30A Receptacle Melted Today

[wmb]

Originally Posted by J. Morgan

Bummer. Diesel?

Sorry for the late reply. It's a gas F150 Ecoboost. As it turned out I got a second opinion from Ford and it was in fact a turbo gasket leak rather than a head gasket. $1000 fix vs a $3500 fix, so I had that going for me...

[wmb]

An update on this, and an FYI to anyone else replacing the Furrion inlet.

I hadn't heard anything back from Airstream on a potential recall situation so I ordered a new inlet from Overtons: https://www.overtons.com/product/det...-Gray&i=311501

It turns out that this model is about 1/2 inch deeper than the inlets fitted to my Flying Cloud 25, so with the rear cap and housing installed it won't fit between the inner and outer skin of the trailer.

I took the opportunity to swap the working front inlet to the rear so that we can at least plugin closer to where the pedestals usually show up at camp sites, but now I need to find a model with a lower profile. We're in the Austin area so we'll stop by the Buda dealership and see if they have any ideas.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by wmb

An update on this, and an FYI to anyone else replacing the Furrion inlet.

I hadn't heard anything back from Airstream on a potential recall situation so I ordered a new inlet from Overtons: https://www.overtons.com/product/det...-Gray&i=311501

It turns out that this model is about 1/2 inch deeper than the inlets fitted to my Flying Cloud 25, so with the rear cap and housing installed it won't fit between the inner and outer skin of the trailer.

I took the opportunity to swap the working front inlet to the rear so that we can at least plugin closer to where the pedestals usually show up at camp sites, but now I need to find a model with a lower profile. We're in the Austin area so we'll stop by the Buda dealership and see if they have any ideas.

Hi

If you are going to order a part in, just order the correct AS part. Colonial or Out of Doors Mart both do quite well at getting parts sent out quickly. AS has been using basically the same part forever and ever on some models. There's nothing really magic about it.

Indeed there likely are other dealers who have a good parts operation. I have bought parts over the counter and through the mail from both of the guys above. It's gone very well each time. I also have ... errr .... had less than good experiences elsewhere.

Bob

[Zil]

This thread is only 3 months old so I guess I can post a few thoughts I had while reading. 8 AWG is listed for 30 amps continuous. The 10 gauge cord is designed to carry 15 amps continuous, but 10 gauge would have no problem with a surge of 50 amps until the breaker opened. If the breaker opened. It would be easy to make an adapter 50A to 30A with a 30 amp cartridge fuse. A fuse 'cause breakers fail. Very often the screws holding the wire to the plug are loose and cause overheating, just as the corrosion will overheat. The female end will also lose spring tension over time with the same results.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Zil

This thread is only 3 months old so I guess I can post a few thoughts I had while reading. 8 AWG is listed for 30 amps continuous. The 10 gauge cord is designed to carry 15 amps continuous, but 10 gauge would have no problem with a surge of 50 amps until the breaker opened. If the breaker opened. It would be easy to make an adapter 50A to 30A with a 30 amp cartridge fuse. A fuse 'cause breakers fail. Very often the screws holding the wire to the plug are loose and cause overheating, just as the corrosion will overheat. The female end will also lose spring tension over time with the same results.

Hi

Ummm..... errrrr .... at least in the US and under the NEC (which is very conservative), 30 amps is fine for number 10 copper wire. For 50 amps you would go to number 8 or number 6 depending on the temperature rating of the insulation. It's rare to see 60C rated insulation so you see a lot of number 8 used.

http://www.usawire-cable.com/pdfs/nec%20ampacities.pdf

In > 50 years of doing this, I've seen fuses fail more often than breakers ....

Bob

[J. Morgan]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi



Ummm..... errrrr .... at least in the US and under the NEC (which is very conservative), 30 amps is fine for number 10 copper wire. For 50 amps you would go to number 8 or number 6 depending on the temperature rating of the insulation. It's rare to see 60C rated insulation so you see a lot of number 8 used.



http://www.usawire-cable.com/pdfs/nec%20ampacities.pdf



In > 50 years of doing this, I've seen fuses fail more often than breakers ....



Bob

Yeah, I almost answered that last night but then I didn’t. It’s my understanding that in not real long runs;

14 ga = 15A
12 ga = 20A
10 ga = 30A
8 ga = 50A

Where I’m parked at a lot of the year I run an 8 ga line 115 feet to plug in my 25’ 10 ga trailer supply for 30 A service. There is very little drop even at high demand. (5% or less)

I had replaced a 10 ga line, that would get me close to a 10% drop on heavy demand.

[Rocinante]

In case anybody is still looking for a replacement 30-amp shore power inlet, this is what we used for both front and rear on our trailer - we preferred this look. No drama, just a quick easy replacement:



https://www.vintagetrailersupply.com...-p/vts-660.htm

[powerwiz]

Originally Posted by SuzyHomemakr

I've been disagreed with (the horror! ) on the use of a circuit breaker as a switch, some would say that it wears out the breaker ahead of its time.

