Electrical emergency

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If you don't mind moving it around there is no big reason to replace the Surge Guard with the Progressive Industries unit until it dies.
 
Can you tell us which outlets had the 240 volts on them?
 
By design, 50Amp circuits with 4 prong plugs are 240V receptacles - like on an electric stove.  In almost all RV applications, as soon as the 240V arrives in the RV, it is split into two 120V 50 amp legs, and 240V is not used in that form.

30Amp, 3 prong outlets for RV use are 120V.  They LOOK very similar to a 30 A 240V dryer receptacle, but the RV expects 120V.  There are horror stories about misfired RV 30A plugs.
 
grashley said:
By design, 50Amp circuits with 4 prong plugs are 240V receptacles - like on an electric stove.  In almost all RV applications, as soon as the 240V arrives in the RV, it is split into two 120V 50 amp legs, and 240V is not used in that form.

30Amp, 3 prong outlets for RV use are 120V.  They LOOK very similar to a 30 A 240V dryer receptacle, but the RV expects 120V.  There are horror stories about misfired RV 30A plugs.
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And they are designed so one cannot be plugged into the other. It's the DIY's and stupid electricians that cause the problems.
 
cavie said:
And they are designed so one cannot be plugged into the other. It's the DIY's and stupid electricians that cause the problems.
Click to expand...

Yes they are supposed to be so you can' plug a 120 volt TT-30 into a 240 volt say Dryer plug but many have done just that. I have read many stories.. Now it may be somneone used a TT-30 for a 240 volt line or it may be.. one of the 240 volt plugs will accept a TT-30. (Please do not ask which).

You are a Master ELectrician and I ASSUME you as an RVer know the TT-30 is 120 volt
But I've met licensed electricians who were about to mis-wire one for 240 volts.. Thankfully for his customer he met me first. I'm a Certified ELectronics Technician though I never worked in the field.. but for a short time.  Still... I do know about the TT-30 cause.. Well I'm (like you) an RVer.
 
If you look at a 30 amp dryer plug and a 30 amp rv plug you will see the groung blades a different and will not let you plug one into the other. 240 is L shaped and 120 is round. Both female outlets have the part # and voltage printed right on the face of the outlet. You can not plug your RV into your dryer plug in your garage. It's the DIY and stupid electricians that don't bother to READ! It's printed on the male side also.

Another misconception in the RV world is the use of the proper voltage. 110 volt used to be the accepted voltage. 115 used to be the accepted voltage. Modern US and Canadian voltage now is 120/240.
 
And they are designed so one cannot be plugged into the other. It's the DIY's and stupid electricians that cause the problems.
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Those particular two receptacles are close enough so that it's not difficult to force the 120v RV 30A male (NEMA TT-30) into the 240v 30A receptacle  (NEMA10-30) used for dryers and welders.  Novice RVers manage to do it fairly regularly!
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Those particular two receptacles are close enough so that it's not difficult to force the 120v RV 30A male (NEMA TT-30) into the 240v 30A receptacle  (NEMA10-30) used for dryers and welders.  Novice RVers manage to do it fairly regularly!
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They are not close enough. Blades are configured differently. You would need a BIG hammer. What you are hearing about is DIY's and stupid electricians putting the wrong female receptacle in for a 30 amp 120-volt circuit.
 
As I said. I have spoken to licensed electricians who looked at a TT-30 and said "240 volts" I corrected them and pointed out the lettering on the unit (125 volts maximum)>

I do not know if someone has used a TT-30 for an air compressor or welder or dryer that needs 240 volts or .. It seems at least ONE 240 volt outlet is very close. but many stories of someone who plugged into his buddy's garage and .. ZZZZZOOOOOOTTTTTT have been posted in this and other forums.

So the advice to check first. use a proper SURGER guard such as an HW 30/50-C (the 30 or 50 depends on your RV's power needs) is good advice.. Cause mistakes are painful.
 
I work at a hardware store, you would be surprised at what some people ask for. They want a adapter that turns the female plug (on an extension cord) into a male plug.
 
cavie said:
Another misconception in the RV world is the use of the proper voltage. 110 volt used to be the accepted voltage. 115 used to be the accepted voltage. Modern US and Canadian voltage now is 120/240.
Click to expand...

Unless the outlet is being fed two legs plus neutral from a three phase Wye service, which is perfectly fine.  Then it's 120/208 volts.
 
Yep, I lernt that 50 years ago. You won't usually find that in a campground setting. Too costly for the power company (takes 3 transformers) and come Newer high dollar MH do in fact use 240 in the coaches.
 
eliallen said:
I work at a hardware store, you would be surprised at what some people ask for. They want a adapter that turns the female plug (on an extension cord) into a male plug.
Click to expand...

You often need that when running electricity the other way.  On the other end you need a adapter that converts a male to a female.
 
Modern dryer outlets are NEMA 14-30. They are 4 wire connectors. No way to push a TT30 in.

Back 40 years ago, dryer outlets were NEMA 10-30. Those were 3 wire. Two hots & a ground with the appliance bonding it?s neutral to the ground inside the appliance. I can imagine someone forcing a TT30 in.

The male end of the 50 amp RV cable is a NEMA 14-50. A 4 wire connector.
 
Wow this post took on a life of it's own. I figured it would've died a natural death by now. I can tell you the location of which outlets had the 200+ volts but not the breakers they were wired into. Aside from breakers labeled furnace, water heater etc... they're labeled zone 1, zone 2, and so on. The electrician that was camped behind the spot I had the problems at said it sounded like a loose or broken neutral to him. While I've repaired many broken neutrals in my life they were visible from the ground as I'm a lineman. I'm still trying to figure out how in the hell I had over 200 volts coming into an outlet that;s supposed to be wired  with 1 leg hot at 120. 1 leg as a neutral. And a ground pin. All I care about is that the stuff that was burned up is fixed and I have a means to prevent this from happening in the future.



Thanks for all the posts guy's


Sam
 
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