30 AMP 220 service mistakenly installed and PLUGGED INTO Tab 400 Boondock!!

Simbionic · December 2020

I feel SO VIOLATED....had a master electrician install a new 30 AMP service on the side of my house so I can provide 'shore power' to my Tab 400 Boondock. GREAT!! Only problem is...electrician mistakenly supplied it with 220 V. When it was plugged in, it blew the capacitors and fried the 'lower unit' of my control panel. I dont speak electrical language, so I only determined what actually happened after calling WFCO and speaking to their lead technician, John, who was very helpful. The electrician is going to replace the lower unit.
When it happened we immediately unplugged the cable but damage was done and smoke poured out of the distribution box. Amazingly, everything still works, including all outlets, AC, fridge etc. John told me that it's likely things will work, but maybe not for long. Does anyone else have experience with this problem? (I hope not for your sake)
I'm very open to qualified helpful comments (not about the stupidity of my electrician for not clarifying the appropriate need) about what else might have happened that might be delayed damage. What else could be damaged (ie, connection cable from box to camper??).
Your help is greatly valued if you have any to offer.

ScottG · December 2020

That bites. It's not the first time I've heard of this happening, but unfortunately it's the first time I'm aware of anyone here reporting damage from the mistake.

It's not likely your connection cable would be damaged. Wires themselves only care about amperage, and since your miswired outlet was limited to 30A you would not have exceeded the capability of the power cord without first tripping the breaker in your house panel. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of devices designed for 120V, not 240V. I can't specifically answer your question about downstream damage.

I know you don't want to talk about your electrician's incompetence, but I'm curious exactly what happened since electrical receptacles are configured differently (and usually clearly marked) based upon the type of power they provide. I.e., a 120V/30A RV power cord will not physically mate with a standard 240V/30A receptacle. Did the electrician just wire the right receptacle incorrectly?

Denny16 · December 2020

And if he did wire a RV 120VAC30 Amp receptacle, you can hold him responsible for all damage, especially if you told him this was a 120VAC Service.
You,should consider giving him a bill,mince you get all the damaged sorted and cost added up. Hope everyworks out OK.

Receptacles in the trailer would not get damaged, and the fridge only if it was turned on. The Alde should be carefully checked out also, to make sure it did not get its circuit boards damaged, and check the inside fuses on it also.
Cheers

GibW · December 2020

This happened to us as well. I can’t believe I didn’t clarify to the electrician that it should be 110 not 220. Luckily we have a hardwired Progressive Industries EMS which detected the issue immediately and prevented any damage. Hardwired EMS is worth its weight in gold.

Denny16 · December 2020

The portable EMS would have also alerted you tomthe wrong voltage.
cheers

Fergie · December 2020

There are a couple of discussion threads on this subject about avoiding this situation, however these were without hearing actual cases where it actually happened! The one attached refers to the older one.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/12238/30-amp-service-at-home#latest

The key message here is that just because you hire a licensed electrician to do the work, don't assume that they are familiar with the specialized Marine and RV electrical standards. Unless electricians have had to do this in their business, they may or may not know about this difference in 30 amp outlets. Always present the note I included in my posted comment to them to make sure.

Fergie

Denny16 · December 2020

Yes, but the RV outlet is labeled 120 VAC 30Amp, any electrician should have been able to sort this. The 120VAC 30Amp receptacle is very different from a 220 VAC 30 Amp outlet. I have a good mate that is an electrician, and he said this is a mistake most good electricians would not make.
cheers

Mouseketab · December 2020

When we had a garage built for the T@B, the electrician initially wired our 30 Amp outlet for 220. I provided the outlet. We caught his error, and he fixed it before finishing.

4ncar · December 2020

Unfortunately, the NEC is like the Bible: open to interpretation. The NEC is very clear about outlet types, but, as said previously, if the electrician(master or not) is not familiar with the section on RV’s, 30 amp outlet means 220. The question becomes, how did the two outlet types become mixed up. There in lies the problem, imho.

