Forum Discussion

allen8106's avatar
allen8106
Explorer
May 19, 2013

Electrical Shock from Coach

All,

I would like to thank all of you here who earnestly participate with knowledgeable information regarding a multitude of issues related to Rv's and camping. You have likely saved a life at the very least injury.

It rained here in Kansas last night so everything is wet. We are headed to the lake for the week on Thursday so this morning I was out doing some prep work. I have a rack that I installed in my 5ver basement to store my fishing rods so they don't get damaged or tangled up. As I was putting the fishing rods into the rack I had to stick my head and upper torso into the storage compartment through a small back side storage door. As I did this there was rain water on the ledge of the door opening. This water wet my t-shirt which then transferred to the skin on my chest. I had on flip-flops so my feet were wet and I was standing on wet ground. Surprisingly I felt a pretty stiff tingle on my chest and on the side of my foot. I immediately thought that felt like an electrical shock. I got out my trusty volt meter and found that I had 60 volts from the frame of the 5ver to the wet ground. Needless to say I was mentally shocked to see this not mention the previous physical shock. I came here and did a search for this issue and found a post that mentioned the possibility of the defective shore cord or a missing ground plug. I have my rig plugged into the sticks house power via a 50' extension cord. I went to look the cord over and found the male ground prong had broken off inside the 110 volt receptacle. I removed the cord and replaced it with a new out of the box cord and re-checked for the errant volts......GONE!!!

Thank you all for your valuable input to this forum.
  • jmsokol's avatar
    jmsokol
    Explorer
    Jun 05, 2013

    Your calculations are correct but it is Ventricular fibrillation that it causes. Atrial fib is rarely fatal unless it throws a clot. As an aside, Mike, I'd like to thank you for all the info you have bestowed on us over the years about RV electrical safety.


    Oops.... I should know better. It is indeed Ventricular Fibrillation, but my brain wasn't fully engaged since my son was in for heart surgery last month, and I must have heard the word "Atrial" a few hundred times. I really do strive for 100% accuracy in all postings, but since I'm not a medical doctor I sometimes get confused with all the "body parts". Electricity is much easier for me.

    As a side note, here's an interesting fact about getting shocked I found out a few months ago. Why does your hand "clench" a live wire and can't let go? It has to do with the strength of the muscles that close your hand compared to the strength you have to open your hand. Since 20 mA of current will cause ALL of your muscles to contract, there's a tug of war in your hand between the open and closing muscles. The closing muscles win out, and clamps your hand shut on the wire. You can't let go while you're being shocked and possibly electrocuted. That's why old electricians always brush a knuckle across a potential hot wire, rather than touching it with an open hand. A shock on the knuckle causes your hand to jump away from the energized source, while a shock on the inside of the hand will cause it to clamp down harder. So always test for electrical tingles with the back of your hand, not the palm of your hand. Simple, but extra insurance.

    Mike Sokol
    mike@noshockzone.org
    www.NoShockZone.org
  • greende's avatar
    greende
    Explorer II
    Jun 04, 2013
    jmsokol wrote:
    itsabouttime wrote:
    A current as low as fifteen to 25 milliamps is enough to kill and you can get that from far less than 60 volts if you are in the water. You did good in finding and fixing the trouble. From time to time any of us has to discover such a problem the hard way and sometimes it's a wonder we live as old as we do.


    Yup... And if you consider that the human body with wet hands can have a resistance as low as 1,000 ohms, then as little as 30 volts AC will induce 30 mA of current across your chest cavity. That's almost 100% fatal from atrial fibrillation. Once you hit about 20 mA of current, it's nearly impossible to let go of an energized conductor.

    Never accept getting shocked from an RV. It's dangerous and you might not be so lucky the next time.



    Mike Sokol
    mike@noshockzone.org
    www.NoShockZone.org


    Your calculations are correct but it is Ventricular fibrillation that it causes. Atrial fib is rarely fatal unless it throws a clot. As an aside, Mike, I'd like to thank you for all the info you have bestowed on us over the years about RV electrical safety.
  • jmsokol's avatar
    jmsokol
    Explorer
    Jun 04, 2013
    itsabouttime wrote:
    A current as low as fifteen to 25 milliamps is enough to kill and you can get that from far less than 60 volts if you are in the water. You did good in finding and fixing the trouble. From time to time any of us has to discover such a problem the hard way and sometimes it's a wonder we live as old as we do.


    Yup... And if you consider that the human body with wet hands can have a resistance as low as 1,000 ohms, then as little as 30 volts AC will induce 30 mA of current across your chest cavity. That's almost 100% fatal from atrial fibrillation. Once you hit about 20 mA of current, it's nearly impossible to let go of an energized conductor.

    Never accept getting shocked from an RV. It's dangerous and you might not be so lucky the next time.

    Mike Sokol
    mike@noshockzone.org
    www.NoShockZone.org
  • Happy_Prospecto's avatar
    Happy_Prospecto
    Explorer
    May 21, 2013
    On my Toyhauler, I was crawling underneath to check the spare tire and I received a little tingle when I came into contact with some metal cross bracing, and after doing some checks I found the 50 amp connector to the trailer had not been twisted into place to lock it in. I gave it a twist and all was well.
  • Cummins12V98's avatar
    Cummins12V98
    Explorer III
    May 21, 2013
    I used to get a tingle from the outside of my last RV. I checked all the connections in the panel. Found nothing bad. Later on the micro and stereo got fried. I checked the outlet at the micro it had 240V !

    So I checked things further, I opened up the 50 amp cord cap that goes into the RV and found the neutral had come loose and was laying on a hot leg. Tightened the junction box connections and the end of the cord also.

    The above is a good thing to check!
  • kab449's avatar
    kab449
    Explorer
    May 21, 2013
    Time for a Progressive Industries Electrical Management System. Would have shut down the power to the trailer immediately.
  • itsabouttime's avatar
    itsabouttime
    Explorer
    May 20, 2013
    A current as low as fifteen to 25 milliamps is enough to kill and you can get that from far less than 60 volts if you are in the water. You did good in finding and fixing the trouble. From time to time any of us has to discover such a problem the hard way and sometimes it's a wonder we live as old as we do.
  • the_bear_II's avatar
    the_bear_II
    Explorer
    May 20, 2013
    There is a brief discussion about this issue on this website:
    http://www.rv-dreams.typepad.com/

    About mid article look for RV Doctor-
  • time2roll's avatar
    time2roll
    Nomad
    May 20, 2013
    I would also suggest putting an outlet tester into the home outlet to verify polarity.

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