Fire in electrical compartment

[Winepress]

No way to actually know until you have it checked out. My guess would be the transfer switch went bad, inverter fed into power cord. Power cord shorted one of the legs to chassis ground.
Happy that you are safe, if it isn't one thing, it's another.

[LizCarmel]

Thanks. It's always something. I just spent $1300 on several repairs including a new fuel pump.

Liz

[TVforMyRV]

Please let us know what they find. That is kind of scary, having an electrical short/overheat in your power cord when you are not plugged in....

[LizCarmel]

I will post what they find out. It's in the shop.

Liz

[Mr_D]

I'm going to be watching this one! We have a 2002 4090 so they're kind of close although I see differences in the compartment layout and don't have the surge guard.

[mfire1339]

The word "LUCKY" comes to mind....

[Arch Hoagland]

How many fire extinguishers do you carry? I carry five spread around the coach bays and in the toad.
The RVIA approved fire extinguisher that comes with the coach is sad. Your extinguisher is about 12 years old.
I'd suggest a couple more fire extinguishers.

[gemini5362]

I also am curious what caused this problem. I do not imagine what could have caused the power cord to melt unless like the previous poster speculated the inverter somehow fed ac power back to the cord.

You can buy battery powered smoke detectors that link to each other. When any one of them go off they trip the alarm on all of them. I recommend those types of smoke detectors in the underneath storage area and the electrical connection area for just this reason. If the fire would have spread you would not have known it until too late. If the alarm activates you can get to the side of the road and investigate possibly putting it out while that option was available.

[chief400]

Stayed there in 2009 they had to change a breaker at my site. When was the surge protector installed? How many camp sites stayed at since installed? Please keep us posted.

[jdr159]

Have them check your batteries and battery cables. It takes ALOT of current to melt these cables.

[Dr4Film]

Originally Posted by LizCarmel

I had a fire in my electrical compartment today. The 50-AMP cord melted and there is smoke damage into the coach.

I used a 30-AMP adapter to hook-up at the KOA Harpers Ferry, WV. I was there for 3 nights with no issues. I have a surge guard installed inside the electrical compartment.

I unhooked at the KOA this morning. Apart from the cord feeling warm, there was no damage to it when I put it into the compartment.

Thank you for your help.

Liz

Liz,

Your first clue to a problem was the cord feeling warm when you stored it into your compartment. The damage had already started internally and it continued.

You are very fortunate to have not had a large fire as a result.

Things to have checked are the Dog-Bone adapter, the 50 amp cord, the TRC Surge Protector and Transfer Switch.

There was obviously way too many amps being drawn through the shore power supply cable, etc.

You dodged a bullet this time. When using Dog-Bones always check them often for warmth and problems. Also, when using a 50 amp coach on a 30 amp shore power supply, pay VERY close attention to the amount of amps you are drawing at any given time.

If you have a Load Shedding device usually that will take care of the task for you.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[LizCarmel]

Originally Posted by chief400

Stayed there in 2009 they had to change a breaker at my site. When was the surge protector installed? How many camp sites stayed at since installed? Please keep us posted.

The surge guard was installed in April. I've stayed at over 10 camp sites since then but never used the 30AMP adapter. I was trying to save a few bucks (I'm FT). Since I didn't need the AC I thought it would be ok. I did use the microwave and made popcorn in an airpoppet (not at the same time).

Liz

[LizCarmel]

Originally Posted by Arch Hoagland

How many fire extinguishers do you carry? I carry five spread around the coach bays and in the toad.
The RVIA approved fire extinguisher that comes with the coach is sad. Your extinguisher is about 12 years old.
I'd suggest a couple more fire extinguishers.

I carry 2 fire extinguishers.

To clarify, there was never an open fire. The power cord melted causing smoke damage but I never saw any flames.

Yes, I am very lucky.

Liz

[LizCarmel]

Originally Posted by Dr4Film

Your first clue to a problem was the cord feeling warm when you stored it into your compartment. The damage had already started internally and it continued.

Things to have checked are the Dog-Bone adapter, the 50 amp cord, the TRC Surge Protector and Transfer Switch.

There was obviously way too many amps being drawn through the shore power supply cable, etc.

You dodged a bullet this time. When using Dog-Bones always check them often for warmth and problems.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

Thank you. In retrospect I should have checked it out after unhooking when I first noticed the warm cord and smell.

Liz