Big Electrical Problems

[lawnspecialties]

Went to the lake this weekend. Since we are usually running off generator power at our races, camping at a campground is a treat. Nothing like plugging in and being able to run just about anything you want, when you want. Well, that idea got me into a pickle this weekend.

Saturday night after our showers, I smelled a burning electrical smell. Nothing overwhelming but obviously a concern. It slowly got less and less so I blew it off.

Sunday morning after the wife got her shower, she woke me up to say the electrical burning smell was back and stronger. I got up and sure enough, it was worse but again, nothing overwhelming and no smoke visible.

After I got to thinking about it, I deduced it had to be our electrical water heating element. When we are at our races and on generator power, heating water electrically pulls so much current, I just do it with gas. So our water heater hasn't been heated electrically in over ten months when we last camped at Willow Tree. I was sure it was just dust burning off or something so I pulled a panel to watch it. Turned on the switch and after about three minutes, the smell was coming and I could see little whiffs of smoke. So we shut it down to gas power only and opened all the vents to air the smell out.

Now go back two weeks ago to when we had the AC unit replaced under warranty. Our AC unit had a small freon leak and it was causing the unit to freeze up. Literally make ice chunks and one time last fall, it locked it up because the ice got so thick. When it did it that time, it melted the power cord connection slightly. So the dealer was happy to give me a new cord as well when the AC got replaced. It wasn't the exact same black cord but it was a 30A rated cord, just a different brand.

Now back to today when its time to go home. Started breaking everything down. All was fine and we had the new AC running nice and cool. After I got the truck hooked up, I pulled the water hose and the cord from the meter and went to unhook both from the camper. As I got near where the power cord plugs into the camper, I could smell the burning electrical again. I grabbed the plug at the camper and it was hot. Unscrewed it, pulled it out, and one of the legs was totally burnt up. A melted mess and slight smoke.

So now I have to take it back again. Obviously the cord is no good and the connection on the camper itself has to be replaced. Both are burned up pretty good.

Any ideas what this could be? What would cause a power cord to melt at the camper? Running the AC and heating water with electricity shouldn't be that bad. Its not like it was running for hours and hours on end. No breakers in the camper ever tripped nor did the breaker at the power box of the campground.

[charlie_good_ti]

Also imediately get folks outif you smell electrical fire (smoke)! Seconds count .I can attest to that.Than if no flames investigate an fix problem pronto.

[lawnspecialties]

All is well. Dealership installed a different brand plug to the camper. They said they've seen this before and the one they installed had fewer problems. Got me a new cord as well. Took about an hour and we were done.

They ran the AC, water heater, television, and the microwave all at once and checked it with the meter for amperage. We were getting close to 30A but no problems at all.

Of course, completely covered under warranty.

[CR_CRUISER]

I see that happen to the same type of shore power plug in boats many times a year.

I am now using SmartPlugs almost exclusively. They are a little more expensive but well worth the cost. After installing dozens of them, the only failure was caused by not unplugging before pulling away from the dock.

http://www.smartplug.com/marine_why.html

[Dtank]

wborst wrote:
That was caused by a loose connection on the melted pin in the plug or socket. The power entry plug on your camper needs to be replaced and the connector on your power cord or the entire power cord needs to be replaced. Be sure that the connections between the wire and the connectors is tight or it will happen again. The power entry connector on your camper was probably damaged when your original cord was. It should have been checked and repaired when they replaced your power cord.

Bingo!

and "ditto" for what Biscuit said...:W

.

[Old-Biscuit]

Next time you smell 'electrical' don't blow it off.........investigate.

Burning electrical does NOT fix itself!!!

[DrewE]

I agree with the others (though less so with homerbw)—a loose or poor connection somewhere associated with that contact.

Ohm's law is applicable here: the voltage drop across a resistance (i.e. that of the poor connection) is proportional to the current being drawn. The power being dissipated by this voltage drop is the product of the current and the voltage. If you have, say, a 0.1? resistance in the contact or the connection to it and are consuming 20A of current, the voltage drop is 2V (hardly noticeable in the RV) and the power being dissipated is 40W, which is turning into heat. 40W is a fair bit of heat to get rid of for a bit of metal totally encased in plastic; since it can't radiate all that much to the outside, it gets hotter and things start to melt and burn.

I doubt the transfer switch is involved because it's most likely a bit further away from the power inlet and heat generated there would have to be conducted through the wire between it and the power inlet to heat up the power inlet—and I would expect the wire itself would get mighty hot conducting this heat, have its insulation burn, etc. before the socket would suffer this much damage. (I have not conducted a scientific experiment in the matter, however, nor do I intend to do so.)

[homerbw]

HAVE YOUR TRANSFER SWITCH CHECKED RIGHT AWAY. IF ONE CONTACT IS GOING BAD IT WILL CAUSE RESISTANCE TO BUILD UP AND YOUR CORD WILL DO WHAT YOURS IS DOING. A NEW CORD WILL START SHOWING THE SAME PROBLEM WHICH IS A GOOD INDICATION THAT THIS IS YOUR PROBLEM AREA. ASK ME HOW I KNOW.

[jwmII]

Loose or corroded connection. Good luck getting your shop to warranty that.

[enblethen]

Your type of set up along with many others put strain on the connector. It would help to get a 90 degree connector.

[wborst]

That was caused by a loose connection on the melted pin in the plug or socket. The power entry plug on your camper needs to be replaced and the connector on your power cord or the entire power cord needs to be replaced. Be sure that the connections between the wire and the connectors is tight or it will happen again. The power entry connector on your camper was probably damaged when your original cord was. It should have been checked and repaired when they replaced your power cord.

[handye9]

High amp draw, coming through a connection that is either corroded or slightly loose. The contacts, in the cord end, are spring loaded. As they wear, they get loose. Maybe, something (wind, a branch, etc) was making the cord move back and forth.

Looks like it's time for a new power inlet and, at least a new end on the cord.

[cheteckie]

I'd suspect it was a loose contact on the cord. Only one side of the circuit burned, and the current needs two sides to complete the circuit. I'm not an electrician, but I'd suspect that cord.

[lawnspecialties]

The cord



The camper