TravelTiger
Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
One more pic this is the neutral male from the cord embedded in the SurgeGuard.
Burned up power cord -- what is the cause? What damage could there be?
- Thread starter TravelTiger
- Start date
What this shows me is the good Lord was watching over you two. This had disaster written all over it.
Steve
porthole
Retired
You mean like two AC's, water heater and most outlets ...............
TravelTiger
Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Gaffer
Well-known member
The neutral only carries the unbalance. If the loads are equal on both hot legs, the neutral current is zero.
TravelTiger
Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
John, I have one row of breakers running horizontally. Can you be more specific?
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TravelTiger
Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Sent you a PM.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
olcoon
Well-known member
The campground we are working at recently had an incident like this. I really wasn't involved in much, but the grunt work, but here is what I understand happened. Camper complained about his power, (don't know what the issue was), the CG owner checked the pedestal, and it was putting out the proper amount of power. Camper continued to use the pedestal, and sometime later was having problems again & called the CG owner back. Don't know exactly when it happened, but the plug was disconnected from the pedestal, and it was fried. Didn't see it, but sounded similar to your's Erika. The camper then stated that the last campground there had been some sort if issue with the plug-in surge protector. End result; camper had to replace his electrical cord, and we had to dig up & replace the pedestal with a new one.
On top of that heard today that there was a rocket scientist in the same site, who couldn't open the box to plug into the new pedestal, so he broke out his hammer & pry bar, and now the lid is totally messed up. Hope we don't have to replace it again!!!
On top of that heard today that there was a rocket scientist in the same site, who couldn't open the box to plug into the new pedestal, so he broke out his hammer & pry bar, and now the lid is totally messed up. Hope we don't have to replace it again!!!
TravelTiger
Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
To follow up with this thread, the rv specialist/insurance adjuster said it looked like a surge, based on his experience. Because we are full-timers, besides comprehensive and personal effects coverage, we also have "emergency expense coverage". These covered the RV power cord and TV (items attached/came with the rv, comprehensive) the whole coach surge protector, and other indoor surge protectors that fried (personal effects) and our hotel stay while we were evaluating the damage (emergency expense). We purchased the replacement items the day the event happened and a few days after that got the new TV. Once the adjuster verified the damage, he checked the cost of replacement items and then issued a check (minus our deductible, $82.00) which we received less than a week later, along with reimbursement for the hotel expenses. I was very happy with the way Progressive handled this claim.
Diamondjim
Well-known member
Great that things worked out for you....AND a lesson much needed for some of us I'm sure.
Nice too, to know that Progressive seems to be a great place to put our faith in an insurance company.
We pick up our first 5er on Thursday, a 2011 Greystone 32RL, boy do we have lots to learn (refresh), as we've been off the road RVing for a number of years.
Sold our lake lot with a Breckenridge Park model.
Good luck down the road.
Nice too, to know that Progressive seems to be a great place to put our faith in an insurance company.
We pick up our first 5er on Thursday, a 2011 Greystone 32RL, boy do we have lots to learn (refresh), as we've been off the road RVing for a number of years.
Sold our lake lot with a Breckenridge Park model.
Good luck down the road.
justafordguy
Well-known member
It's nice to hear of an insurance company actually standing behind a customer in stead of just taking their money for a change.
Tiny Life Consulting
Member
Hi TravelTiger. It's Kevin from Tiny Life Consulting. I would like to use your photo of the burned plg on my next blog post. Would that be ok with you?Hi all,
We recently began full-timing in the ElkRidge in a new RV Park. This area of the park has new power, water and sewer hookups, installed within the last year.
We've been here about 2.5 weeks. Yesterday, while I was working on my computer and Tony was just sitting in his chair, we heard what sounded like a rock hitting the glass window, a few times in sucession. We both jumped, and said "what was that!" Then the power went out, and smoke came out of the TV (which was not on at the time.)
We immediately threw the 50amp breaker inside, and outside at the pole.
We have a SurgeGuard 50amp external protector.
We discovered that the RV's 50 amp power cord male plug had melted to the female SurgeGuard plug.
View attachment 39177View attachment 39178
Upon more investigation yesterday and today:
1. no evidence of charing at the Marinco plug or wires to it at the back of the trailer.
2. no evidence of melting/charing at the Park Pedestal.
3. Park managers said electrician checked the Pedestal, and was OK but we did not see this (we were out getting a new power cord and SurgeGuard).
4. no evidence of burned/loose wiring at the breaker box.
5. noticeable burned wiring smell in the surge protectors plugged into a few outlets around the RV -- behind TV, back wall, bedroom (I assume they sacrificed themselves during a surge?)
6. With new power cord and new SurgeGard (all we could find near us) park power reads OK, no reverse, open, etc. New Furion power cord has lights that indicate power on both legs.
7. Checked with a Kill-o-watt, all wall and GFI outlets read approx. 120v.
8. Converter charges battery.
9. Water heater heats water.
10. Microwave warms.
11. Ceiling fan/light works.
12. one GFI plug in kitchen was tripped.
13. Both ACs turned on (separately) and cooled.
14. Fridge seems to be working OK, but since it only has a "auto" light for running on propane or AC, I cannot say for sure that AC is working.
15. The SurgeGuard "rattles" now which indicates to me it's fried.
Other observations:
- It's been 102+ here the past week, and I know we've got a lot of fans and other electrical needs plugged in.
- We got a new neighbor about a week ago, a 34ft travel trailer. These two rigs are the only ones on this branch of the park.
- This connection between power cord and protector had a plastic locking device on it, so it is very rarely disconnected. I admit we have not really looked at it recently.
- We discovered upon testing our breakers and what's on them that the plugs for the two slides, the back wall, and the MICROWAVE are on the same 15amp breaker which was not the 20 amp breaker labeled "Mic"
We have not tested any devices that were plugged into regular outlets yet to see what my have been lost.
We are not electrically inclined, so we need some sound and specific advice.
We have opted to not stay in the unit until we get this figured out.
We're not really in a position to take it to a dealer, as we are both living and working out of the coach. (staying in a motel at the moment.)
Prayers for our sanity would be helpful as well, as this is a stressful time.
