Shore GCFI TRIP

[Grantcamps]

First trip out with the 2005 Springdale. Tried to connect to three different shore poles and each tripped the GCFI breaker on the pole. After 20 hours of trouble shooting it turned out that the winterization performed by camping world when we bought it was improperly done. What had happened is that they had failed to turn off the 120volt power supply to the water heater when thay drained the system. When that happens the electrode shorts to ground and trips the shore GCFI. SOLUTION was to disconnect the AC supply cord to the water heater then all other systems worked normally.

[sourdough]

Maybe a little clarification would help (for me). You have a "cord" for the water heater and something else feeds the rest of your RV? I don't think I've ever been to a campground that had a GFCI breaker as the feed for the site. Is there not a breaker for the water heater? Just trying to understand the situation. If they winterized the trailer and left the 120v on to the trailer, and you turned on the AC without filling the water heater 1) is that their fault (winterizing means the water heater is empty) and 2) my thinking is that the element burns out causing an open, not a short to ground. Someone may correct me on that but the elements I've had go bad did not go to ground, they just went open and quit working.

[chuckster57]

I agree with sourdough. A water heater turned on AC without water will cause the heating element to overheat and break. At that point it isn’t shorted to ground, but rather an “open” circuit. You have a different issue, I would be looking at the junction box on the back side of the water heater.

[Bostongone]

I had the exact same problem with my outside GFCI house breaker feeding the trailer tripping and it turned out to be a open heater element. Strange thing was the GFCI breaker continued to trip even with the HW circuit breaker off. I had to open the HW neutral return to stop the GFCI from tripping. Don’t know if it was old age of the heater element or forgetting to turn breaker off before filing heater but element had a corroded section which blew out. Heater was full of water which may have helped provide a leakage path?

[bobbecky]

The reason the GFCI opens up is not because of a short, like what would cause a normal breaker to trip, but it has to do with how the GFCI works, looking for current flow in and out between the hot leg and the neutral. Yes, your water heater element has probably failed because there was no water in the tank. If you can get a dogbone adapter that you can plug into a 30 amp RV outlet and that has the normal 15 amp receptacle on the other end, you will get everything else working until you can get the element replaced.