I'm hoping y'all can provide some guidance. I spent last weekend at a local State Park. Getting ready to pull out, disconnecting the power cable, DW and I had to pry apart the male plug of the trailer's power cord, from the female plug of a Surge Guard 34730 (after unplugging from the pedestal ... of course!). Male plug of the Surge Guard going into pedestal is a bit burned looking, very slight amount of plastic melted. Female socket of the Surge Guard has the most plastic melted. The male plug from the trailer is a bit burned looking.
Here are pertinent details as I consider what needs to be evaluated, repaired or replaced.
- I always turn breakers at pedestal off before plugging into and before disconnecting.
- No dirt or water in the connections.
- No loose prongs on the cords.
- Plug into pedestal and from trailer, firm, tight connections.
- Weather was cool enough to not need A/C (I was in Texas!).
- Max load at any one time might have been DW's blow dryer, microwave and hot water heater (I'll need to do the math, see what total draw might have been).
- No breakers in trailer or at pedestal tripped. We've tripped a breaker once before, can't remember the combination of items running, might have been breaker at pedestal at another park.
I called TRC (maker of the Surge Guard) technical support and they said loose or dirty connection, or "over current" situation.
ACTIONS:
- repair or replace Surge Guard, considering permanently mounted Progressive Industry surge protector
- confirm good (tight/clean) electrical connections inside trailer
- replace plug on trailer's power cable?
- check / replace(?) breakers in trailer?
Let's see if I can make pictures show up ... never have figured this trick out!
What am I missing (other than pictures!)? From the group's collective experience, what is the most likely root cause? Anything I can do in the future to prevent a recurrence?
Thanks in advance.