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I have now had 3 110 volt items fail, when using them in my class A. First were 2 separate Lasko portable heaters and now a Hunter home air purifier.

I am in a seasonal campsite, shoreline hooked up to 50 amp service and all has been working well. heaters shut off, not in use, tried to use them again and units are dead. Outlet power seems normal, 110 volts, units will not turn on. now same problem has happened with air purifier. Any thoughts??

Other components, such as toaster..phone chargers..nightlights, are operating fine on same outlets.

Baffled!!

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Definitely put a decent surge protector in line . We've never had a problem with burning anything out  . 

You might want to check your heaters and purifier for dust contamination . Dust has shut down our electric heaters more than once , even though we keep a fairly clean rig . Anyway , I just blow the elements out from front and back , unless I get real serious and tear them down to components for thorough cleaning  . 

Goes around , comes around .

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I guess I should have been a bit more precise . Our surge guard also has a low voltage guard incorporated . So , it is more than a simple surge guard . Maybe I was trying to sell a few RV appliances ? Nah . I was just lazy an only told a half truth .  

Goes around , comes around .

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"Surge Guard" is a brand name, so it can be confusing.

When people talk about surge guards, they typically mean a device that checks for over/under pedestal voltages plus a device that checks for electrical faults (no ground, missing neutral, reverse polarity, etc).

Here are the two major surge guard contenders. These devices won't allow over/under voltage and electrical faults into your RV:

In addition, there are autoformers (or voltage regulators) that can "boost" low campground voltage, a problem in many campgrounds especially in the summer when all the ACs are on.

SKP #79313 / Full-Timing / 2001 National RV Sea View / 2008 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon
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Virtually all household electrical devices comply with the standard deviation for U.S. electrical suppliers; 120VAC +/- 10%; outside those parameters, household devices rebel after prolonged use.

 

 

2000 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom USQ40JD, ISC 8.3 Cummins 350, Spartan MM Chassis. USA IN 1SG retired;Good Sam Life member,FMCA ." And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.  John F. Kennedy 20 Jan 1961

 

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1 hour ago, Zulu said:

"Surge Guard" is a brand name, so it can be confusing.

When people talk about surge guards, they typically mean a device that checks for over/under pedestal voltages plus a device that checks for electrical faults (no ground, missing neutral, reverse polarity, etc).

Here are the two major surge guard contenders. These devices won't allow over/under voltage and electrical faults into your RV:

In addition, there are autoformers (or voltage regulators) that can "boost" low campground voltage, a problem in many campgrounds especially in the summer when all the ACs are on.

Sorry , I wasn't aware that Surge Guard was a brand name  . We have a Progressive Industries 50 Amp unit .

Goes around , comes around .

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My experience with the low cost portable heaters is they last about a year.  Have no experience with air purifiers.

 

Lenp

USN Retired
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2024 HD Triglide

 

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Lenp-I don't know where you buy your heaters from but we get ours at HD or Lowes, last forever.

We have not answered the OP's question about his electrical problems. I still think it was a surge but to have it happen that many times is a question.

Any other ideas?

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I have a built-in SurgeGuard with a display panel inside the rig.  While staying at Rainbow's End in Livingston this past winter the SurgeGuard cut off the electrical supply sometimes several times a day.  The display panel indicated low voltage.  I asked staff to check my power post and was told everything there was fine.  A workamper told me the park is very old (I was camped at one of the 30 amp sites in the old section) and that they have "dirty electricity."  I imagine if you don't have some kind of EMS system and are camped for very long in a spot like that, your appliances will surely suffer.

Full-timing and enjoying every minute.

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22 hours ago, Bossgv said:

I have now had 3 110 volt items fail, when using them in my class A. First were 2 separate Lasko portable heaters and now a Hunter home air purifier.

 

If I am understanding what you are saying, it is that these three items have failed while plugged into the same outlet and that other things like a light or a toaster will still work, when connected to that exact outlet?

 

A GFI  protects the circuit and not just the outlet that is contained in the device so be sure that you have pushed the reset button on yours before you go too far. Have you taken the heaters to an outlet outside of the RV and tested them to see if they will then work?  Do you own a volt/ohm meter to get some actual readings or what are you using to check? Normal voltage is 120V, +/- 12V, as mentioned above but a resistance heater should be very forgiving on voltages unless it has some sensitive electronic controls. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

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On ‎5‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 9:40 AM, Bossgv said:

Outlet power seems normal, 110 volts, units will not turn on. now same problem has happened with air purifier. Any thoughts??

