Why Does My RV Keep Tripping GFCI Electrical Outlets?

by Anonymous

I have a 2003 Flagstaff 23 fbs trailer

All electrical appliances are turned off.

Plug into house electrical outlet and trips house GFCI. Works fine when plugged into campground outlet. I read somewhere that the problem is trailer electrical ground.

Where is the ground? On the tongue, electrical box? Camperland want mucho dollars just to diagnose problem.

ANSWER: Greetings thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

You are correct in stating that a bad ground or even reversed polarity in your travel trailer could be tripping the GFCI Receptacle. GFCI Receptacles look like normal 15/20 amp plugs except that they have a built in circuit breaker. The GFCI plugs are very sensitive to bad grounds and reverse polarity in electrical systems. They will blow when a normal circuit breaker will not.

First I normally do not recommend that a do-it-yourselfer mess with the 120 volt electrical system of an RV. However, in these economic times it has become apparent that a lot of RVers want to tackle these problems themselves, so I am going to give you some suggestions on what you need to properly diagnose and possibly repair your trailer's electrical problems. These are the two items I recommend you get.

1. The first item you are going to need is a Greenlee Polarity Tester Cube. You can plug this simple tool into your RV electrical outlets and it will let you know with easy to read light sequences; whether the circuit you are testing has a bad ground or a polarity problem.

You want to use this to check all

of the outlets in your Travel Trailer, so you can isolate the problem circuits in your travel trailer. This tester can also be used to test GFCI outlets for proper operation.

2. Since I cannot tell you exactly where the ground is on your Travel Trailer and you still want to repair the problem yourself, I am going to recommend that you get a copy of the book RV Electrical Systems: A Basic Guide to Troubleshooting, Repairing and Improvement by Bill Moeller. This book is very well written and covers the following topics:

* How to troubleshoot electrical problems of all types.
* How to recognize and correct dangerous wiring practices.
* How to safely use a campground hookup.
* How to increase battery charging efficiency.
* How to take the pulse of your AC and DC electrical systems.
* How to upgrade your RV from fuses to circuit breakers.
* How to calculate your electrical needs and upgrade your system to meet them.
* How to select the most effective components--batteries, alternator, regulator, coverter, charger, generator, solar panels.
* How to recognize phantom electrical loads that can drain your batteries.

In order for this book to be effective you should have knowledge of basic hand tools and the skill to use them.

This is probably the most cost effective way of diagnosing and possibly repairing your Travel Trailer's electrical problems. Let me reemphasize however; that if you get into the situation where you don't feel comfortable in repairing this problem yourself; that you spend the money to have it diagnosed and repaired by a qualified RV Technician.

Happy RVing

RVing Al

Comments for Why Does My RV Keep Tripping GFCI Electrical Outlets?

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Bad Water Heating Element
by: Darrell

The 30 AMP breaker at our campsite kept tripping so I used an adapter to plug into the GFCI-protected 20 AMP outlet. The GFCI kept tripping unless I left some combination of camper breakers off.

I thought the problem was with the campsite breakers since all works okay at home when plugged into my non-GFCI protected 30 AMP outlet. However, when I plugged into my 20 AMP GFCI outlet, the GFCI tripped at home too.

Turns out, the black (hot) wire connected to the heating element had to be disconnected too since that element was shorted to the chassis. I replaced the element, and now the GFCI does not trip when the trailer is plugged into that outlet. Thanks for the comments fellow campers. Darrell

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Thanks! It was the water heater!
by: Tony D

Thank you so much for this post and all the comments! Mine was also the water heater element. It was turned on by accident. I followed the comment on this thread, and it worked again!

To sum it up, I turned off the breaker to the water heater and the GFCI worked again (water a few attempts). I went into the heater, removed the cover for the element, then removed the white wire and taped it off.

This video helped a newbie like me out:
https://youtu.be/wBwrOO1h_E0

I ordered:
New heater element:
(Camco 03742/03743 1500W 120V Flat Flange Water Heater Element - High Watt Density https://a.co/d/dem9Qcc)

Element wrench hex socket:
(Podoy 6" RV Water Heater Element Wrench Hex Socket Wrench Removal Tool Tube Spanner 1-1/16" x 1-1/2" x 6" Length https://a.co/d/8Kaq3jY), since the other end will remove the cathode Rod.

Anyway, thanks for the help everyone!

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Thank you so much it was the waterheater
by: Jim

Thank you so much it was the water heater. The previous owner told me he turned on the water heater with no water in it, and burned up the heating element. I didn't put 2 and 2 together until a poster mentioned it. Actually it makes sense. if the element burns up, it should short to ground, so that you are not putting electricity in your water!

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Fixed
by: Dennis

Last person to comment was correct. My situation exactly. Checked all of the inside and outside ac with a plug in 3 lite tester. All was good. Disconnected the white wire to the heating element with trailer not plugged in. Taped up the white wire, plugged the trailer back into the GFCI and all was good. May change the element and have the option to do electric only but is it worth bothering about as none of my other rv/trailers have had that option. cheers!

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GFI tripping
by: Anonymous

GFI all of a sudden tripping as well. Nothing has changed been plugged in and living for months... I have only gas hot water heater. Any thoughts?

