Dangerous?? Electrical Concerns

[klindgren]

Not sure how dangerous it is, but we have had no problems with electrical since we bought our new 2014 San Antonio on March 26th. However, today, when we arrived in Charleston, SC the microwave does not work...no lights, clock, etc. However, the turn table rotates slowly. ??? No power, but the turn table rotates and I can not stop it unless I unplug the unit ( that's exactly what I did). Then later, Carol said when she tried to plug in her electrical tea pot to the outlet closest to the stove, there was a spark at the plug. Tried it twice and I told her not to use that outlet. ??? We've been using the microwave and that outlet for the past 3 1/2 weeks with no problem, now, I'm not sure what to think.

Any one have any ideas??

 

[JohnDar]

Shut off the breaker and then pull the outlet from the wall. Check the connections are secure.

 

[danemayer]

hi klindgren,

The outlet for the teapot is probably on the same circuit as the microwave's outlet.

Are other 110V appliances/outlets working ok?

Have you checked the campground's pedestal?



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[donr827]

Shut off the breaker and then pull the outlet from the wall. Check the connections are secure.

Good first step but be sure to check all of the outlets on that circuit.
Don

 

[hoefler]

At the pedestal, check the incoming power, verify you still have a neutral and ground. If you lost the neutral, you would have a leg with low voltage and a leg with high voltage.

 

[RoadJunkie]

Try using an extension cord to plug the microwave into a known (good) source; Ensure the microwave is functioning properly. The spark from the tea pot may just be that the circuit is immediately under load when you plug it in, which will produce a spark. Try the tea pot in the same known source.

We had a bad line of outlets go "bad" once and found a barely-functioning wire nut connection in the junction box below one of our slides. Technically it was not difficult to find by trouble shooting with a multimeter, it just took some time.

 

[mikeandconnie]

Sounds like your microwave control board is fried by the symptoms you describe. I would not plug it back up and have a electrician check the outlet. The board can be replaced by an appliance technician in less then a hour. Also plugging into shore power with the pedestal breaker on can fry the board unless you have a in-line surge protector.

 

[klindgren]

Tried to post a reply to this thread twice yesterday but kept getting kicked out. Anyway, not sure what the problem was with the microwave, but it seems all is good now. I took RoadJunkie's advice and plugged the microwave into a "working" outlet. Came on and worked fine. Then I replugged it into it's dedicated outlet and again, everything worked fine. As far as the teapot and electrical spark is concerned, I tried to duplicate what happened to Carol numerous times at various outlets and could not. No sparking. What I think happened is that the teapot was turned on when she went to plug it in, and it sparked as a result of trying to immediately start the heating element. When I tried (with the unit turned off) nothing.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and help.

In my 2010 Pinehurst, I had the in-line Surge-Guard added after I bought the unit. It had a control panel that would show me what I was receiving, in the way of electricity, into the coach. With this new 2014 San Antonio, the in-line surge protection was installed at the factory and there is no display to look at and monitor the electricity.

Thanks again

Keith

 

[Rickhansen]

Keith,
I would still be suspicious of the microwave outlet. If your outlets are like those in our Bighorn, they are stab-in wire connections and not typical screw terminal connections on the outlet. The stripped wire pokes into a spring loaded clip that makes the mechanical/electrical connection to the conductor. These are not as reliable or robust as a traditional screw connector and can fail or become intermittent.

It could be that by unplugging and plugging in the microwave cord you caused it to make a good connection temporarily.

 

[danemayer]

In my 2010 Pinehurst, I had the in-line Surge-Guard added after I bought the unit. It had a control panel that would show me what I was receiving, in the way of electricity, into the coach. With this new 2014 San Antonio, the in-line surge protection was installed at the factory and there is no display to look at and monitor the electricity.

Keith,

There have been some previous posts discussing the surge protector that's part of the full-timers package, if that's what you have. It protects against surges, but may not be a full Electrical Management System (EMS) such as you may have had previously. If the pedestal had a problem, it could have passed that problem to your appliances.

You may want to consider adding an EMS to provide full protection. Page 2 of this document from the manuals section of the forum describes the protections offered by an EMS.

 

[jbeletti]

...There have been some previous posts discussing the surge protector that's part of the full-timers package, if that's what you have. It protects against surges, but may not be a full Electrical Management System (EMS) such as you may have had previously....

Dan is correct on this. The TRC brand transfer switch used in the Full-timers package has their Surge Guard surge protection built into it. But it is NOT an electrical management system like the Progressive is.

 

[hriker]

We had a bad line of outlets go "bad" once and found a barely-functioning wire nut connection in the junction box below one of our slides. Technically it was not difficult to find by trouble shooting with a multimeter, it just took some time.

We had a similar issue. After bringing our Landmark home we encountered an issue where we had low voltage at the microwave outlet. Maybe 80 volts and the microwave wouldn't work at all. It took me a while to find the problem. Checked the outlet wires, reset the breaker and re-seated with no success. Called the dealer and he told me to check the junction box under the slide. Bingo. I found a wire came detached from a wire nut and was arcing. Reattached the wires with the wire nut and taped it as well as the other wires in that junction box and the one under the other slide. We have not had an issue since and its been almost 2 years.

 

[klindgren]

Dan is correct on this. The TRC brand transfer switch used in the Full-timers package has their Surge Guard surge protection built into it. But it is NOT an electrical management system like the Progressive is.

So, that being said, I feel a whole lot more protected with a full ems like I had in the Pinehurst. Can I convert this surge protection to full ems or do I have to rip this one out and replace (seems like a lot of trouble and expense)?

 

[jbeletti]

So, that being said, I feel a whole lot more protected with a full ems like I had in the Pinehurst. Can I convert this surge protection to full ems or do I have to rip this one out and replace (seems like a lot of trouble and expense)?

You'd want to check with Progressive to be certain. My sense is that you can leave it inline and add the EMS after the transfer switch. It would be nice to have 2 levels of surge protection.

 

[Silverado23]

Yes you can install the Progressive EMS after the transfer switch. The transfer switch may offer basic surge protection from the power pedestal and a generator. Installing the EMS after the transfer switch offers EMS protection should anything go wrong with the generator as well as the pedestal. We just installed a progressive EMS a few weeks ago into a Cyclone 4100 after the transfer switch.

 

[klindgren]

Super. Thanks Jim and Silverado23. I'll check into having it added at my next Camping World stop.