I work on planes for living....pulling a circuit break actually many times is a daily occurrence. Your doing wearing anything out by doing that and they are easily replaced. Our circuit breakers are far more fragile then anything in a Airstream or house as well.

[rmkrum]

I’ll gladly wear out a circuit breaker in the interest of not getting shocked or burning something out while I’m working on electrical or electronic systems.

Circuit breakers are cheap in the greater scheme of things. My life is priceless.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by J. Morgan

Yeah, I almost answered that last night but then I didn’t. It’s my understanding that in not real long runs;

14 ga = 15A
12 ga = 20A
10 ga = 30A
8 ga = 50A

Where I’m parked at a lot of the year I run an 8 ga line 115 feet to plug in my 25’ 10 ga trailer supply for 30 A service. There is very little drop even at high demand. (5% or less)

I had replaced a 10 ga line, that would get me close to a 10% drop on heavy demand.

Hi

Ok, at 115 feet you have a 230 foot round trip. 10 gauge is 1 miili ohms per foot so that's .23 ohms. At 30 amps, you get a 6.9V drop. Compared to 120V, that's 5.7%.

Since you rarely pull 30A, the normal loss will be less than the number above. When something like an AC unit starts, it will pull upwards of 45A for a small chunk of a second. The loss will still likely be under 10%, even in that situation.

All of this *assumes* copper wire. If your cord is actually aluminum (or aluminum plated to look like copper) it will not do as well. You want the copper cable. A *lot* of imported cables are actually copper clad aluminum.

Bob

[J. Morgan]

For several years I used three 35’ 10 gauge RV extension cords to make the trip with no ill affect apart from the ends getting corroded and Elizabeth’s curling iron making my LED lights pulse in response to the Irons pulse modulation temperature control.... (that bugged me)

The cumulative affect made me upgrade as the cords neared the end of their lives.... I want to say that the lowest voltage I saw with the 10 gauge cords was 108 volts...

The copper 8 gauge I replaced the cords with will keep it at about 115 volts under about an 18 amp draw. (If my memory serves).

[ROBERT CROSS]

In the rare occasion that we use CG power, the PT30C gets plugged in first.
I make sure everything in the trailer is off before plugging the AS in...(straight and with authority). 😎
Nothing has burned. 👍

Bob
🇺🇸

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Step one = breaker on the power post get turned off.
Step two = EMS gets plugged in
Step three = Is the EMS off ( = does the breaker actually work on this post )
Step four .... plug the other stuff in. Make sure it's all solidly engaged. Arrange the cords so they don't get yanked out by passing traffic .... have a beer ...

Once it all is fully plugged in, turn on the breaker. Before anything is unplugged, turn off the breaker.

As long as you trust the breaker, the "last on / first off" process is sufficient to keep from frying stuff as you plug / unplug. There are a couple of gotcha's you are protecting against so it's not just the one plug that is an issue.

Bob

[gator.bigfoot]

I'd like to see what you do where the post has no breaker. Go to the camp office and ask them to shut it off and on again?

[OTRA15]

I thought Code required a breaker at each post?

[rmkrum]

Some places, it seems to be , "Code, what code?" And I have often wondered what manner of an animal has made a nest in their wiring...

First off, use a flashlight if needed, and inspect the pedestal receptacles for signs of toasted parts, fried contacts, or just plain obvious hazards. If it looks ugly, it probably will act ugly...don't use it if it is sketchy, as my daughter calls a bad neighborhood. Just get out of that site, try another.

Places like that, the safe thing to do is shut off the main breaker in the Airstream 120 volt breaker panel, plug stuff in using the usual order, and then, after the EMS gives the all-clear, turn on the main breaker inside.

Note that this assumes you either plug the portable EMS directly into the campsite pedestal, or your built-in one is wired BEFORE your main breaker inside the Airstream so it can do it's job before you toss your precious internal electricals into the maelstrom of campground electrical services...

There have been times I just run on batteries on an overnight stop, instead of take the risk of bad power...

[gator.bigfoot]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

I thought Code required a breaker at each post?

I've seen many places here in Canada that don't. Not sure if the US has a standard code for all states? And then if it's actually adhered to.

[rmkrum]

In the US, the main reference is the "National Electric Code" or NEC. Where the fun comes in is that it is a reference document for "local practice", where a municipality can modify the reference NEC to whatever they want to do locally. Its the "local practice" that makes for details that may be different.

So anytime you plan to install new electrical stuff, you have the NEC as a basis, and "local practice" is what you get inspected to.

Also, "local practice" can determine that only licensed professionals can work on stuff, or the homeowner can work on stuff only in their home. This varies wildly, and its always a good idea to check local laws. In some places, you cannot, as a homeowner, even replace a failed outlet...you get to pay a licensed electrician for simple maintenance work.

Add the differences in laws and local practice across any international border, and it gets even more 'interesting'...

My bottom line is to have an EMS/surge protector, and be darn careful what you plug into.

[Rocinante]

We always use a cheap outlet checker first. Frying one of those would only cost a few bucks.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

If you pull up and the post does not have a breaker on a 50A hookup .... move on. Don't risk connecting things hot.

Bob