Faulty wiring

[HandL]

I am pretty sure this was discussed in another thread but I could not find it. Moderators please move to appropriate thread if need be. It is way to important not to bring up again. We just purchased a new bullet 217 this past January. We used it for the first time this past weekend. We were fully hooked up with 30 amp service so we were not having any problems with any electrical appliances, Plugs, etc. I plugged a coffee pot into the receptacle on the outside of the trailer and made coffee. It is a one cup coffee maker. When I tried to makes a second cup no power. Went through all of the normal checks circuit breakers fuses etc. This receptacle is on the GFI circuit. After finding no problem I started opening the receptacles one by one.......... Yep you got it I found the white neutral wire was not connected to the back of the main GFI located above the bath sink. The screw was not even tight. But the receptacle was warm................................... Fire potential!!!!!! My guess it was just hanging there making contact ones in a while until I pulled it out of the wall. We all need to double check the wiring in our trailers IMHO..... I did just that. Found no other problems but you never know.

[Sherwood]

This is the type of stuff that drives me crazy as an electrician. This is not the area that should be "half a$$ed" on. When lives are at stake, this should be gone through with a fine toothed comb. Too many times I have gone behind someone elses work and found this type of garbage. Now after reading a few posts here about this type of problem, I am going to have to go through my camper and check all my electrical connections.
It would be a good idea to email/call Keystone and let them know what you found. Just glad you found it before it got any worse.

[Bob Landry]

In operating a marine service business, you would have a stroke seeing some of the stuff I run across. The average boat owner(and RV owner) should not even touch anything electrical. Wait until you have a hot and neutral switched at the panel so the neutrals are being switched and every white wire is hot all the time.

[HandL]

Ouch!!!! I read the other threads about a month ago. Middle of a snow storm. Then I promptly forgot about checking all of my electrical system. As I said I went through and found nothing else but I was just thinking that I should probably pull the converter as well and double check behind that. I sure cant wait to actually use the trailer. Soon very very soon the sun will come out. Snowing today just to add insult to injury.................. Tax day!

[Festus2]

In operating a marine service business, you would have a stroke seeing some of the stuff I run across. The average boat owner(and RV owner) should not even touch anything electrical. Wait until you have a hot and neutral switched at the panel so the neutrals are being switched and every white wire is hot all the time.

If the wiring and other components of an RV's electrical system are as bad as what I am reading about here, what is the owner supposed to do? Many of us, including myself, aren't electricians and don't have the expertise to go poking around our electrical circuits looking for these kinds of hazards. I wouldn't even know what to look for. Hot and neutral wires? I am thinking that I would get a shock if I touched a "hot" wire and be okay if I touched a "neutral" one. Probably wrong, but you see what I mean......

Yes, I can see if a wire has worked itself loose and is hanging there not connected to anything. Yes, I can see if a fuse has blown or a circuit breaker has opened and needs to be reset. I can do these two things and perhaps a couple of other really basic electrical trouble-shooting but that's about it.

So where does this leave me and plenty of other owners like me? I just don't have what it takes to examine all of circuits to see if they are wired correctly or if there are potential hazards out there waiting to zap me. Should I take it in to an RV service center and get someone to check all this stuff out (and pay a small fortune in labor costs) or should I just go about my merry way and pretend everything is ok? Nothing has happened --- yet. No smoke. No fires. No shocks.

So, Bob you are correct - I won't touch a thing. But should I get someone who knows what they're doing to look for "hot and neutral" stuff and other dangerous things? :confused:

[Bob Landry]

Actually, you can check most things and can do it safely. Most converters have a front that comes off with a couple of screws. All of the connections are right there. With the trailer unplugged, it's a simple matter to go over all of the acre connections with a screwdriver. A three light tester from Home depot will do a quick check on all of your wall outlets. As far as anything else, I'm going to say that not a lot of bad things happen electrically, but they do occasionally. Usually, if an appliance or device works correctly, it's wired correctly and there are no issues. Screw type connections can, I'm told, vibrate loose, but in my business, I have seen very little if any of that. I don't think that an outlet wired correctly is going to develop a problem other than the occasional GFCI going bad.
The one thing that I'm not wild about is the way Keystone just randomly connects outlets to various breakers, but the average owner is not going to be affected by that unless you are like me and go into extensive electrical mods.. LOL
If you suspect you may have a serious electrical problem, then I recommend letting a dealer handle it, but the $8 tester will tell you a lot and give you peace of mind that everything is put together correctly. I might mention also that most of the horror stories I encounter are customer, not factory, induced.

[Sherwood]

If I was in your area, I would happily go through your camper and check all electrical connections to make sure they are nice and tight for a minor fee of beer. Fires happen when there is loose connections that spark, build carbon, create heat and repeat until it gets so hot it starts a fire in surrounding combustibles. Breakers will not trip on these types of conditions. Only arc-fault breakers do. Good thing to do is make sure all power is off and find any and all electrical connections and give them a good tug to make sure they don't separate from either a device or wire nut. If they do, bad connection. If not, good connection.
I will probably go through mine pretty shortly after reading a few post's here about electrical problems. Just remember, no electrical connection SHOULD be inaccessible. By that I mean that you should be able to open a light, outlet or a cover of some sort to gain access to a connection. None should be in a wall that's not accessible. Notice I said "should"?