Electrical system has gone haywire!!!!

The problem does appear to have been a fried electrical element on the water heater. I replaced the element today. The trailer batteries will now accept a charge from the shore power and the shore power is now powering the 12 volt system.

Thanks to everyone for their help and knowledge/advice.

I'm glad you got things fixed! That GFI did exactly what it was supposed to do, and is a textbook case of why they are required by code in many locations.

And this experience gives me one more thing to test at the start of my outings - there should be infinite resistance between the neutral and the ground wires on the RV power cord, when measured with a multimeter.

I will never use the electric element in the w/h again. Propane from now on. The electric is just too problematic and too prone to damage.

Thanks again!

[Bill]

MaxDog posted

I will never use the electric element in the w/h again. Propane from now on. The electric is just too problematic and too prone to damage.

Max Dog -

No, you're just burned out from dealing with this problem. (No humor intended!) Save your propane, use the campground's electrical supply - you've paid for it! The only trick is to make sure you never turn on the electricity to the water heater unless the water heater has water in it - in other words, don't dry-fire it. But the same caution applies to gas operation. So feel free to electron your way to hot water nirvana.

And congratulations on solving it!

By the way, the hot wire in a simple AC circuit is black. The neutral wire is white. The ground wire is either green, or bare copper.

Bill