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Old 11-18-2014, 02:23 PM   #15
FW28z
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 2011 Four Winds 28Z
State: Michigan
Posts: 1,273
THOR #531
Understand that I am talking strictly about unprotected conductors from mis-wired pedestals in my discussion, not stray currents. Mis-wired shorepower pedestals is the situation where I see it safer having a dual breaker.

Do you, and in your work with the RVIA, have any concern about mis-wired pedestals, and you do not see it as a potential safety issue?

While it won't cause a hot-skin connection, you need to think beyond that, as it can be very dangerous should a short occur. Otherwise, why use any breakers at all?

If Connie Camper plugs in her faulty toaster into a reversed-wired RV, well, there you have it.

Certainly, you can see how a reverse-wired pedestal would cause the neutral (which would now actually be the hot wire) to be both ungrounded and unprotected within the RV?

If you are on the RVIA committee, perhaps you should discuss dual breakers. You should at least look at the potential for shorepower pedestal mis-wiring. And perhaps you might learn how the boating industry handles shorepower mis-wiring.

At the very minimum, why not adopt a requirement for a reverse-polarity indicator on the power panel? That should be a no-brainer minimum standard practice, as it costs less than a dollar to add a Normal/Reversed LED to a panel.

In reality, there are more similarities than differences between RVs and boats. The major difference being the boat system includes a dual breaker to protect against mis-wired shorepower pedestals, reverse polarity indicators to indicate when a reversed panel situation exists, and sometimes a galvanic isolator, which prevents corrosion from galvanic current when in the water.

In both boat and RV systems, the neutral-to-ground connection is made at the shorepower pedestal, not in the on-board power panel.

Fact is, I have seen some RV parks that use MARINE power pedestals!

Reversed wired pedestals do occasionally exist in marinas, and if RV parks are built anything like marinas (especially mom-and-pop operations), there are likely a few reversed pedestals out there. In my view, this is a dangerous condition in both situations.

The problem is - you don't know how many reversed wired pedestals are out there, so you cannot go on the assumption that they do not exist

So we need to establish two facts:

1. that reversed wired pedestals do exist.
2. that reversed pedestals result in the RV's neutral wire to become an unprotected non-current limited ungrounded current carrying wire. This is a dangerous condition.

With those two assumptions, the real issue with both boats and RVs is that you cannot control the "shorepower - cable - RV panel" connection. If you could - say like in a house - then that situation is always static, so you can wire sub panels with the assumption that the neutral wire is grounded.

However, the "shorepower - cable - RV panel" connection in boats and RVs is dynamic. You cannot control this connection as it is always changing. And since you cannot prevent encountering a mis-wired shorepower pedestal, you must anticipate this condition and take measures to ensure an unsafe condition does not exist if/when it occurs.

I don't know that much about RVIA (other than it's a industry trade association), but I would hope they are concerned about these safety issues.
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