Potential Electrical Safety Issue - PLEASE READ |
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BillR
Newbie Joined: 29 Mar 2015 Location: Walkerton ON Online Status: Offline Posts: 6 |
Topic: Potential Electrical Safety Issue - PLEASE READ Posted: 04 Jul 2015 at 9:03pm |
I
would like to alert subscribers to something that happened to us recently that
I think has serious implications for safety. Please read this post,
particularly if you have an R-Pod with a slide-out. We have a 2013 RP-177 which
we bought used last year (and we love it, BTW!). We usually boondock, but on a
recent trip we rented an electrical site because I had not yet had a chance to
check out the entire electrical system. We got set up and hooked up at Rideau
River Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada (nice park!). On the
second day, I noticed that the fridge was indicating “no power” (flashing red
light). I had to re-set the GFCI outlet, and all seemed fine (the GFCI outlet
protects ALL the standard 115V outlets). But it tripped again in about an hour.
I put the fridge on propane and figured I’d have to check it out when I got
home. But I WAS able to re-set the GFCI. Later,
Gwen and I were sitting outside at the picnic table when I heard a strange
noise from inside the trailer. It’s hard to describe: kind of a cross between a
“pop” and a “thump”. About a minute later, we heard it again. This time, I went
to investigate. I just stepped into the trailer when I heard it again, only
this time it was accompanied by a brilliant flash from under the kitchen sink.
Arc-flash!! I immediately ran outside and unplugged from the utility post. When I
got back in the trailer, I could smell that burnt, electrical kind of smell and
there was a slight bit of blue smoke coming from the under-sink cabinet. That
cabinet is kind of cheaply made, so removing a couple of screws gave me access
to the entire area. I was surprised to see that, directly under the p-trap for
the sink were two electrical connectors (see photo), clearly 115V. They were
blackened and broken. I also
noticed that the plastic drain fittings were dripping, and of course they were
dripping right onto the connectors! Since the plumbing is all “hand-tightened”
fittings, I assumed they had loosened off a bit with hot-cold and travel
vibration. It was easy to re-tighten by hand and stop the mild drippage that
had been taking place. It must have been recent, because while the area was
wet, it certainly wasn’t soaked and I couldn’t see any water damage other than
the burnt connectors. We
spent the rest of the trip on 12V and propane, which was fine. Once home, I was
able to affect repairs (see photo – overkill, I know. To do it again, I would
just make Marrette connections and tie them out of the way). One connection is
for the kitchen outlet (located in the slide-out wall) and the other is for the
microwave plug-in located in the overhead cabinet. But I will add that when
checking the entire electrical system, I noticed that the plug-in for the
microwave was incorrectly wired (hot and neutral reversed). This was preventing
the GFCI from resetting, so I knew something was wrong somewhere. I eventually corrected
this at my new plug-in arrangement, since it was really hard to access the
outlet. Note that, in my solution shown, those two outlets are electrically separate
(I broke off the tab that connects the “black” and “white” screws on the outlet’s
backside). All is now back to normal and everything is working as it should, thankfully. I can’t believe that the installer would locate those connectors in such close proximity to plumbing! In retrospect, that GFCI was trying to tell me something. If yours trips, don’t ignore it! If you have a unit with a kitchen slide-out, I strongly suggest you take a look under the sink and think about waterproofing those connectors and tightening the plumbing. If we hadn’t been on site to follow up on this strange noise, we might have lost our trailer. Or worse! Please be careful!! |
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"Camp, or die trying!"
2013 r-pod 177 2008 Chry T&C 3.6 litre V6 - 6-speed BillR |
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techntrek
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9059 |
Posted: 04 Jul 2015 at 10:47pm |
Glad you caught that! Sounds like you were living up to your signature...
The two things I recommend for all campers (see the link in my signature, the first item on the page that comes up) are a non-contact voltage tester and a plug-in outlet tester, based on the extensive work of Mike Sokol, discussed on that page. Usually I just recommend plugging in the tester to one outlet to be sure the camper is plugged into a properly-wired outlet, but checking all of the outlets upon delivery would be a good idea, too. Loose sewer plumbing is unfortunately a normal problem with the pods. All of the connections are hand-tight and they always loosen up. I traced out all of the sewer lines in mine several times and always found something loose.
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Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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kymooses
Senior Member Joined: 01 Aug 2010 Location: Louisville, Ky Online Status: Offline Posts: 1807 |
Posted: 05 Jul 2015 at 9:53am |
This has happened to a few owners. The placement of those is in a very unfortunate place! But they always seem to be lined up almost directly beneath that pipe.
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Leo B
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 13 Jan 2012 Location: Lyndonville, VT Online Status: Offline Posts: 4507 |
Posted: 05 Jul 2015 at 10:29am |
Did the previous owner move the electric or did it come that way?
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Leo & Melissa Bachand
2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
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ron_whitt
Senior Member Joined: 08 Sep 2011 Location: Chesterville On Online Status: Offline Posts: 261 |
Posted: 05 Jul 2015 at 10:32am |
I own a 2012 177pod when I installed the outside shower and removed the cheapo panels under the sink to make more storage, I noticed the connectors. I covered them with a plastic cover and made small notches for the wires at each end. So far seems to work..
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Ron & Shirley
2020 Tacoma 2012 177 rpod |
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furpod
Moderator Group - pHp Joined: 25 Jul 2011 Location: Central KY Online Status: Offline Posts: 6128 |
Posted: 05 Jul 2015 at 12:33pm |
Came that way.. sometimes the factory puts them there, sometimes on the wall. It's where the pod wiring and slide wiring come together after the completed slide is inserted into the completed pod. |
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Leo B
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 13 Jan 2012 Location: Lyndonville, VT Online Status: Offline Posts: 4507 |
Posted: 05 Jul 2015 at 1:49pm |
Wow. Seems like a really bad place to put it
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Leo & Melissa Bachand
2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
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dropkick
Newbie Joined: 17 Jul 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 18 |
Posted: 11 Aug 2015 at 2:52am |
Wow, thanks for pointing these out. I went out and found them in our 177 mounted on the vertical center divider between sink and stove/drawer stack. I had never noticed them tucked up there before. They’re off the floor but still susceptible to water. I see yet another re-wire in the future. Add to the growing list of wiring screw-ups that I’ve had to fix in this thing!
Is that outlet factory wiring, too? |
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BillR
Newbie Joined: 29 Mar 2015 Location: Walkerton ON Online Status: Offline Posts: 6 |
Posted: 11 Aug 2015 at 8:36pm |
No, that outlet is my handy work. Definate overkill; to do it again I would just move the connections to the sidewall and make sure they were waterproof. A simple Marretted splice would do fine and be a heck of a lot cheaper. I don't know what I was thinking...
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"Camp, or die trying!"
2013 r-pod 177 2008 Chry T&C 3.6 litre V6 - 6-speed BillR |
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dropkick
Newbie Joined: 17 Jul 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 18 |
Posted: 11 Aug 2015 at 11:52pm |
Well if you ever had to remove the slide-out it'd be easy!
Seeing as that should theoretically "never" happen (knock knock!), perhaps I'll just delete the connections all together and wire it straight back to the panel. If the factory cables are left, the connection should at least be in a NMEA weathertight box, or as you did well out of the way. I can't imagine FR not spending the 3 minutes it would take to do it right rather than have your trailer burn down or someone get shocked. Scary. |
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