Shock when opening the door

[Hooper]

I went to open the door on my Class C this am and got a little "tingle". The ground was damp due to the daily monsoons we have been getting, but not saturated or wet. I have her plugged into shore power in my garage, which is also damp due to flooding from all the rain. I unplugged the shore power and touched the door handle and no more tingle.

What could be causing this? It's never happened before, despite all the snow and rain and flooding I've had this winter and spring.

[ArmyEOD]

check all your ground connections (breaker Box, plug in garage, and breaker box in motor home) Hope this helps

[4Knights]

This used to happen a lot in our first MH, found the shore power (female) on the rig ground pin was not connected on the inside. Tightened the screw and no more shocks. Could be your problem or could be the ground on the plug or the ground at the load center is loose.

[LVJ58]

Sounds as if somewhere in your electrical connection between the shore power connection and/or on your coach you have an open or bad ground.

Fortunately you had a warning with the tingle could have been worse especially standing on wet ground. You need to find where the problem exists and correct it.

If you're not familiar with electrical circuits I would hire an electrician to find the problem. It could be with the house outlet or where the cable is connected to your RV.

Good luck and let us know the fix

[RoyalD]

Even a "slight" tingle when touching the RV is a red flag. An electrocution could result if this is not taken care of. This most likely is due to defective and or incorrect wiring. This problem could possibly be located anywhere from the utility pole to the RV, but most likely it is at the outlet you have plugged into or the extension cord itself.
There are some basic things to look for, missing ground connection on your extension cord or after market connectors that have been put on incorrectly are common. Also the outlet you plugged into would be the next suspect to check. Looking at the outlet, there are three openings. Two vertical and one round with a small flat area at the bottom. The round hole is the ground connection, the smallest of the vertical openings is the "hot" connection, and the larger of the vertical openings is the "neutral" connection. An AC voltmeter can be used to measure from ground to neutral and "0" volts should be seen. Measuring from ground to the hot connection should show the full line voltage of approx. 120 volts. Measuring from the neutral to hot should also show full line voltage.
If you are unsure or uncomfortable doing this it might be smart to get an electrician to check it out. Also, I would look into installing a "GFI" outlet to use on anything that is near moist working conditions for added safety.
For a really good information source on your problem check out this link. Understanding and preventing RV electrical shocks. Part III: Outlets
Hope this helps you!

[TXiceman]

Get this problem fixed before someone is hurt. You have a ground issue either in the RV or in the connection that you are plugged into. Get a circuit tester and check for proper ground or neutral/ground problems.

ken

[Rick Long]

You are lucky... there was a young man killed a few month ago from a bad ground. The family had experienced the same thing you did... slight tingle but after a rain with wet ground the young man grabbed the handle and was electrocuted.

There is a series of articles about RV Shock...
Understanding and preventing RV electrical shocks. Part III: Outlets

[Hooper]

Wow. Thank you everybody for the replies and the info. This is scary stuff. I guess it just wasn't my time to go yet. I've unplugged the RV from the outlet until I can look into the issue (it's raining again, of course). As long as the RV is unplugged, I'm safe though, correct? Would I be better off plugging her into a GFI outlet in the future?

[4Knights]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hooper Wow. Thank you everybody for the replies and the info. This is scary stuff. I guess it just wasn't my time to go yet. I've unplugged the RV from the outlet until I can look into the issue (it's raining again, of course). As long as the RV is unplugged, I'm safe though, correct? Would I be better off plugging her into a GFI outlet in the future?

Unplugged you should only have 12vlt power unless you have a built in inverter for 120 power. Otherwise should be ok, you don't want to plug into a GFI outlet as it will trip the gfi due to power draw ranges.

You need to find out which ground is not working like the others have posted. I'm not one that will ever work on electric in the rain or wet conditions too much chance of getting killed.

[bigskymt]

If you have a DVM I'd measure continuity from your chassis to the ground pole on your shore power cord. You should have less then 1 ohm resistance. If its open or high res. then you have poor grounding from your shore connection.
If you connect to a GFI it will probably open.

[38 Special]

If you are plugging in using an extension cord, check to make sure the ground prong is not broken off. That was the culprit when the same thing happened to me.

[wa8yxm]

There is one for sure and possibly two problems

First: A fault in the safety ground (That's the round or U shaped pin on your plug) either it's not making contact with the park, it's not making contact with your chassis or the park has the famous "Floating Ground" NOTE: the company that wired the park I'm typing in.. Famous for that.

(Or is that Infamous)

Shooting this problem can be a job...


The 2nd possible problem is only a possible.. We need to know how the chassis became hot.

Now.. In a properly wired rig, with a floating ground on the park side, the chassis will normally be floating around sixty volts.. THis is due to capacitive coupling between the black and green wires (And between the green/bare and white) forms a voltage divider.

The current that this "Voltage divider" can pass, is very small however. It will give you a tingle.. but should not do much worse.

However it can also be caused by a "Ground fault" (Short) in a device or a connection.. And that can pass enough current to kick you in your grave. (KILL YOU) So do not assum "It is just a little" cause it might be the last assumption you ever make.

[Hillbilly2]

As another poster has stated, it can also can be a fault somewhere else causing the shock, Because the RV is grounded (If properly wired) the RV is the return path for the voltage. It will be best to call an electrician to troubleshoot, because it can be complicated and dangerous to fix.

["007"]

Your touching the hot skin of Motor Home this link is in same link provide by posts above.