Why Does The Fuse To Our RV's Water Heater Keep Blowing Out?

by Anne Beldman
(Florida)

This fuse keeps blowing. We cannot use our hot water ...and wonder if this could have anything to do with the cable to the TV as when we connect to the park the connection gets very hot. We have had a RV electrical specialist here for six hours and he cannot find out what is causing our fuse to blow and our cable connection to get hot (so hot you cannot touch it) We now use a spare cable and bypass the Minnie Winnie which runs out of the passenger door.


Help Please, We are in a remote park and not close to an RV repair shop.

Thank you

Anne Beldman

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

First let me say that I am sorry that you are going through this. The fact that you have had an "RV Electrical Specialist" trying to diagnose this problem for over 6 hours and he/she cannot find the problem concerns me. It may be time to get someone else in to take a look at the problem.

The symptoms you are experiencing can be caused by several conditions. The first step that needs to be taken is to determine if the problem that you are experiencing is being caused by the electricity you are receiving from the RV Park or if the problem is in the electrical system in the RV.

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A properly equipped "RV Technician" can check the electric being supplied to your RV at the park. They should check the electrical connection from the RV Park for proper ground, correct polarity and proper voltage (not too high and not too low).

I would also suggest that they check the cable TV connection at the RV Park to make sure that no high
voltage is being passed through the cable connection. As there is no reason for any Coax cable connected to a TV to get hot unless it is receiving high voltage. By the way any of the electrical problems mentioned above could also potentially cause your TV to pass voltage to the Coax TV cable.

If all of the testing on the RV parks electrical system proves to be normal then we can safely assume that the problem is in the electrical system of your Motorhome.

Having your RV's electrical system thoroughly tested may require a trip to an RV repair facility where they have ready access to the tools and equipment needed to diagnose and repair the problem.

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My best guess is if this is the first time that you are experiencing this problem that the problem is going to be in the RV Parks electrical system. Before you go to the expense of getting another technician out there, I would suggest that you move to another RV space and see if that eliminates the problem.

I wish I could be more helpful, but I am at a disadvantage not being able to actually be there to run the tests myself.

I hope that the information I have provided is useful

Do you have any suggestions or comments on this topic? You can add them to this page by clicking on the "Click Here To Post Comments" link located near the bottom of this page.

Happy RVing

RVing Al

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Comments for Why Does The Fuse To Our RV's Water Heater Keep Blowing Out?

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Rating
starstarstar 		Fuses for gas water heater. Has Elctric igniter.
by: Anonymous

We just used our new camper for the 2nd time and we had no hot water (we were at a Michigan State campground near our home). We found that the #2 fuse was blown, but every time we put a new fuse in, it would blow again. Everything else was running just fine. Can any body help with this problem?
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Get a voltage regulator/surgeprotector
by: Anonymous

We were advised by a long time full time RVer that some RV parks, especially in the USA are not properly wired and can cause damge by high and low voltage and surges. He recommended installing a proper voltage regulator/surge protector between our RV's precious electrical system and stranger's electrical source.

We have only had trouble three times. Twice it was in small private USA RV parks and the problems indicated were voltage too high, too low or aberrant surges or some combination. At one of these places the plug became so hot we couldn't touch it. The third time a lightening strike knocked out the electrical systems on several RVs in our park including the ones on either side of us, and fried two televisions and a computer, but we were unharmed. It cost us nearly $400 to purchase and install our voltage regulator/surge protector but I feel it has paid for itself many times over.

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