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Vintage 68 Scotty tried everything
by: Ann

I have a 1968 Serro Scotty. I tried connecting it to my house ( house has all new wiring in 2016). No matter which outlet I plug in at the house (gfci or not) the electrical won’t work. I do not have a water heater. The electrical DID work, however, when we plugged it into an outlet on a pickup truck.

I called the former owner who says she had a similar problem and that it has to do with the gfci compatibility. She said she bought one of those marine extension connectors for the heavy duty extension cord and that fixed it.

Those connectors have plugs similar to the old stove/fridge 3 prong round plugs. I don’t have an outlet that accepts that. Any other ideas?

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GFCI solutions
by: Pistol Packin' Gypsy

I am currently getting my 2001 Terry Fleetwood set up to do some extended travel. Recently I have had issues with GFCI breaker tripping while running 1500 watt electric heater to warm it up so I can organize and prep for my future plans.
Thank you everyone who have commented with tips and suggestions to troubleshoot the problem. When we get above freezing here in Colorado I will definitely use the advice given here!

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tony the electrician
by: Anonymous

tony you are 100% correct I have been working on rv.s for 20 plus years and 90% of the time a gfi problem arises it's almost always due to a burned out water heater heating element. mostly due to someone turning the heating element on with no water in the tank. if a trailer or motor home suddenly is not able to accept power from a gfci circuit always go to the heating element first. It will save you a lot of time and $.....

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Thank you!!!!!!!
by: Anonymous

Thanks to the person saying the white wire on the electric water heater element! I knew mine was burned out from previous owner. Just disconnected it and seems to fix the GFCI breaker issue when connecting to base.

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Found my problem
by: Anonymous

I have a 2015 keystone hideout 5th wheel and after reading the comments tonight I went and found when they wired the 30 amp cord into the junction box they tied the ground to the neutral instead of the ground. I'm guessing because they used a white pig tail instead of green in the bottom of the metal box so they tied the whites together.

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Temporary Fix
by: Airstream Owner

My old Airstream has this problem. Works fine on non GFI outlets, and the 30A 240v trailer plug, but instantly trips GFI breakers. If you have no other choice and need to use a GFI outlet, then remove the GFI outlet and switch the LINE/LOAD connections which will disable the GFI portion of the outlet and give you power. If you don't know what I am talking about regarding LINE/LOAD then you should not attempt to do this.

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Why Does My RV Keep Tripping GFCI Electrical Outlets?
by: Anonymous

The suggestion is to remove the white wire that goes to the Hot Water Heater. I have no white wire. I've got 3 wires together: blue, red and black. Where is the part that should be replaced?

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Tripping GFCI
by: Jim Hoffman

Oh my gosh, I have been trying so many fixes to this with no luck. I grabbed my computer entered the above title and it brought me to your article. I unhooked the white wire on my water heater and it did the trick. My local rv dealer will be so pleased with the solution as he had no ideas. Thank you for the helpful posting!

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Amps
by: Nancy

Can you use regular breakers from Lowe's for a travel trailer?

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From an electrician
by: Anonymous

Take note of these few things to help narrow your problem. A gfi can not be plugged into a gfi, in other words your bathroom gfi receptacle will trip the house gfi. So turn that breaker on the trailer off. Next a bad ground will not trip a gfi, either the line(hot/black) or neutral(white) must be touching ground, line and load are reversed on the gfi(these will be labeled on the back, caution when checking), you are doubling up on your gfi as stated above, or your gfi is done. To isolate the issue turn all breakers in your trailer off, plug in to the house gfi and then turn the breakers on one at a time. When you turn on the troube causing circuit the gfi will trip. You will quickly isolate the circuit with the issue. This is not a "ends all" but it will help you find 99% of problems quickly. After you find the issue some experiernce using a meter to ohm out grounding issues and reveresed wiring is needed, never ohm out live lines.

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Why Does My RV Keep Tripping GFCI Electrical Outlets?
by: Anonymous

I had this problem 2 years ago...I have a GFCI outlet on the carport at home...pluged in the first warm Spring day and the GFCI tripped...decided to change the outlet with a new one...it tripped again.

It could be the camper at the camp ground didn't trip because most are not GFCI...Moisture in the 30 amp feed cable will cause the GFCI to trip at home. This is what caused my problem...We lay our RV cable on the ground and in the mud and rain every weekend for 8 to 10 years...the protective insulation cover begins to dry out and it starts to get small fine cracks in it...before you know it...the moisture attacks the wires inside.

Moisture had worked it's way into the white ground wire...I stripped all the outside cover off and found a burn spot on the white neutral wire. Replaced the RV 30 amp cable with a new one...problem solved. I learned it pays to keep our RV's inspected.

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Travel Trailer Trips GFCI Source
by: Tony The Electrician

If it was working before and suddenly started tripping a GFCI source, and if everything is fine when you are not on a GFCI source, it is most likely the electric element in your water heater.
An easy check is to see if you can make hot water with the gas off.

When water heater elements fail, they cause a neutral fault to ground wether they are in use or not. Turning them off at the switch or breaker changes nothing because the problem is a correctly sensed neutral to ground fault, not a voltage or load fault. This is the primary purpose of a GFCI device, to detect said faults. Remove the white wire from your water heating element and tape it off. Now try plugging into a GFCI source. If electrical system now works, go buy a new heater element, and a new heater tank cathode and change them (flush the crap out of the tank too).

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