portable surge guard

[garry snook]

we just bought a 22' bambi sport, and are are buying needed stuff. we have hear about a portable surge guard for use at RV plug ins. are these needed?

[dznf0g]

It's good insurance. Not required, but you risk surges and low or high voltage harming your electricals/electronics. How much risk....much debate over that. Lightning does strike but I got one which guards against low voltage and will shut off if park voltage drops too low. This is more common than large surges.

Whatever you are comfortable with. I didn't use one in my old SOB, but I have many upgrades in my AS and I wanted them protected.

[eubank]

Kind of depends. If your plan is to camp at the level of Carbondale or above, you might want to judge your chances. How often would you camp in heavy AC-use country, where there might be a heavy load on the system from lots and lots of ACs being used? On the other hand, summer storms do produce their share of lightning in high country, but protecting against lightning strike really does require quite the investment. Might be cheaper just to invest in good insurance on a newer rig.

Lynn

[slowmover]

Cheap insurance, IMO. Sort of like a water pressure regulator. May never need it, but if you do . . . .

[rodsterinfl]

I purchased one of these. The benefit is more than surge. It also makes sure that there is ENOUGH voltage or cuts off the power as to not allow brown out situations with your equipment that can actually be worse. By the way catch it on sale. Since March the 30 amp model has gone as low as $200 locally. They have run three sale prices on these and all were quite different prices. Also there are two models out there, the newer one has a screen readout on it. Buy the lock box and a long latch padlock too. They warned me that these are snatched from sites a lot. There is a 50 amp and 30 amp version.

My suggestion is that you buy one. My coworkers are major rv people. Last summer they went out west and ended up burning out there electrical system in a park they swear had faulty wiring. Regardless, they paid the price and now have one of these. You also want an external water regulator - just in case.

[slowmover]

The short version:

Replace the propane lines: No big deal. Replace the water lines (short of a major break when under pressure): tedious, but do-able. Replace the electrical: trailer is now salvage value, uninsurable, in essence.

All of which is fine for an SOB. The build quality/longevity is such that it's always time to buy another one of those.

.

[mefly2]

WE think so! You have no control over folks switching / plugging / unplugging into shared circuits. It is nice to have the peace of mind that the portable surge guards provide. If we had it to do again, we'd opt for the hard-wired version and not worry about theft of the unit. Consider the cost to repair your electronics vs the cost of the surge protector ... some places they electrical box was not even pur on right side up! Then there are always electrical storms ...

[dkottum]

My greatest worry would be low voltage from the campground, and the surge guard would protect you.

As for water pressure regulator it is built into the back side of your city water hookup. Check for Part Number 601392-05, it's stamped on the exterior. You don't need another one.

doug k

[Urbanologist]

Originally Posted by REDNAX

Cheap insurance, IMO. Sort of like a water pressure regulator. May never need it, but if you do . . . .

AS specifically states DO NOT employ the use of pressure regulators on the public water inlet. Please spend time with their User Manual for your unit.

[Wazbro]

Originally Posted by Urbanologist

AS specifically states DO NOT employ the use of pressure regulators on the public water inlet. Please spend time with their User Manual for your unit.

I believe that is only for the Airstreams with built in water regulators. they didn't always come with them (at least I have seen a few without them), not sure when regulators became standard. Also the built in regulator gives no protection to your hose.

[slowmover]

Yeah, one might have a look at threads that concern themselves with WP regulators . . or understand that the comparison was analogous to the damage prevention (hoped for) in the use of these and surge protectors.