pedestal breaker tripping
- Thread starter JeremyN
- Start date
Rickhansen
Well-known member
Hi JeremyN,
Your situation might be simply a bad GFCI in the park pedestal, but the other possibilities need to seriously concern you. Having voltages present on the (hot skin) chassis of your rig is a potentially fatal condition.
My first advice is that I would have the CG test their circuit/GFCI and move you to another site.
Barring that, I would open your main breakers and all circuit breakers in your coach. Assuming the GFI holds and does not trip, you should check to see if you have any power on the frame of your coach. A decent a non-contact voltage tester works best for this. I would close your coach main breakers and then your circuit breakers one at a time, with someone testing for voltage before closing each consecutive circuit. When you close one of your circuit breakers, I would expect one of them will trip the GFCI. Then you will have identified the circuit with the ground fault.
Be safe and keep us posted as you learn more.
Your situation might be simply a bad GFCI in the park pedestal, but the other possibilities need to seriously concern you. Having voltages present on the (hot skin) chassis of your rig is a potentially fatal condition.
My first advice is that I would have the CG test their circuit/GFCI and move you to another site.
Barring that, I would open your main breakers and all circuit breakers in your coach. Assuming the GFI holds and does not trip, you should check to see if you have any power on the frame of your coach. A decent a non-contact voltage tester works best for this. I would close your coach main breakers and then your circuit breakers one at a time, with someone testing for voltage before closing each consecutive circuit. When you close one of your circuit breakers, I would expect one of them will trip the GFCI. Then you will have identified the circuit with the ground fault.
Be safe and keep us posted as you learn more.
priorguy
Well-known member
The electrical codes in Canada and the US are pretty similar and based on each other, shouldn't all outdoor plugs be GFCI protected? Could just be protected in a different way, plug vs. breaker? In my experience with building maintenance, any electrical circuits or devices installed outdoors (even NEMA rated) will eventually fail due to water exposure. It's only a matter of time.
We were at a cg that had a problem with the breaker in the pedestal tripping. My EMS showed no problems. The maintenance man came out and after testing tried putting a new circuit breaker in. No problems after replacing the breaker. He said that they will get weak and trip when they should not.
Don
Don
JeremyN
Well-known member
Well, I took my trailer to the dealer yesterday and he said they worked to try and replicate my problem, but could not make it happen. I told them that for some reason it was tripping on a GFI receptacale, but not a standard one. They tested the water heater circuit, tested for hot skin, and did 2 more tests. The trailer worked perfect each time.
Should I chalk this up to a fluke thing this weekend? Or should I continue to pursue this more and not accept "we can't find anything wrong" as an answer. That is my dilema right now.
Should I chalk this up to a fluke thing this weekend? Or should I continue to pursue this more and not accept "we can't find anything wrong" as an answer. That is my dilema right now.
In your first post you stated that one pedestal the breaker tripped. When you plugged into a different pedestal everything was good.
Sounds like the pedestal was the problem, not your camper.
If it happens again at a different park then the problem might be on your end.
I have run into bad pedestals at more than one park.
Peace
Dave
Sounds like the pedestal was the problem, not your camper.
If it happens again at a different park then the problem might be on your end.
I have run into bad pedestals at more than one park.
Peace
Dave
Similar threads
