Electrical Question

[Home_on_Wheels]

We pulled into the RV Park on Wednesday afternoon 5-22, plugged in and begain leveling the unit. When we reached the point to open the slides, I went into the unit to operate the switches. I realized the microwave was running.....we couldn't turn it off. My husband went to the basement area on the street side and was going to unplug the unit and show smoke coming from the basement by the fuse box area. I ran back inside and unplugged the microwave. We called an electrician friend and he walked us thru some steps. Over the course of a couple of hours, each time we would try to bring the unit back up (run A/C, ceiling fan, etc.) it would run for about five minutes and then shut down again. We called the RV park office and they did come out and change the breaker and plug. The unit still shut down a couple of more times, and then has been operating good since. But, we never found where the smoke was coming from and we firmly believe by the smell of the microwave, that the microwave is "fried". We are afraid to plug that back in. When my husband was checking for electrical damage in the basement area, he saw no signs of damage. The only thing he did see and feel was like a "oily" substance running down from the floor area behind the convertor....but it wasn't very much. Things have been operating well since. Does anyone have any clues what might have caused this? We do have a 50 amp surge protector for the unit.

[Home_on_Wheels]

When we make our trip to Camping World......that's what is on our list of things to purchase 🙂

[pianotuna]

It behooves us all to check voltage before we plug in. It is more important with 50 amp than with 30 amp. Use these with the appropriate adapters.

kill-a-watt

watt meter



Outlet tester.

outlet tester

[GaPete]

There are known issues with microwaves turning themselves on. No idea it this fits your symptoms or not, Google it perhaps.

[Home_on_Wheels]

There was not much of the oily substance, may six to eight drops and it smelled like oil.

[Goostoff]

That oily film sounds like it may have come from a transformer of some sort, or maybe a resistor, capacitor. See if it has a really foul smell. I would get this looked at ASAP before any further damage is done.

[Home_on_Wheels]

Do you have any idea about where the smoke would have come from? We do not see anything that appears to be burnt....could the smoke have come from the converter?

[kaydeejay]

All the symptoms you list would suggest over-voltage was applied to your microwave and converter.
A long shot, but a poorly connected neutral on a 50A circuit could result in more than 120 volts to one leg of your service, which could explain the above.