Simbionic · December 2020

Thanks for all of your comments and observations. If I understand the question about how did this happen....I dont think the electrician ever looked at the receptacle on the camper; he 'assumed' it was 220 and installed a 3 prong 30 amp outlet that had 220 coming to it from 4 breakers (30 each) in the panel in garage. After the system blew and he realized the error, he changed it to 2 breakers of 30 each.
Does that answer your question?
Given the cold temps here in NE FL the past couple of days, I did have a chance to run the Alde for heat in the Tab and it seems fine. I do plan on having all fuses and breakers thoroughly checked by my dealer shortly.
Thank you for all your input and feel free to add more if what I said above tells you something that wasnt clear before!

ScottG · December 2020

Simbionic said:

Thanks for all of your comments and observations. If I understand the question about how did this happen....I dont think the electrician ever looked at the receptacle on the camper; he 'assumed' it was 220 and installed a 3 prong 30 amp outlet that had 220 coming to it from 4 breakers (30 each) in the panel in garage. After the system blew and he realized the error, he changed it to 2 breakers of 30 each.
Does that answer your question?
...

Not exactly. The images below show a 120V/30A RV receptacle (top) and a 240V/30A "standard" receptacle (bottom). If the electrician properly installed the 240V/30A standard version, than the plug on your T@B power cable would NOT even fit into the socket without some sort of custom adapter. The 120V/30A RV version not only looks different but is marked differently on the face. However, that wouldn't prevent it from being hooked up incorrectly by an inattentive electrician.

I'm also suspicions of the breaker configuration you described. Regardless of which outlet was installed, both would require a single 30A breaker. The 120V RV outlet would use a "regular" single pole breaker, while the 240V version would use a wider double pole breaker that might look like two breakers as takes up two places in the panel. Under no normal circumstances would FOUR breakers be needed for this application.

I apologize for (again) for dwelling on the mistake and not really answering your question regarding hidden damage. However, this is apparently a not unheard of problem when even licensed electricians attempt these installations. Any information about where exactly things go wrong might help prevent such mistakes in the future.

If you are interested in more gory details about the differences in receptacles, check out my various comments in this discussion.

tabiphile · December 2020

Too the point of latent damage, electronics will suffer from significantly shortened life when they are exposed to voltage beyond what they are designed for. Case in point, static/ESD is known to cause dramatic reductions of unit life from even a small event during manufacturing. Failures appear as latent problems long after the units are assembled and without attributable cause...one can assume that the same can be true here. Any part of the electronics that was not protected by a fuse is likely to suffer from a shortened life span. It will literally be impossible to predict failure cause if it eventually happens. So...protect yourself by getting the electrician to agree to pay for any future electronics failures. If you can conclude that the electronics were all protected by fuses that did not blow then you probably have little to worry about.

N7SHG_Ham · December 2020

I would replace the entire converter. Any thing that was plugged in would be suspect too, microwave or any other appliances. Thr Alde may have hidden damage, but if it works, then I suppose that is a judgement call, but that is by far the most expensive item in the trailer that could have damage, I think Alde is around $1000 plus labor. Any damage however should be contained to electrical bits.

m_lewis · December 2020

@Simbionic, Something is very wrong with the description of 4 breakers vs 2.
No 240 volt supply needs 4 circuit breakers in one box. I can see the possibility of having both the hot and neutral lines go through a double pole breaker (2 joined at the trip handle), but that would be extremely unusual. I have never seen the neutral wire protected by a circuit breaker or fuse.
If your master electrician wired your outlet with 4 breakers for 240, that in itself is a serious mistake, not to mention the 240 instead of 120 error.
I would never allow that electrician to touch my wires again. You might want to contact your building code inspector for further action.

Tundra57 · December 2020

Replace battery charging unit. Look at anything plugged in to ac power st the time. Check 110v wiring to fuse board from trIler inlet plug.

You can already check anything 12v as your tab batteries will power them. O think the weakest link would be the Alde, so run that on hotwater and heating. Also run it with and without the ac heaters to make sure they didnt fail. Unlikely, but possible.

Get and use a power conditioning module or install one inside.

Good luck

jkjenn · December 2020

This happened when my younger brother had a 30 amp outlet installed at his house by an electrician for me. The Progressive EMS protected the T@b and I had no damage. The EMS has been worth every penny on both my 2015 and 2021 T@bs.

