Thor Forums

[Dmhawv]

Vegas smoke and melting wires!

Has anyone else experienced this: on shore power, flipped the toggle for water heater and within minutes the camper was filling with smoke and stench of burning plastic and wires. Immediately turned it back off and smoke dissipated.

I removed the wooden slat cover (which is a painful design), to find the cover off the electrical box and a cluster of wires melted together. I separated what I could and narrowed it down to the two black wires. The wire nut was melted through and wires melted together. I snipped it all off, redid the connection with new wire nut and tested. Fixed the issue but I'm somewhat fearful there may be an underlying cause I'm missing. Had I flipped the switch and left the RV to walk the dogs or something I truly expect the RV would have been on fire when I returned. It took me longer to get the cover back on the box than it did to make the repair. I suppose the cover could have popped off and bounced enough to cause friction and a bare wire? The crazy thing to me was that the black wire connections and the 2 white wire connections were taped together with electrical tape. I see no reason to group them. What am I missing?