lack of shore power

[ChrisNiemann]

need help ASAP, its gonna be a cold one tonight!

for the past 2 weeks we've lacked serious power from the shore. We're plugged into the outlet on the garage with a 30amp fuse and for the past 2 years every winter we plug into the same thing, but this year we're lacking power. the microwave won't heat if anything else is on, the heater elec heater we've had for 2 years now won't produce heat if lights are on...

so why a lack of power?? any and all help will be greatly appreciated and looked into immediately!!

Thank You

Chris & Wife!

p.s. because of the lack of power, the furnace blower doesn't blow fast enough either, there is a microswitch inside the blower fan and when it picks up speed it blows a flap that engages the microswitch to allow the ignitor to ignite the propane... without that power, it won't blow fast enough to trigger this switch so the furnace don't even work now....

[e8seabee]

We had similar problem a few months ago. The problem with ours was the coach end of the cord has a twist lock on it and it was partially turned and not making good contact. Twisted it and got good connection again. Hope yours is at least that simple.

[ChrisNiemann]

Originally Posted by e8seabee

We had similar problem a few months ago. The problem with ours was the coach end of the cord has a twist lock on it and it was partially turned and not making good contact. Twisted it and got good connection again. Hope yours is at least that simple.

ours don't have the "twist" connect on it, i assume yours is the 50amp? I forgot to mention ours is the 30amp 3 prong, but I'm going outside right now to make sure that everything is tightly connected.

Any other suggestions in case?


EDIT: checked all connections, nothing changed :-(

[ChrisNiemann]

anyone else... going to a cold bed soon, any and all help is greatly appreciated...

[GMRHost]

Sounds like the neutral is weak or non-existent. Someone familiar and confident with wiring needs to help you check the outlet; Make sure the screws are tight, and if there's a wirenut connection in there, that needs to be checked as well. If this is a dedicated outlet, the problem may be in the box on the Neutral bus bar... often if the connection is loose, it NEVER gets better, as constant arcing just burn it to the point of uselessness.

[ChrisNiemann]

GMRHost, thank you! I am confident with wiring and will check out the outlet and wiring back to the fuse box on the garage soon as we feed cattle tomorrow morning. all the wiring is exposed inside the garage (walls aren't finished) all the way to the breaker box so there is no wire nut anywhere, however there is wire nuts here in the rv where the wires come in to the rv and then go to the breaker box/fuse panel in the rv.... guess i'll have to check those out yet too since i just redid them earlier this fall when i replaced the carpet in the bedroom.... thanks again!!

[GMRHost]

No problem. I used to work remodeling homes in So Cal with an electrician in my younger days, and my boss had one rule about wire nuts;
"They should be so tight, you could hang from them!" lol.

[JimM68]

What about the genny?
Do you have full power if you crank up the generator?

[e8seabee]

At this point of the night, rather than spend it in the cold, I'd just run another extention cord through a window and plug the heater into that. Chase other problems in the daylight or warmer time.

[ChrisNiemann]

genny is out of the question, were parked about 50' from the old mans bedroom LOL, he'd kill me, and i don't think the cattle would care for it to much.

the ext cord idea would be good but..... 1. i have no clue where another ext cord is and 2. all our windows have screens that don't slide, they just remove but i've never done that before so doing that in the dark would be a task in itself... it think we'll just have puppy cuddle with us... shes 70lbs of somethin to keep warm right? lol

["007"]

When you have the daylight check your connections in the transfer switch and maybe clean the relay contacts.
Your load center wiring also may want to be looked at also.
AND as someone already suggested run your Gen and see if everything runs OK.
Will prove power cord or your house supply has a problem.

[ChrisNiemann]

Woohoo, we made it through the night! Thank god for blankets and a dog lol. Really hope I find something wrong with the wiring... thanks everyone.

Ill stick take other suggestions just in case =)

[Rook]

Turn ALL your AC breakers off and then flip them back on. Sometimes a partially tripped breaker will make a resistive connection and you will loose voltage through this breaker. Rook

[Rook]

Also, reset the house breaker that feeds your 30 amp shore power. Rook