Living In My Car

9 Comments

1. Paul Small
   Posted January 16, 2011 at 8:51 pm | Permalink

   Hi Jennifer. It appears that your receptacle is “backwired”. This is something I never do in my home and I would never do in my RV. Backwiring is fast and legal but is subject to vibration which our RV’s are doing all the time. Please check ever switch and receptacle in your rig and sidewire it. In other works use the screws on the side of the device. You were very lucky. Paul

2. A.S.
   Posted January 17, 2011 at 5:40 pm | Permalink

   i admit i also prefer side wiring – i like to wrap electrical tape around the exposed leads as well, just an extra layer of security against a spark and/or shock – though i doubt that’s the culprit… i see an overload of some sort, though strange it did not trip the gfci built in to that receptacle. maybe plugging that tester into the gfci prevented it from working the way it should? i’d double check that. glad you were there to make sure it didn’t get out of control, maybe having two extinguishers is a good idea?

3. Dan Martin
   Posted January 17, 2011 at 11:22 pm | Permalink

   What you know is that there was a short. That’s what tripped the breaker the first time, and it’s what caused enough heat to start a fire. The short probably existed on the back of the outlet receptacle in the area where there is the most melting. Maybe the resistance of the short was low enough to create a dangerous amount of heat, but just low enough to prevent tripping the breaker (the second time). Of course, that should never happen, but as we know things don’t always work the way they should. I’m guessing you had at least two different simultaneous electrical malfunctions, along with the extinguisher malfunction. Very lucky things worked out the way they did!

4. Gary
   Posted January 19, 2011 at 4:05 pm | Permalink

   Jennifer,

   That was the result of a direct (HARD) short.

   For the record, the back wiring was NOT the issue.

   You need a multimemter, better yet, an electrician.

   A tone and probe would help trace the circuit inside the walls on the unenergized circuit. You definately have an SERIOUS fire hazard. It could be that you drove a screw or nail between the conductors hanging something on the wall or you have a bad defective breaker or the wrong size breaker for that circuit.

   For your safety, turn off the breaker to that circuit until you can get a qualified electrician to diagnose and repair the problem.

   Please buy a new fire extinguisher as soon as possible. I recommend a Kidde Dry Chemical extinguisher (make sure it says ABC on the label). Buy two keep one in your bunk and the other in the cab. It could save your life and give you enough time to get out the window. Get an electrician in there as fast as possible.

5. Gary
   Posted January 19, 2011 at 4:14 pm | Permalink

   Jennifer,

   In the photo of the receptacle, it looks as though the ground wire is disconnected. It also appears that it is bent in a loop as though it was at one time secured under the Ground (green colored) screw. Did you disconnect the ground wire or was that how you found it when you removed it from the box? If it wasn’t grounded and you had a short that is why you had the fire. I don’t recall but, did the breaker trip when this happened?

6. Jennifer
   Posted January 19, 2011 at 6:47 pm | Permalink

   I didn’t make any changes, just unscrewed it from the wall and pulled it out. (Not sure if my pulling it from the wall disconnected it?)

   The breaker tripped the week before, and I reset it. It didn’t trip with the fire (so maybe needs to be replaced?)

   I haven’t connected to any 120 since this fire (shore or generator).

   Jennifer

7. phil
   Posted January 20, 2011 at 7:37 pm | Permalink

   Your fire was caused by the manufacturer taking the shortcut when wiring your coach. Instead of wrapping the copper wire on the side screw and and making a good screw down connection they chose to use the push in connection on the back. Picture touching your 2 index fingernails together and then pushing the wire between them, not much of any surface connection. You had no problem small draw items like a pc or phone adapter, but when you plug in the big draw like a coffee maker or electric heater there is not enough contact area thus causing arcing and heating.
   Big issue now is how far back the wire insulation is burnt, hopefully the wire in the walls are ok.
   I suggest you have each receptacle wired to the screw terminals.

   The other thing to realize is that each electrical circuit begins at the circuit breaker and then is wired in a series circuit going to the first receptacle thru the next all the way to the end one.
   So the electrical draw is thru each and every receptacle from where you plug in to the circuit
   breaker. What this means is that if the coffee maker is in the last receptacle on the circuit and a receptacle in the center of the circuit has a bad mechanical connection the fire would be there even tho nothing is plugged into it. A way to test them is when you have a large draw ietm is to touch the other receptacles to see if they are warm to hot, they should be room temp. A hot receptacle needs to be looked at by an electrician.
   Having a qualified person do the repairs will give you the peace of mind you need. Breakers are cheap, replace it if they can not test the old one.

8. jay
   Posted January 22, 2011 at 10:38 am | Permalink

   is it common to have solid conductors in an RV? automotive wiring is all stranded to absorb road vibration.

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   Posted June 8, 2013 at 1:35 pm | Permalink

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