OK, do NOT attempt to be the TV "news" expert!!!

[67Dart273]

When you don't know WTF you are talking about. So let's get this straight?

You are just "bright" enough to realize there's a problem, but instead of actually FINDING and actually CORRECTING the problem, you "grounded" it and that will .......................

“I grounded it right here by tying some copper wire to the frame itself and connecting it to a piece of metal that ran into the ground,” said Anderson. “That way this doesn’t happen to anyone again."

But much, MUCH more important is this statement of a backyard genius:

“She was barefoot, that's probably why she grounded out the RV herself,” said Anderson. "

and this................

“She was very lucky it was a 110 and not a 220 volt wire connected to this because if it was a 220, she probably would not have lived through this,” said Anderson.


(For those of you who aren't electrically inclined, don't know, or perhaps overseas, U.S. "220 volt" systems are STILL center tap grounded so that either "hot leg" is only 110V (actually typically 120V) above ground. In other words, it probably originated from 220V service, but this kid is clueless!!!)

http://www.krem.com/video/featured-...from-electrical-shock-from-RV--255248971.html

 

[/6 Matt]

Ok so as an electrically dumb person, shouldnt you

1. Ground the RV
2. Find what appliance inside shorted and fix/replace
3. Find out why the ground circuit in the rv, extension cord and home did not function

In that order?

 

[67Dart273]

That is pretty much it, Matt, but if this kid actually believes that 220 is more dangerous than 110 (to ground) he has a long way to go on "understanding."

"When I was a kid" our old house -- built around 1938 -- had a new well, plumbed up to the house with that black plastic. So there was only a few inches of plumbing into the ground. All the plumbing in the house was essentially insulated. The stove (unknown to us) developed a short and "lit up" all the plumbing. This only became evident because a couple of us got shocked standing outdoors, opening the outdoor faucet

The wiring in the house was old, not third wire ground, and the basement, being wet anytime of rain, had the washer / dryer mounted on a wood elevated platform. The washer / dryer was grounded to the plumbing. No one got shocked, except for the outdoor faucet.

My Dad and I (I was only about 13 at the time) looked things over, bonded the crap out of everything, and added some grounds. All this did !!!! ! ! ! !! was to produce one HELL of a large electric bill !! ! ! ! ! for the next month!!!! So one Saturday I came home to find Dad just putting the range back together. One burner and wiring had caused the trouble.


When I was in Navy ET-A (Electronics technician "A" school) at Treasure Island in one of the horrid WWII wood barracks, some of the guys complained of shocks in one of the showers. I didn't pay much attention, I used the "head" at the other end. One night I had a couple of guests over at the ham club, K6NCG, and "Frankie" was telling my buddy George who was an E-5. Before you could say "Holy multimeter, Batman" We, a Simpson multimeter and the OOD were over at the barracks demonstrating to the OOD that yes, Oh acting Gauwd, there IS 120V AC here from this towel rack hook to this shower head!!!!!

Now the base maintenance folks had been there at least twice, and had bonded the "already bonded" copper shower heads to the "already bonded" shower valves, and bonded all THAT to the drains in the center of the shower. Since all this stuff was already grounded, along with the water in between, this merely served to provide an even MORE excellent ground path "to ground"

In just about 6 minutes, the OOD had the Master at Arms busily installing a hasp and padlock on the door of the shower!!! Next day was a "test day" which meant we got out of school early. THAT THING WAS FIXED!!!!

Turns out what had happened..............these horrid old wood barracks had chicken wire / plaster lath walls, and the chicken wire had contacted a hot wire in a switchbox. You could see where they'd dug into the wall around the box, and plastered it up again.

Pretty interesting, having to "jump off the ground" to hang up or retrieve your towel!!!

 

[TrailBeast]

When I was doing RV repairs at a dealership we had a woman bring her RV in because she said she was getting shocked while doing the dishes with the generator running.

I ended up finding a screw under the edge of the sink cabinet that was screwed directly into the 110 wires under the flooring.
So when she was barefoot and doing the dishes with the generator running and her toes touched that screw head BAM!

I found it by using a multimeter grounded to the faucet and went around touching everything metal with the pos lead of the meter.

 

[64DartGTinAZ]

When I was in Navy ET-A (Electronics technician "A" school) at Treasure Island in one of the horrid WWII wood barracks,

Hey, my Dad and his cousin both stayed in those horrid WWII wood barracks on TI when they were new! ;-)

 

[67 Power Wagon]

Absolutely right you are 67Dart273, The kid has no idea that the line probably was 220.. which is 4 single wires through one common coating/covering, you have your bare "ground" wire, Which is connected to "green" areas, then you have a single white wire, which is your "common" wire, then you have a Black wire which is a "hot" wire, along with a red wire which also is a "hot" wire.........You take both black and red, and connect them and have a single "white" to return and this completes the 220 circuit. So when this lady came in connection with EITHER red, or black, she was conducting 110, as the red is 110 and the black is 110, add them both and that's? YEP 220......The white wire bites too if you come in contact with it but not as nearly bad as the red or black, but will knock ya right on yer ***. As it doesn't car "AMPs" as much as the red and black do...... 1 AMP is deadly.......... 1 volt you won't even feel it unless the surface of you its touching is wet or damp from some sort of water of liquid power conductor.

 

[67Dart273]

......The white wire bites too if you come in contact with it .

Actually the white should be ground the same as the green, but often is not. I once saw some old house I was servicing the neutral was some 50 volts above ground!!!

The neutral can also become ungrounded with problems at the pole / service / meter or from lightning or other damage.

That is likely the root of the problem with this RV. Sounds like they were visiting friends at some old remote farm, likely with older, out of date wiring, or at least outlets in poor condition.

This is the whole problem with the "news." We the pubic never truly learn a thing except to be sensationally scared.

We had a big store out here, a garbage truck hit the service (3 phase) and damaged the neutral, cause the nat. gas piping and electrical conduit to become a giant heating pad, in effect. Anyplace the gas pipe was layed up in the upper crawl space, it blackened the wood joists underneath

 

[cannucky]

all excellent answers except if you look at the picture a little closer the cord looks to light guage to be 220 , love the way it's duct taped into the busted open connection point .

 

[67Dart273]

all excellent answers except if you look at the picture a little closer the cord looks to light guage to be 220 , love the way it's duct taped into the busted open connection point .

You cannot make assumptions about "jerry rigs" LOL

One time, I arrived at a retrofit...........were were adding AC just in time to have one of our guys ask us "Hey Del, is there somethin' wrong with my sawzall?"

Turns out the homeownner had a 240V "window banger" AC had cut the plug off and installed a 120V cap. He had a cord-------just like that orange one--------hard wired up into the fuse panel. This was winter, and the extension was coiled up in the basement. "Our guy" had not smelled a rat with the cord.

The owner was not happy when I told him he could expect to pay for a brand new Milwaukee. These are "bid" jobs. It was obviously up to our boss, but I told him if it were me, it would be added to the bill.

But see, that's not the point. His statement just shows his ignorance. Even if the RV was wired for 240, it would still be 120V 'to ground'

 

[cannucky]

agreed ,lol there's no end to the stupidity in this world .

 

[65cuda360]

What 67dart273 is saying, is that the only way you would get a reading of 240 is between the 2 hot legs. One leg to ground would read 120. It's 2 legs of 120 power together that make it 240. Getting bit by a 240 circuit is no worse than a 120 circuit. BUT 480 sucks!