... but so far... no such luck.... I had a great time last night driveway camping... kept refrigerator on electric mode and water heater on gas mode... might try switching the hot water heater to electric mode ... but I don't know how this all works using house power... I'm going to need to take it somewhere with real 30 power supply...I have to admit... I'm a little nervous tho.. the longest thing I've ever pulled was a 28ft boat... and this thing just looks like a monster... but it's my monster, so I had better get used to it... any recommendations for gps type.. gadget to help me stay on big enough roads, is most helpful...( i just haven't had the time to Google that yet..lol)...also the mattress isn't going to work for long term camping... I started missing my bed about 4am... and that thing feels like I'm sleeping on card board... Also.. has anyone used 1000 trails before... I hear otherwise parts of the country has very nice places available but the Florida ones are just .. ok... Here's to hoping the fuse will last and Im able to finally plug the mystery wire in where it goes... Thank you for any and all help... I'm very grateful...

RvNewbieFl wrote:
Today's update: Apparently I'm feeling braver today. Mid-morning I hooked up the water regulator and the water connection. No leaks inside could see inside. However i did notice the low point drain value for the cold water leaking. Tech told me he would fix that at walk through but of course it's still leaking. Otherwise I wouldn't even know what it was. I started the hot water tank on propane mode. Skipped the electric mode for now because im still on house power. I soon learned the factory shower head is just to small and not enough water. I left for alittle while bought a new one and still no problem with #9 fuse. Then I decided to turn on the radio.. retract and untracked the awning. And decided I don't have Neighbors. I'm going driveway camping. I grabbed a beach chair from the garage and I've been using it just like I was camping all day. Minus the heat and air or microwave. The boys are having a blast in it. (My fur-babies) realized two dog grates take up way more room then I thought. I'm going to sleep in here tonight, and treat it as if I'm camping. Call this a dry run. I will keep checking the fuse until bedtime and again in the morning. Netflix on tablet and getting ready to cook some dinner. I really should have picked one with a bigger kitchen. Wish me luck. If you hear of a woman in her early 40s.. blowing herself up near Crystal River Florida with her 2 dogs. That's me and I can't update tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Yup, driveway camping, a relaxing way to spend a day and there's no better way to try all the gizmos to see if they work. Better to find a problem, now, than when enroute to a destination.

If you have a hand-held meter, you'll find it invaluable, helps to diagnose problems as they arise.

Brand and model number of the converter/power center the fuses are in? Are the fuses labeled at all?

It is unfortunate that you are having these issues, we can walk you thru trouble shooting steps. You must provide thorough descriptions of problems, brand and model numbers of the relevant appliances, and stick to one issue in each thread.

Today's update: Apparently I'm feeling braver today. Mid-morning I hooked up the water regulator and the water connection. No leaks inside could see inside. However i did notice the low point drain value for the cold water leaking. Tech told me he would fix that at walk through but of course it's still leaking. Otherwise I wouldn't even know what it was. I started the hot water tank on propane mode. Skipped the electric mode for now because im still on house power. I soon learned the factory shower head is just to small and not enough water. I left for alittle while bought a new one and still no problem with #9 fuse. Then I decided to turn on the radio.. retract and untracked the awning. And decided I don't have Neighbors. I'm going driveway camping. I grabbed a beach chair from the garage and I've been using it just like I was camping all day. Minus the heat and air or microwave. The boys are having a blast in it. (My fur-babies) realized two dog grates take up way more room then I thought. I'm going to sleep in here tonight, and treat it as if I'm camping. Call this a dry run. I will keep checking the fuse until bedtime and again in the morning. Netflix on tablet and getting ready to cook some dinner. I really should have picked one with a bigger kitchen. Wish me luck. If you hear of a woman in her early 40s.. blowing herself up near Crystal River Florida with her 2 dogs. That's me and I can't update tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Things I'd suggest to do: Cancel extended warranty, they are too expensive for any real benefit. Connect to a source of power that can deliver 30 amps of power. Operate appliances and different 12 devices trying to replicate the blowing fuse. Do not replace the 15 amp fuse with a 20 amp fuse.

Likely suspects: Refrigerator control board and circuitry, thermostat and connected heating/cooling circuits, wires inside walls-outside trailer that are adjacent to accident areas.

ScottG wrote:

LOFAT36 wrote:
I have the same problem with my bathroom fan. Put in a new fuse and it lasts 2-3 times and blows again. Everything else works fine.

