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Old 10-23-2012, 10:03 AM   #1
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Electric box wired wrong

] I recently bought a Melbourne and had an electric company come and put a 30 amp service box in my driveway to hook up to. This involved hiring an electrical contractor, paying a county Inspector to inspect the work then notifying the power company for service. Long story - short, when I plugged in to it, and then went into the RV, I had no electricity. I returned to the pole and saw the 100 amp main and the 30 amp service breakers were thrown. I reset them and went back into the RV. Still no electricity so I looked at the motor home circuit breakers. Two were thrown and would not stay on.

The next day I learned from the electrical contractor that "they" had wired the service for 240 VAC, instead of 120 VAC. Since we had a planned camping trip that weekend, I had my wife take the RV to the dealer. The tests revealed that the converter was blown and after testing all other electrical circuits and equipment, it seemed we may have been lucky. I paid the RV Dealer $657.00 and went camping for my week's vacation.

While camping I was using the electric heat and had the wall switch/thermostat on electric heat. It worked good for a while but then the roof Heat/air conditioner started blowing cold air. Then without throwing the switch, the propane gas heat came on. Both were running, one blowing cold air, the gas blowing hot heat. Does anyone know if this wall mounted thermostat/switch is tied to the converter power supply which could now be damaged from the "double-voltage-surge"?

A second problem that seems to be either coincidental or developing from something else is the battery that had kept a charge for weeks now seems to be discharging over a couple of days. That, to me, leads me to believe something is now shorted. Any ideas what additional damaged areas I need to have checked. With the RV Dealer charging $150 an hour, long-term troubleshooting without knowing if I can recoup my money back is bothersome. I'm sure this has not happened to any other but knowing wiring component areas may help me in deciding if I should take it back to the RV Dealer and notify the electric company that this isn't over. I presently have it winterized waiting for next season. But I don't want to wait until next year to find out there was more damage than what I was told there is.
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Old 10-23-2012, 11:41 AM   #2
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Sounds like the Inspector dropped the ball and the Electrical Contractor is liable for damages.ImHO
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Old 10-23-2012, 01:24 PM   #3
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I agree. This is a contracted job. The contractor IS liable for all damages his lack of competence has caused. You may have to take him to small claims court. Name the inspector as a defendant as a well. You had to pay for his service and he failed. You have an excellent case here.
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Old 10-23-2012, 03:46 PM   #4
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Wow...I am sorry that they botched the job so bad. Has the contractor and or the inspector told you what they will do to make up for it? Good luck.
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Old 10-24-2012, 05:18 AM   #5
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The Electrical contractor said "Just pay the difference in the bill," when I called and told him what the RV Dealer said the cost was. I replied, 'I don't think so." But he sent the bill to me anyway which would be an additional $40.00 (@ $700.00). The Inspector has not been brought into the "picture" so far, although I doubt I can reclaim his $65.00 fee. It is my thinking now that I need to take it back to the Dealer just to be sure there is no unforeseeable additional damage done and then work to recoup the money for the costs to determine damage from the Electrical contractor. Here is the answer I got back from Jayco:
We at Jayco are truly sorry to hear about what happened to your unit.
I will try and answer your questions.
The way that we wire your unit is that the transfer switch takes the incoming power from either the land line or the generator and then the wiring is the same
throughout the unit. This was we do not duplicate any 120 volt A/C wiring. After the power goes through the transfer switch it goes to the converter. This
converter will take the incoming 120 volt A/C power and convert it to 12 volt dc power. This 12 volt DC power then goes to the fuse block and gets distributed
throughout the unit. Even thou your roof air conditioner works off 120 volt a/c power the control board and the thermostat run off 12 volt dc. To replace a
converter normally takes 1 hour, as for the price of new converter we would have to refer you to your dealer as we do not sell to retail owner's.
As for your heat pump cutting off at 34 degrees, that is normal. The heat pump should have cut off when the furnace started to run, so there may be an issue
there.
In recap, the unit needs 12 volt dc power to operate the heat pump, refer, water pump, furnace, all the lights except the one in the microwave, bath fan.
This brings up a point, if you had any appliance on when this happened they would have also gotten the extra surge of power into them. this would include
the following items- 120 volt heating element in the refer, 120 volt element in the water heater, the receiver and satellite dish and the microwave.
The best thing to do is have the local dealer look at the motorhome and they will be better to tell you what if anything else happened to your unit.
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Old 10-24-2012, 08:00 AM   #6
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Find out who the owner of the electrical company is and call/visit him personally. He wont like word of this incident getting out and I bet he will do whatever he needs to do to make it right. The company has insurance for this kind of thing and I wouldn't take anything less than TOTAL payment for replacement/repair of everything they ruined. Jump up and down, pound your hands on desk, cry, whatever it takes. DO NOT take it in the shorts for this. Sorry this happened.
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Old 10-24-2012, 09:30 AM   #7
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I am leaning on the electrical contractor. Should have been CLEAR what they were doing before work started.
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Old 10-24-2012, 11:28 AM   #8
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I've dealt with boats that have taken lightning hits, and although it may not be immediately evident, electrical/electronic components can be weakened by a hit and still function for months before they finally fail. The usual course of action in these circumstances is to replace everything electrical/electronic. Marine insurers and surveyors are on board with this, but it probably varies from the RV industry.
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Old 10-24-2012, 06:12 PM   #9
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If they wired a 115v RV outlet with 240 they are liable. Period. All damages.
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