Lost power to some receptacles briefly

[tcfdgib]

I am a newbie to this forum so hopefully I am posting correctly. I recently purchased a used 2001 32 RLTS FW. When we use shore power we run off a 3500W portable generator. Everything was working when suddenly while Mrs. was blow drying her hair we lost power to some receptacles, namely on bedroom wall and for living room tv. I checked and reset all breakers, pulled the receptacles and checked for loose wires and found nothing. The bathroom sink and outside receptacles are labeled as GFCI but they appear to be regular receptacles, possibly switched out by previous owner? (no reset button). They both had power. I swapped the leads between the water heater and the receptacle breakers and the heater still worked. After a couple days of messing around with VOM and flipping breakers I found the receptacles had power again but I have no idea why. I did pull a broken ground pin out of the tv receptacle? I fear a loose wire connection somewhere that could cause a fire. Any suggestions? I have a good VOM and I'm generally "as handy as a pocket on a shirt".

[mike837go]

Just a suggestion that there is 1 GFCI receptacle that several others are slaved off of.


In your search for a cause, you reset "an unrelated" device without mentally connecting it to your problem.

[tcfdgib]

Well that was my original thought, I went looking for every receptacle and only found the 2 marked as GFCI but they were regular receptacles. Again the trailer is new to me and I suspect the previous owner replaced the GFCI receptacles with regular ones because he was having electrical problems. I'll keep an eye on things and see if it happens again....if it does I'll hear about it "cause Momma won't be able to blow dry her hair!...thanks for replying.

[tnchuck100]

Originally Posted by tcfdgib

Well that was my original thought, I went looking for every receptacle and only found the 2 marked as GFCI but they were regular receptacles. Again the trailer is new to me and I suspect the previous owner replaced the GFCI receptacles with regular ones because he was having electrical problems. I'll keep an eye on things and see if it happens again....if it does I'll hear about it "cause Momma won't be able to blow dry her hair!...thanks for replying.

I just wanted to make sure you are understanding correctly. I think you missed what Mike was trying to tell you.

The receptacles that you found marked as GFCI but looked like regular receptacles ARE, in fact, regular receptacles. But they are fed from a GFCI receptacle. If the GFCI trips they will loose power.

I hope that clears up your GFCI understanding.

[tcfdgib]

Thanks, I do believe I have the GFCI part figured out. What I have is GFCI circuits that now have not got any GFCI's in them because someone has put regular ones in place. There are no GFCI's on any circuit now. This makes me even more suspicious of a pre-existing electrical issue. Thanks for helping clarify.

[ALJO]

As explained GFCI's are daisy chained.
When someone replaced the main GFCI plug with a regular outlet (Not an good idea) all are classified as a regular outlets on that circuit. In case of overload the breaker will trip and there is no GFCI protection.

Problems with RV outlet installation they just use the wire stick in which can fail under load. The best way is to install the wiring under the available screws.
Many use 1500 watt electric heaters what takes up close to the full amount of a circuit breaker. Don't make shortcuts in your electrical wiring do it the proper way and follow the electrical codes. It doesn't take much to see an RV go up in flames.