GFI Plugs In Kitchen Not Working

[pae]

I have a Bighorn 3400. I had a small heater plugged into the kitchen plug. It stopped working. I checked the GFI plug in the bathroom and reset it. The GFI plug in the bathroom is working fine. However, the kitchen plugs, water closet, and exterior plugs are not working. I have reset the GFI plug and checked the circuit breaker. However, they are still not working. Any ideas?

 

[cookie]

Pae, welcome to the forum. You came to the right place to find an answer. I like your floor plan by the way. You said you checked the breaker, I assume you looked to see if it was tripped. Not meaning to doubt the things you have done to restore power, did you turn the breaker all the way off before turning back to on. Not doing this will not allow the breaker to reset. Sometimes when they trip, the switch does not move much. Also you might want to check for a loose wire at the breaker. Some times they come loose. Be certain to unplug from shore power and or turn off your genset. Trip the main breaker. Then look.
Peace
Dave

 

[leftyf]

Pae, welcome to the forum. You came to the right place to find an answer. I like your floor plan by the way. You said you checked the breaker, I assume you looked to see if it was tripped. Not meaning to doubt the things you have done to restore power, did you turn the breaker all the way off before turning back to on. Not doing this will not allow the breaker to reset. Sometimes when they trip, the switch does not move much. Also you might want to check for a loose wire at the breaker. Some times they come loose. Be certain to unplug from shore power and or turn off your genset. Trip the main breaker. Then look.
Peace
Dave

Those breakers are tricky. You have to really push down on them to get them and then up to reset. What you are saying is exactly what happened to me. The breaker feeds the GCI...and can appear to be ok when it is really tripped. And, it may not looked tripped. If you cannot reset/trip the GFI in the bathroom there's probably no power from the breaker.

Great info.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

GFI Troubles As Well

We are going through some problems with our GFI circuit also. About 3 weeks ago it started popping for no apparent reason. I replaced the GFI outlet because I could see it sparking in the outlet if I tapped on it. The new outlet seemed OK for a couple of days then started doing the same thing. I tried to isolate the cause by only plugging one thing at a time into any of the load circuits. Nothing seemed to be the culprit. I opened every outlet except the one on the outside next to the basement to check for loose wires. Nothing. The outlet in the docking center had one connection that may have been suspect so I removed it completely and ties the wires together and still no luck. I thought I had it down to the icemaker solonoid but I was wrong again. I now have everything unplugged (I think) and have reset the dang thing again. The wait is on! Does anyone know if the outlet in the closet washer/dryer space is ont the GFI circuit? If it is, that would make 5 or 6 outlets on one GFI 15 amp circuit. A bit much I would think?

 

[leftyf]

We are going through some problems with our GFI circuit also. About 3 weeks ago it started popping for no apparent reason. I replaced the GFI outlet because I could see it sparking in the outlet if I tapped on it. The new outlet seemed OK for a couple of days then started doing the same thing. I tried to isolate the cause by only plugging one thing at a time into any of the load circuits. Nothing seemed to be the culprit. I opened every outlet except the one on the outside next to the basement to check for loose wires. Nothing. The outlet in the docking center had one connection that may have been suspect so I removed it completely and ties the wires together and still no luck. I thought I had it down to the icemaker solonoid but I was wrong again. I now have everything unplugged (I think) and have reset the dang thing again. The wait is on! Does anyone know if the outlet in the closet washer/dryer space is ont the GFI circuit? If it is, that would make 5 or 6 outlets on one GFI 15 amp circuit. A bit much I would think?

Ray, make sure at least one of your landing gear is on dirt. Tell me what happens then. The GFI senses current flow to ground. If the ground at the pedestal is bad, your GFI will do all kind of weird stuff.

Lemme know.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

We're on concrete. I will go out and get a wire and get us grounded and see what happens. I ran the plug from the reefer directly to the pedestal just to see if anything happened with the breaker out there. It's not a GFI breaker but I grabbing at straws now. Thanks for the advice. We'll see and I'll follow up with you.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

OK I ran a wire screwed directly to the frame to a 10" metal tent spike in the ground. Plugged the coffee maker and reefer back in to the normal spot. The wait is on!!!

 

[leftyf]

OK I ran a wire screwed directly to the frame to a 10" metal tent spike in the ground. Plugged the coffee maker and reefer back in to the normal spot. The wait is on!!!

Cool...just want to see if the old man has lost his touch.

 

[jpmorgan37]

Ray; The washer/dryer should be on their own circuit. Look at your circuit breakers to make sure. I have 4 receptacles on my ground fault circuit. They are: Bathroom-1, kitchen-2 and basement-1. If when you tap it, it sparks, that is usually an indication of a loose connection. When I pulled my receptacles, the wiring was all just using the push in connections. I have been changing them over to screw connections so that I can tighten them, that way they don't vibrate loose.

John

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

It's been a little over 3 hours and so far so good. No popped GFI. Everything we normally have plugged in is still up and running. John, you are right, the W/D has it's own breaker but neither the breaker nor the outlet is GFI protected. A little surprising due to the fact it's right next to the hot & cold valves. It appears we're good to go but time will tell. Thanks for the tip Lefty, you still got the touch! Old Man???

 

[leftyf]

Thanks for the tip Lefty, you still got the touch! Old Man???

