Community Forums

Spur · 08-26-2007, 03:07 AM

Morning,

I checked the voltage in a 30 amp pedestal and it was fine, 120v. Plugged in a tester for polarity and it read fine, two yellow lights. Plugged MH in and the surge protector kicked in and no caution lights.

When I went to washing down the engine compartment, I was standing in wet grass and when touching bare metal, I got a shock. Stuck the negative probe in the wet grass and positive to bare metal and got 26 volts. I checked the pedestal to wet ground and got the same thing. Checked my neighbors pedestal and read 26 volts. Told the park and got some answer like, "Yea we know it. The whole loop is bad. The electrician can't find the problem yet, but he's coming back tomorrow to look again." Right.

My question is, is it bad for the MH? Can it cause electrolysis or anything like that? I had a Tiffin that had paint bubbling due to electrolysis on the aluminum bay doors. I've heard of others with similar problems. Campground if full, but Monday I'm going to try to move to a different section.

Bruce

Spur · 08-26-2007, 03:07 AM

Morning,

I checked the voltage in a 30 amp pedestal and it was fine, 120v. Plugged in a tester for polarity and it read fine, two yellow lights. Plugged MH in and the surge protector kicked in and no caution lights.

When I went to washing down the engine compartment, I was standing in wet grass and when touching bare metal, I got a shock. Stuck the negative probe in the wet grass and positive to bare metal and got 26 volts. I checked the pedestal to wet ground and got the same thing. Checked my neighbors pedestal and read 26 volts. Told the park and got some answer like, "Yea we know it. The whole loop is bad. The electrician can't find the problem yet, but he's coming back tomorrow to look again." Right.

My question is, is it bad for the MH? Can it cause electrolysis or anything like that? I had a Tiffin that had paint bubbling due to electrolysis on the aluminum bay doors. I've heard of others with similar problems. Campground if full, but Monday I'm going to try to move to a different section.

Bruce

RustyJC · 08-26-2007, 03:30 AM

It sounds like neutral isn't bonded to ground, or the park has a floating ground. Is there a ground stake near the pedestal with a ground cable coming from the box to the stake? Check the potential between the neutral and ground terminals at the park's power socket. It should be 0 VAC. If not, the neutral isn't bonded to ground. Then check from the power socket's ground terminal to the wet grass - this should be 0 VAC as well. If not, the park has a floating ground.

This is a dangerous situation insofar as the potential for personal injury is concerned. I hope the park takes it seriously and gets it corrected.

Rusty

Kevin Moore · 08-26-2007, 06:41 AM

I agree that this is a dangerous situation, and should be addressed by the park rightaway.
The main service is the onlyplace where the neutral and ground are tied, bonded, together. The park pedestals have a seperate hot, neutral and ground wire running to them for 30 amp 125v, or 2 hots, neutral, and ground, for 50 a 230v. There are connection lugs to keep them separted in the pedestal. A ground rod is normally not placed at each site. The gound rod is at the main service diconnect.
Sounds like the park has loose or missing ground in their system or some very loose connections.

RustyJC · 08-26-2007, 06:47 AM

Kevin,

That's why I asked about the ground rod. I've run into that at some older parks where there's significant voltage drop between a distant park pedestal and the main service panel. Yeah, they can introduce a ground loop, but at least they keep neutral-to-ground voltage minimized at the shore power pedestal.

I did edit my initial post that, upon re-reading it, made it sound as if such was the norm.

Rusty

Spur · 08-26-2007, 06:53 AM

Thanks Rusty.....we moved to another site in another loop. One of the workers told me the whole loop is bad, so the problem probably isn't in the pedestal we were using. I would think it would be the main breaker panel and ground, but if it was, you would think someone would have found it by now. Maybe a cut line underground. It was only 26 volts I was feeling, but it's enough to wake you up. I was talking to a guy who said he felt it when he lowered the jacks on his fifth wheel. He thought he was dreaming. This morning the grass was wet and when I opened a bay door I felt it. I feel better moving from there.

Spur · 08-26-2007, 06:58 AM

I agree Kevin...(I didn't see you post at first). My new neighbor here said there has been a problem up in that loop for as long as he's been camping here. A smart electrician should be able to isolate the bad area. Might take disconnecting sections one at a time, but worth the time opposed to an electrocution and law suit.

Kevin Moore · 08-26-2007, 08:33 AM

A few years ago, we were in a campground that the next door neighbor was getting a tickle from his entrance door handle. He asked me to look at it. Found that the CG worker had only ran 2 #10 wires to the 30 amp pedestal. He got ahold of the office and told them there was NO ground. CG worker(that had installed it) came by and told the motorhome owner that it was in conduit, so it did not need a ground wire. Only problem with was it was in PVC pipe. MH owner went back to the office and had someone install a ground rod. You find all kind of hookups in these RV parks. It is a good itea to check for proper voltage and polarity and ground before hooking up.

GaryKD · 08-26-2007, 08:51 AM

I agree with the previous posts this is a serious problem. It sounds like the CG is not taking is seriously. You did the right thing by moving.

The same situation has happened to me. The only difference is that where you had 26 volts I had 97! It got my attention right away. Anytime one was on the ground and touched the coach, one got a zap. My surge/voltage protector was also giving an error light. I move to another site, then left when I heard the same story you did.

Spur · 08-26-2007, 09:01 AM

It would be nice if county's did an annual inspection of the utilities in campgrounds. Just like any public building, motel, hotel, etc. Problem is a lot of them would be shut down. And to fix the problems, they would jack up the rates to where some people would not be able to afford to go camping. Catch 22. What do you do? I'm going to put this on campgroundreviews.com to let people know Loop B is bad. The rest of the park is really nice.

Gary RVRoamer · 08-26-2007, 10:08 AM

To have that much voltage on the ground wire, it seems to me that somebody has to be using the ground in place of the neutral. That could be somewhere in the loop's pedestals or even in some RV powered on that loop. If that's the case, the voltage could go much higher at times (and also lower at other times).

TXiceman · 08-26-2007, 06:50 PM

I have to go along with a crossed ground and neutral somewhere. decent electrician should be able to find it in short order.

Ken

Spur · 08-27-2007, 01:47 AM

They must have a pretty poor electrician around here. I was told a story yesterday, and I have no reason to doubt this guy, about a guy a while back who was shocked while pulling the chain down in the shower. Had to close down the bath house for a long time until it was fixed.