Is that the old style glass fuses like Fantastic fan uses? If so you can buy slow-blow fuses of that type. Might solve your problem.

Yes it is a glass fuse. I guess I could get slow-blow fuses from NAPA or someplace like it.

I haven't turned on anything so far but the stereo and tv...the refrigerator.. and a few lights...So im unsure about the pump, air ect. Ive ruled out the awning. The stereo, and they tv.. I think... checked each breaker with everything off reads zero.. then reads a good 13.6... nothing to low or to high.... made sure today the blue mystery wire wasn't touching anything. It's possible it was touching metal. But unsure. I'm obviously frustrated. So all breakers are showing green (for the moment). I'm going to finish cleaning it today. And i guess see what happens... hopefully it's the blue mystery wire. And I can figure out where it's supposed to connect to or cap it off... just duck taped it out of harms way for now. (Away from any metal). If... and that's a big if... everything is still green in the morning. I would like to try out the stove, hot water tank, and switch the refrigerator to gas... just a little nervous at this point. I don't think it's a direct short. Or the fuse would blow right away. And other then it being marked as interior. I have no idea exactly what it running. I can't find anything but something is pulling amps from somewhere.

Putting larger or different type fuses in is never a solution, and can only make things worse. The fuse panel can handle 20 A, but that doesn't mean all the wires on that circuit can.

With that fuse out, go around turning everything which runs on 12 V on/off. Does the pump come on? Any lights? Fans? Furnace? Water heater? Make note of everything which works and doesn't. You don't have a problem with any of the stuff which works, so that will narrow it down.

I'd be suspicious of the awning motor, perhaps it's on that circuit and powered, but "frozen," so constantly drawing power. Does it get warm? Can you disconnect it and cap the wires to eliminate it from the equation? Also, the TV which isn't working. If it's a 12 V model, unplug it, maybe the power supply is bad and drawing the power. See below for how to roughly measure the current through that fuse, don't just wait hours to see if it blows again. If disconnecting the awning and TV didn't cause the current to drop, you've got more troubleshooting to do.

If there are multiple wires going into the panel, you can start troubleshooting there - disconnect all of them going to that fuse circuit. Then use your meter set to 20 V to see if there's a voltage between each removed wire and where it was connected. If you see a voltage, that wire is trying to draw current. Mark it and set it aside. Do that for all the wires going to that circuit. When done, reconnect all the ones where there was no voltage, they're not the problem.

Now you've got a wire (maybe more) which could be the problem. Some things, like a CO2 detector, will draw power but not enough to cause problems (unless they're broken).

So, take your meter, set it to the 20 V ranges, and measure across a new 15 A fuse on that circuit. Fuses have a bit of resistance, with a 15 A 3AG fuse, you'll see about 10 mV (0.01 V) across the fuse for every amp going through it. If you were blowing 15 A fuses in an hour or two, it's drawing over 15 A, but not by much. So, the meter would read around 0.15 V when the problem wire is connected. It's not exact, but if you see <0.01 V, that wire isn't the problem.

Now take the "problem" wires, one at a time, and connect them back to the circuit. You should be able to identify the one which is drawing too much. Reconnect the others and set that one aside.

Now go back and try the things which didn't work in the first test - most should be working. Whatever doesn't is broken or on the bad circuit.

ScottG wrote:

Dick_B wrote:
One thing for sure is that it is not a short circuit. If it was the C/B would blow immediately. So it's got to be an overload.

Not really, in the industry we would call this a soft-short. Either way, there's no rule that says it isn't a short unless it blows a fuse or a breaker immediately.
Also, the short may not exist until something else happens (movement, something turned on, etc) thereby not tripping the circuit protection until a later time.

The fregerator seems to working fine. It hasn't moved. And the only thing I had on was the refrigerator in electric mode. No lights. No nothing else and checked it in the morning and it still popped.

ScottG wrote:
Other things that may be running are the radio memory and the propane detector, carbon monoxide sensor. Or there could just be a wire someplace that has been compromised by a staple or other sharp edge.
This one is going to take some detective work by removing one thing and then another to see what happens. You really need an ohm meter to try to track down this shot.
I would not replace the fuse and leave the rig though.

I super tried. I can't get it to blow on purpose. Tried turning on and off stereo, lights, ect. Gave up. Turned everything off let it set overnight with only the refrigerator on electric mode. Came out in the morning and #9 15 amp fuse popped again. Replaced it with the maximum allowed per the label 20amp fuse. Same result.