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« on: June 21, 2015, 09:27:26 am »
A while back I had a question about a tripping circuit breaker when I plugged into shore power. Well, we were all wrong! Please pay attention to this. It is VERY important and could possible save a life! Yesterday, I was packing up getting ready for our long awaited shake down trip. I had turned on the air conditioner and after an all day pack and trying to double check everything, I took a break on my porch and noticed the air conditioner turned off. I only had it on low, so figured it would soon come back on. Well, it didn't so i went to go investigate.
I could not reset the GFI circuit breaker, and after much ado, I called my very knowledgeable electrician brother for some help. He checked and checked and said it was puzzling and couldn't figure it out. Well, he wasn't going to let it get the better of him, so he even fished connecting test wired through the outlet outside where you plug the coach in to the circuit breaker hook up area. Everything was still testing ok. Well, to make a very long 3 hour story short, the black wire screw that holds the wire tight, on the male outlet was stripped out and could not be tightened or loosened. Then finally, the wire just fell out! It was black on the stripped end! He could tell very early on that this outlet had been tampered with by a prior owner, he figured, because he didn't think the company would do that to a screw.
When the wire got hot because it wasn't making a real good contact, it would trip the GFI circuit breaker! The stripped end of the wire was all black from getting too hot! A real fast trip to the local marine store, purchased a new outlet, installed correctly, problem solved! He also added for those who think turning off the refrigerator before hooking up will solve the problem is only looking for a fire to happen!!! Eventually, it would of sparked, and caused a fire! It is just like your home when the power goes out, and then comes back on. You don't have to turn everything off first. Norcold was wrong. If this is happening to you, please do not attempt to fix it if you don't know what you are doing! ALSO if you do attempt to fix it, and don't know what you are doing, DON'T sell it to some unsuspecting new person! These motor homes, and campers burn down VERY fast! It happened to said brother because of a rubbing wire under his bed while the engine was hot after returning from a trip! I watched it burn down!
Aimee, I am sorry this is so lengthy, but it needed to get the point across to everyone, and was worth the space.
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Thanks for the replys though. I guess I will call the factory, see if they know.