Yep, one day older than water...two days older than dirt. Looks like all that $$$ that the Army spent on training me might have been worth it.

My old Airstream taught me the one jack on the ground trick. I can't count on the grounds on the pedestal to be good. Having the jack on the ground just provides another path to earth. Better the trailer frame/jack provide a return rather than this old body.

GFI's are leakage based and are supposed to trip long before the current reaches lethal levels. Because the ground is no good, your body or whatever was providing a better return to ground. Your trailer is really the first place that I've seen the GFI be anything other than a source of problem. I'd say yours works.

Electricity is a funny thing. Ground loops, high resistance shorts...At Ft Huachuca, the grounds are terrible. Because of the dirt and dryness. I could take a voltmeter, put one end on a grounded frame rack and the other end on the metal mesh security screens....and during a lightening storm the old voltmeter would read 12 volts!

They don't call voltage "potential" for nothing.

Just TRY to wash an Airstream while it's plugged in and have the ground at the pedestal be bad. You'll find out that electron flow is MORE than a theory! The language used was not for women and young children!!! Knocked me down..smoke rolled from my pacemaker!!

Thanks heavens for fiberglass siding.

 

[htneighbors]

Ray; The washer/dryer should be on their own circuit. Look at your circuit breakers to make sure. I have 4 receptacles on my ground fault circuit. They are: Bathroom-1, kitchen-2 and basement-1. If when you tap it, it sparks, that is usually an indication of a loose connection. When I pulled my receptacles, the wiring was all just using the push in connections. I have been changing them over to screw connections so that I can tighten them, that way they don't vibrate loose.

John

Excellent idea/suggestion, John. For the life of me I can't imagine why they even make those 'stab-in' type receptacles. Seems like an accident just waiting to happen. They even have stab-in 'wire nuts', too. The receptacles are made only for #14 AWG wire, but the wire connectors can take #12. Must be safe - they're all "UL Listed"!

In all my years of electrical work, I have NEVER used the 'stab-in' slots on receptacles - just never trusted the concept. (And years ago, I quit using any #14 size wire for lights or plugs, too!) Use only copper wire and tighten the screws down...T-I-G-H-T!

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

When I was going through the outlets inspecting the connections, the one in the Docking center has 3 sets of leads. One of them looked like it may not be making good contact so I removed the outlet and wire nutted everything together. I just put a new HD outlet in a few minutes ago. Everything is still working thanks to lefty's suggestion. The biggest problem replacing these outlets is the need to install a new box for the outlet because the existing outlet is an all in one PITA.

 

[wfwilson]

Breaker problems also

Glad to hear we are not the only ones have ele problems. We keep blowing the Breaker for the plugs. And it is tricky at first to reset. We have a 3400 and it appears all or most of the plugs in the trailer on are on the one 15 amp breaker. I am not electrician but sound not good to me. We can not use 2 things at once, IE hair dryer and coffee pot. Heater and coffee pot. I checked the breakers and the washer and dryer plug is on its own breaker. We do not have a washer dryer. I was wondering is it possible to break up the plugs in the trailer so they are on two circuits. I would not do it myself but would it be a big job to have done? Any comments would be appreciated.
Regards
Wayne

PS Ray the shelf brackets work great and so far so good!

 

[SmokeyBare]

PAE,

I ran an additional wire from the Breaker box to the back side of the Kitchen sink cabinet. I bought the wire and the breaker from one of the local building supply centers. It went well... using a razor knife to cut out the holes for the two electrical boxes... here is a link to the original Post... # 3 post in the link...

//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php?t=5160

Good Luck !

 

[leftyf]

When I was going through the outlets inspecting the connections, the one in the Docking center has 3 sets of leads. One of them looked like it may not be making good contact so I removed the outlet and wire nutted everything together. I just put a new HD outlet in a few minutes ago. Everything is still working thanks to lefty's suggestion. The biggest problem replacing these outlets is the need to install a new box for the outlet because the existing outlet is an all in one PITA.

When I had some network cable installed Cat5 Stuff...the walls were nothing but sheet rock. The installer used something he called a "caddy", this was a flat piece of tin that you fit over the hole and bent two backs in and behind the sheet rock. Worked well.

You might want to check this out...no box needed unless you just flat want one.

 

[SmokeyBare]

I used boxes designed for "Old Work" those have two tabs... once the hole is cut... slide the box in... and use a screw driver to tighten the tabs against the back side of the wall... Simple Installation.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

I used boxes designed for "Old Work" those have two tabs... once the hole is cut... slide the box in... and use a screw driver to tighten the tabs against the back side of the wall... Simple Installation.

I've used those boxes before and they are great. The issue for me is enlarging the hole. Not really an issue, just extra tools to get out and put away. Like I don't have the time, right?

 

[leftyf]

I've used those boxes before and they are great. The issue for me is enlarging the hole. Not really an issue, just extra tools to get out and put away. Like I don't have the time, right?

Hole by Dremel.

 

[htneighbors]

New install - existing walls

lefty,

The "Caddy" pieces you refer to are only for low voltage - data, communication, coax, etc. When installing a box for a 120V receptacle - definitely use the "old work" box SmokeyBare mentioned. Wouldn't want any un-necessary flaming going on!