Having GFCI Trouble... Seeking Advice

[Fiddle Fox]

We have been camping on the beach in coastal S Carolina as the hurricane has been heading up the coast. While there has not been heavy rains we've had a great deal of wind and early saturday morning I heard three seperate beeps. The third got me up thinking the power was off but no the micro wave was still keeping time... so I crawled back into bed. Long story short... the GFCI protected outlets and our fridge stopped working and has been off for a day and a half... we have reset but it keeps tripping. Have been eating the contents of the freezer. We thought we needed to replace the Ground Fault Breaker but an electrician here at the campground said he didn't think that was the problem. When we opened the cover for our outside outlet water poured out. So we've been having at it with the hairdryer. We have a '07 Safari SE that we ordered new and never had this problem before. Any ideas????

Walk Softly

[blkmagikca]

I'd look for the source of the water entry - was it from behind the outlet, such as a water leak coming down the interior wall or from the drain of the roof air conditioner's condensate. Is there evidence that the water make have come in from spray while driving in the rain?

That needs to be determined before you can fix the problem. It will likely require you to dissemble the outlet to determine this.

[Nuvite-F]

Originally Posted by Fiddle Fox

Long story short... the GFCI protected outlets and our fridge stopped working and has been off for a day and a half... we have reset but it keeps tripping. Have been eating the contents of the freezer.

Well, a couple of ideas. You might taste the water in the outside outlet box. If it's salty (as in wind-driven sea spray) you will need to wash it out with fresh water--making sure to turn off the power first!--before you dry it permanently. Salt water in your electrics (or anywhere in your aluminum trailer) is Bad News.

Second, our refrigerator, like most of them, will work on gas as long as it has 12 Volts for the control board. If your refrigerator won't work on gas you may have gotten salt water in the outside refrigerator compartment as well.

Good luck.
.

[Fiddle Fox]

Thanks for the help.

After blow drying the exterior outlet our GFCI switch stopped tripping. The wet was rain water (40mph gusts). Our fridge does not work on LP when the GFCI is tripped.

We sealed around the exterior electrical cover (it appeared loose) and are hoping that will avoid further issues.

Walk softly