Simbionic · February 2021

Sorry for my late update on this topic and thanks for all of the input. I'm not going to attempt to explain what went wrong technically re fuses, breakers etc. The dealer replaced the converter and checked other wiring. The electrician paid for all of it, no argument. We've used the camper 2-3 times since all this fiasco. Used Alde heater, hot water; used heat pump for heat as well as cooling; used fridge on shore power and battery....everything working fine!...whew!
To the subject of how others might avoid such a *&%$#@ storm...I would make SURE the electrician knows and acknowledges upfront what he's hooking up. I mistakenly ASSUMED he knew. (And I think I'm a good communicator and clarifier!....maybe not so.)

AnOldUR · March 2021

ScottG said:

Not exactly. The images below show a 120V/30A RV receptacle (top) and a 240V/30A "standard" receptacle (bottom) ......

All the RV receptacles I've seen are twist lock. The difference between the 250V and 125V three wire is a smaller slot for the neutral on the 125V. It looks to me like a 125V plug would fit into a 250V receptacle, but not the other way around. Still a bad move on the part of the electrician. He should have noticed the rating on the plug or asked.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/ql/bbpcu9d1fqla.jpg

ScottG · March 2021

The connection to the camper is a twist lock, but the 120V 30A receptacle I showed is what you find on a campground pedestal (and what owners sometimes install at their houses). This configuration fits a standard 120V 30A RV power cord. The connections are standardized and are not necessarily what you would find in non-RV applications.

If there are other arrangements, I've yet to run across them.

Denny16 · March 2021

The three-pin twist receptacle and plug are actually Marine power fittings, and also used in contractors portable power boxes. The TaB has the Marine twist connector on its side, to provide some water resistance to the connection. You can not plug a 120VAC twist lock into a 220/240 AC twist lock, or the other way round. The 120VAC neutral and hot pins are a different size than the 220/240 AC pins, along with the actual diameter being different.

Also the 120VAC 20 and 30 amp plugs are not interchangeable, they are a different overall diameter in the pin arrangement. I tried to put a 20 amp plug into a 30 amp socket, it would not go in.
cheers

4ncar · March 2021

The NEC is a wonderful book...its the interpretation in involvement of humans that buggers it up!

ScottG · March 2021

I agree that the different plug/receptacle configurations--twist lock or otherwise--should NOT be interchangeable. That is by design to prevent exactly the sort of problem reported here. Assuming the OP was using a standard 120V 30A RV power cable without any peculiar adapters, the only way this could have occurred was if the proper receptacle was improperly wired.

Receptacles are unique and are permanently marked with the manner in which they should be wired. I'm not expert on the NEC, but it almost certainly dictates that these standards are adhered to in all new installations. Human interpretation is imperfect, but there is presumably a reason why electricians go through extensive training and licensing, and why they command top dollar in the trades.

People do make mistakes though, and I'm glad in this case their was no major damage or injury and that the electrician owned up and made it right.

jkjenn · March 2021

This happens all too frequently.

A master electrician did the same thing at my younger brother's house. Thankfully, the Progressive EMS did its job and no harm, no foul.

My oldest brother was a lot more careful when he installed a 30 amp for me at his house.

And yes, my brothers are the best. 😁

Denny16 · March 2021

The OP’s issue was not one of plugging into the wrong receptacle, but the electrical wiring a 120VAC receptacle to 220VAC. The plug fit, the wrong voltage was connected to the correct receptacle. Which is why the master electrician paid for the resulting damage.

All power receptacles and cords sold in the US conform to the NEC requirements, including having their voltage and amp rating stamped into them. If in doubt check the rating printed on the receptacle.
cheers

4ncar · March 2021

Denny16 said:

The OP’s issue was not one of plugging into the wrong receptacle, but the electrical wiring a 120VAC receptacle to 220VAC. The plug fit, the wrong voltage was connected to the correct receptacle. Which is why the master electrician paid for the resulting damage.

All power receptacles and cords sold in the US conform to the NEC requirements, including having their voltage and amp rating stamped into them. If in doubt check the rating printed on the receptacle.
cheers

Actually... thanks to UL, all the electrical connectors are labeled for their intended use. I am glad that the Electrician stepped up & paid, but even happier that no one was hurt.

jkjenn · March 2021

Also, the voltage should be marked on the plug. It's tough to read, but it's there.

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30 AMP 220 service mistakenly installed and PLUGGED INTO Tab 400 Boondock!!

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