Other components, such as toaster..phone chargers..nightlights, are operating fine on same outlets.

WARNING for those who don't like technically complex, informative and educational necessarily longer answers, YOU DONT HAVE TO READ THIS. I try to BOTH "answer" as well as "educate" the poster. As the old proverb goes, "Give a man a fish, feed him a meal, Teach a man how to fish, feed him for life"  Feel free to take it or leave it, to each their own opinions and methods.

Bossgv, let me try to straighten this out and keep it simple and direct. Sure an EMS or a Surge Protector and both are fine but lets look at your specific issue.

1) If the outlet power seems normal as you say??? 110 volts??? and other components such as a toaster (another high current load like the heater) operate "fine" on same outlets as you say,  THE FACT OTHER LOADS OPERATE FINE ON THE SAME OUTLET TELLS ME YOU DO NOT HAVE A GFCI ISSUE NOR IS A GFCI TRIPPED because if you were plugged into one (or a regular outlet that's still GFCI protected as its fed off the LOAD side of an upstream GFCI), and it had tripped (and hadn't been pushed to reset) THERE WOULD BE NO 110 VOLTS AS YOU CLAIM NOR WOULD OTHER DEVICES OPERATE AS YOU CLAIM.

2) So, if the outlet is hot with 110 volts (as you claim)  and a toaster works (as you claim) if plugged there but NOT the heaters or air purifier THE HEATER AND AIR PURIFIER MUST BE BAD orrrrrrrrrrrrrrr there's  a faulty loose/burned/resistive connection upstream causing an I x R voltage drop and the device has some sort of low voltage protection built in that shuts it down if it senses a low voltage condition (doubt it just saying).  Still, if a high current load like a toaster actually works  "FINE"  ???? on the same circuit and outlet, and IS NOT causing a drastic voltage drop ????? that leads one to believe there's no tripped GFCI or serious circuit problem. 

3) To verify if they are at fault and NOT the RV circuitry or any GFCI fault, take them elsewhere and plug to a known good hot 110 VAC source and see if they work there ??? If still not they must be bad, but if they work elsewhere you have a circuit problem or a faulty outlet. Still if the outlet has 110 volts and other devices work there there's no tripped GFCI cuz if tripped it kills the power.

4) OTHER POSIBILITIES (expansion to the above)  if the circuit that feeds the outlet has a loose/burned/resistive connection that can cause an I x R Voltage Drop which could still measure fine 110 volts when no load is applied, but a high current load like a heater would lower the voltage (I x R drop at the bad connection) so maybe it drops below the low threshold and kicks off or fails to work or trips some sort of a protective device (doubt it just saying) ????  To test for that you need to actually measure the voltage UNDER A LOAD (try that toaster running and measure outlet voltage????)  but if the load like the heaters have a protective device or don't engage if they sense low voltage (doubt it just saying), you cant measure voltage under load since no load stays applied IE again try the toaster and measure voltage.....  

NOTE and FYI,  a GFCI monitors loads plugged into it orrrrrrrrrrr if it serves a downstream outlet fed off its LOAD side terminal, then in that case YES it monitors the "downstream" circuit and loads.

NOTE and FYI: An old style heater consisting of a switch and thermostat BUT NO TOUCH PAD OR SENSITIVE ELECTRONIC CONTROL CIRCUITRY isn't prone so much to moderate low voltage problems or surges or spikes. HOWEVER if a device has sensitive electronic control circuitry NOW THAT IS SENSITIVE TO SPIKES AND SURGES  and an EMS and/or Surge Protector can sure help.

NOTE and FYI, small electronics are NOT the same load as the toaster mentioned above. They don't draw enough current to cause much of a voltage drop UNLIKE the toaster which draws high current and the fact it works fine is crucial in the above analysis.

NOTE and FYI Sure dirty power and surges and spikes at the RV Park Power Pedestal could have damaged the heaters or air purifier rendering them now inoperative even if plugged to good clean power elsewhere, ESPECIALLY if they have sensitive electronic control circuitry. A heater with switch and t stat but no fine sensitive controls is far less prone to dirty power damage 

Hope this helps, I try my best. Best wishes and God Bless

John T   NOT any expert since it been too many years since I practiced engineering and am rusty as an old nail lol

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