Freezing in Roanoke- electrical mystery 98 Holiday Imperial

[hertfordnc]

I have a friend living in his recently acquired 98 Holiday Rambler Imperial.

Last night the power in the campground went out. My 70 yea-old friend went to work and when he got home power was restored for everyone but him.

I spent a while on the phone trying to help him figure it out. He's recycled the breaker at the pole,and in the coach. The 20 amp outlets at the pole are good.

There is no 50amp power. He does not have a meter or the skills to use it.

Are there any other components besides the obvious breaker issues?

[DutchmenSport]

It's been a couple days since your original post? Did he get the power working by now? If so, what was the problem. I think we all would like to know. (so we can avoid it happening to us).

[Pogoil]

One of two breakers on the inverter. May have tripped. Reset them and you should have power. Usually located in the basement.

Pogoil.

[352]

wolfe10 wrote:
While a GFI certainly could be tripped, it is not "central to the whole coach 120 VAC system".

I had a GFI trip and it was indeed central to the coach.

[wolfe10]

While a GFI certainly could be tripped, it is not "central to the whole coach 120 VAC system".

[352]

hertfordnc wrote:
there is some power at the pole as he is a metered renter and the meter is spinning slowly. He is using a 20 amp plug to power a lamp in the bay to keep the pipes from freezing.

I'm thinking the 50 amp breaker at the pole or at the breaker panel has failed.

Is there anything else central to the whole coach.

Moving the coach is also not an option. Im hoping he'll get a meter and I'll coach him by phone.

GFI in kitchen or bath . Push the button

[fcooper]

If he wants to get warm, an adapter to connect main coach connector to the 20 amp outlet that is working should provide enough energy to run the converter to keep the batteries up and run the 12 volt propane furnace.

Fred

[hertfordnc]

there is some power at the pole as he is a metered renter and the meter is spinning slowly. He is using a 20 amp plug to power a lamp in the bay to keep the pipes from freezing.

I'm thinking the 50 amp breaker at the pole or at the breaker panel has failed.

Is there anything else central to the whole coach.

Moving the coach is also not an option. Im hoping he'll get a meter and I'll coach him by phone.

[wolfe10]

Absolutely, someone in the RV park with have a voltmeter!

Digital or analog 50 amp RV outlet:

Either outer straight to center straight or center round= 120 VAC

Center round to center straight= 0 VAC

Outer straight to outer straight= 240 VAC

[DutchmenSport]

He might have recycled the power at the campground pole, but is there power? Just flipping a switch might not be enough. Can he plug something different into the pole and see if it actually HAS power?

Or, can he run the trailer cord to a neighbor campsite and plug in for a few a few minutes to see if a different pole has power. If the camper gets power from another pole, then the campground pole is the problem, not the camper.

I would have him make VERY sure the pole has power before doing anything else.

Something similar happened to us a couple years ago. It was the hottest day of the year when we pulled into the campground and our pole did not work. I tried everything. I then finally ran enough line to the neighbor site plug and we had power.... enough to cool the camper down, until the next camper on that spot came in (which was about an hour later... but we did get the camper cooled down). Meanwhile, it took an act of congress to convenience the campground management there was a problem with the pole. Turn out to be a bad breaker at the pole.

Have your friend make absolutely sure there is power at the pole before dissecting his camper.

[hertfordnc]

good suggestion but he has not gotten the generator running since it got cold.

[DrewE]

Is there no employee at the campground who can check and help?

One somewhat reasonable possibility that comes to my mind is perhaps your friend used the generator when the power was out, and forgot to move a plug from the generator outlet to the shore power connection. (This is assuming he doesn't have an EMS system that is showing some error or fault).