Almost had a bad day

[Tallyrver]

While on a trip this past weekend ,while on the road ,the DW said to turn on the gen and crank up the ac because she was hot. The generator was on but the ac had shut off,upon further inspection I found the gen was not powering the coach. The 30 amp breaker on the gen was tripped , after doing a search on this wonderful forum I found a burned up transfer switch to be the problem.

It is an IOTA ITS-50R with a plastic case ,it looks like the neutral connection on the gen input was loose causing it to get hot. the front cover had started to melt. lucky for me the neutral wire melted into the hot and shorted out.

My question is ..anyone recommend a transfer switch with an all metal case ,which would be safer with a short?http://

[TXiceman]

Glad you had such minimal damage. There is nothing wrong wit the plastic case on a switch. Look at all of the light switches in your house.

As a matter of yearly maintenance, I tighten all of the electrical connections that I can get to. Bouncing down the highway tends to loosen things.

ken

[John Hilley]

I think I prefer a plastic case, don't know why you would think a metal one would be safer.

[FreshAir]

I prefer plastic seems to be the norm now days in most electrical applications. Besides, I never know when I'll need a little bit of forgiveness if I get sloppy and slip with a tool, power on.
I like Ken's idea of routinely tightening electrical connections.
.

[Rex]

Get an Esco ES50M-65N transfer switch. Check here:

ESCO
1126 Kent Street
Elkhart, IN 46514-1740
800-456-3726 or 574-264-4156
ESCO



Check out this PDF if you want to see what it looks like.

http://www.generatorjoe.net/html/esco/ES50M-65N.pdf

It is in a metal case.

[Stillwater]

Thanks for sharing that. That was a close call. Checking the connections on the transfer switch and other connections is now on my to do list for tomorrow.

[Tallyrver]

Thanks for the replies ,the reason I wanted a metal case is ,the case is grounded ..if you have a meltdown there is more of a chance of shorting out the box. and mabey not burning down the rv. The plastic cover had started to melt .Who knows how far it could have gone before it shorted out.