# Electrical/GFI problems



## 5th Wheeler (Jul 13, 2011)

I have a 2005 5th Wheel that never encountered any electrical problems. This year when I took it out of storage and plug it into my garage outlet to get it ready for the season (as I have always done), the house GFI circuit blew. Just to be clear, the circuit breaker (CB) in the house did not blow, nor did the GFI on the camper or the camper CB.

I took the following steps:

Removed power
Checked the extension cord and the camper power cord (no problem)
Removed all CB from camper panel
Plugged in the camper power cord to make sure power was going to the panel
Installed the main CB and turned on (no problem, panel was getting power)
Installed CB for air conditioning. When I turned the CB on, the house GFI popped again
Reset GFI
Tried the other 4 CB individually and each time the house GFI blew

Therefore, when any load was applied to the circuit, the GFI would blow. One notable item: I could not reset the GFI by turning off the CB that caused the fault or even the main CB. I had to unplug the camper.

I then plugged the camper into a non-GFI outlet and everything worked fine.

Does anyone have an idea as to why this phenomenon would occur? More importantly, will I have problems if I plug into a campground out that is GFI protected?

Any and all help will be appreciated.

5th Wheeler


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## JoeS (Jun 1, 2011)

My first thought is that since you havent used the 5th wheel since last year I presume. I would say something might had chewed thru or at the wiring somewhere in the 5th wheel cause the added power to blow. Try getting a power surge plug in ( the kind you use for computers and electronics and see if its the camper or house that has the short.


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## 5th Wheeler (Jul 13, 2011)

Joe S you are a genius! I never would have thought of a surge protector. I don’t know why, but it worked. Thank you!!!


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