50amp Surge Guard Needed or Not

[drae0814]

Hello all we just bought a 2011 new to us 5th wheel and will be picking up tomorrow so pictures to follow. I have a $200 gift card to use at the RV lot store. This RV will be placed in a Resort RV park, can anyone tell me how inportance a Surge Guard is as i have never used one in our last 3 RV'S. I paid alot of Money for this one as I made a mistake and took the DW with me and she picked one she liked this time. $$$

I don't really need any other RV stuff as we have collected over the years, and the 50amp Surge unit is on sale

Do i really need this

More questions to follow as i have never had a 5th wheel before.

Thanks for your help

[C_B_]

CA Traveler wrote:

C.B. wrote:
Get the surge guard!!!!!!!!!

Wish I would have had mine Mothers day weekend 2014.

Plugged into a brand new 50amp pedestal that was the only one wired wrong(240V) out of 28.

Replaced Converter, Two Stereo's, Microwave, Fireplace, and Central Vac.

Luckily neither of the two TV's were damaged.

I installed Progressive Industries hard wired Model EMS-HW50C

It has already detected low voltage situations twice.


C.B.

Did it have the neutral and one hot swapped?

I never heard how it was wired wrong. Luckily I was camping with 3 master electricians. When the campground owner opened the pedestal, to expose wiring all 4looked and said OH-S#%T in unison.

At that point the campground owner said "get your trailer fixed, and send me a bill, and I'll write you a check" which I'm happy to say, that's exactly what he did.

C.B.

[John_Joey]

Yes, I think they are worth it. For me the biggest thing was the high and low voltage guard. In Florida when it got really hot, that park would brown out. Running on low voltage will damage an AC motor over time. Only once did I have a high shut off. It was in a state park and when I pulled my plug out of the pedestal the brass fingers turned a reddish color even.

We pulled into a park in Rockport, TX where the night before a lightning strike occurred. About 4 rigs had issues during our stay there. None of them had surge protection. The weirdest one was the motor steps on a Class A worked but after a day they started to smoke. I guess the board would not shut power off to the step motor. The others had furnace and fridge issues.

So I'm thinking it's a good way to spend your gift card.

[usnret]

Like most safety equipment, you only need it if you need it. I would much rather have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Before going fulltime I made a list of things that I thought were essential to have. A surge protector was on that list.

[ncrowley]

I also do not plug in without one. We have had surprising power issues at very nice RV parks. We consider it cheap insurance. We have a power conditioner - the 50 amp one they sell at Camping World. We have the external one. We plug it in and then plug in the RV to the conditioner.

[kgarrett9999]

I have a hard wired surge protector and I know for sure that it saved me a large repair bill at least once, so it has definitely paid for itself. I pulled into a RV park that wasn't really public (at an airport and just used for events). Plugged in and 3 foot flames shot out. The surge protector kept my Travel Trailer safe and sound.

[notruffinit]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Power Protection....
More expensive, will check for power, trip on 'surge' and also check reverse polarity, open neutral, open ground, high & low voltage trips, timed delay for A/C compressor, AC Frequency

The Trademarked SurgeGuard does these things. I wired one in before I EVER took it to a campground. And it has already taken care of me so it owes me nothing.

[ScottG]

I think it's extremely important to have one in a 50A rig.

[CA_Traveler]

Given that the OP doesn't need/want anything else a power protector is a good choice. I highly favor the PI HW50C which includes a remote.

[C-Bears]

Our last two fivers have had the hard wired units installed. As CG's get older and the weather gets more severe I think you will start seeing more and more issues with electrical systems getting fried in RV's.

[chalet05]

Another vote for Progressive Industries!

[CA_Traveler]

C.B. wrote:
Get the surge guard!!!!!!!!!

Wish I would have had mine Mothers day weekend 2014.

Plugged into a brand new 50amp pedestal that was the only one wired wrong(240V) out of 28.

Replaced Converter, Two Stereo's, Microwave, Fireplace, and Central Vac.

Luckily neither of the two TV's were damaged.

I installed Progressive Industries hard wired Model EMS-HW50C

It has already detected low voltage situations twice.


C.B.

Did it have the neutral and one hot swapped?

[C_B_]

Get the surge guard!!!!!!!!!

Wish I would have had mine Mothers day weekend 2014.

Plugged into a brand new 50amp pedestal that was the only one wired wrong(240V) out of 28.

Replaced Converter, Two Stereo's, Microwave, Fireplace, and Central Vac.

Luckily neither of the two TV's were damaged.

I installed Progressive Industries hard wired Model EMS-HW50C

It has already detected low voltage situations twice.


C.B.

[DustyR]

arhayes wrote:
+1 on using one. For me it is cheap insurance vs the expense of replacinging components on the rig that might be affected. I also check polarity at every park we go to prior to hooking up.

I never thought too much about it until the unit across the way suffered a power socket failure on the resort side and he had to eat a $1000 comp deductible. I now have a Progressive Industries Model SSP-50 between the power and my TT. Cheap insurance I believe.

[sail2liv]

I do not plug in without one.....I like the portable ones that can be moved and used with other things....mine has volt/amp being used readout so can monitor each appliance and know what it uses and it also has auto restart after low or high volts have occurred....that way if raining or cold you don t have to go out to plug to reset....good luck