Answered Tiny Electric Shock

[forty_caliber]

Last night I walked out to the RV barefoot to put some Amazon freight in the RV. When exiting the vehicle, I got a tiny shock from a screw in the door frame. Just a little tingle, not a ride in ol' sparky. The RV is connected to shore power. It may have been there all along and I just didn't notice because shoes kept me from being grounded.

What causes this sort of thing and more importantly, how can I fix it.? Alternatively, do I just need to ignore it?

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[GTS225]

You say you were exiting the vehicle, so first, some detailed questions; At the moment you got the tingle, had your feet come in contact with the ground, or were you still in the RV, or on the steps.
(Grounding being the important part here.)
What I'm getting at is, could it have been a static buildup off the carpet, and you grounded yourself on that doorframe screw, discharging the static, or........was it a discharge when you contacted the ground outside? The doorframe should be grounded through the framework of the RV, and then through the ground conductor in your shore power cord. If it was a static discharge, it should have happened when you touched the doorframe, and not when you grounded yourself in the damp grass outside. This suggests there may be a grounding problem with the RV's electrical system.

In any case, it's not something to be ignored. You do not want to do the "60-cycle shuffle". I've been there, and that dance is painful.

Roger

 

[forty_caliber]

You say you were exiting the vehicle, so first, some detailed questions; At the moment you got the tingle, had your feet come in contact with the ground, or were you still in the RV, or on the steps.
(Grounding being the important part here.)
What I'm getting at is, could it have been a static buildup off the carpet, and you grounded yourself on that doorframe screw, discharging the static, or........was it a discharge when you contacted the ground outside? The doorframe should be grounded through the framework of the RV, and then through the ground conductor in your shore power cord. If it was a static discharge, it should have happened when you touched the doorframe, and not when you grounded yourself in the damp grass outside. This suggests there may be a grounding problem with the RV's electrical system.

In any case, it's not something to be ignored. You do not want to do the "60-cycle shuffle". I've been there, and that dance is painful.

Roger

It's repeatable while standing on the ground. Happens anytime I touch a specific screw. No carpet in the rig at all. Not much in there to build up a static charge.

Right now, I'm using a dogbone to connect to a 110v 15amp outlet. Could easily be a ground fault in the connection. I have an electrician coming to install a proper 110v 30amp TT connection in the next couple of weeks.

After removing the shore cable, the problem does not repeat. So it's definitely related to the shore power connection rather than coach battery.

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[Rich W.]

Probably a bad ground in the shore power system. I’ve experienced that before at a Thousand Trails CG in Florence Oregon. The only other place it happened was at a 300 year old house in NH with inadequate/faulty/obsolete wiring.

 

[GTS225]

It's repeatable while standing on the ground. Happens anytime I touch a specific screw. No carpet in the rig at all. Not much in there to build up a static charge.

Right now, I'm using a dogbone to connect to a 110v 15amp outlet. Could easily be a ground fault in the connection. I have an electrician coming to install a proper 110v 30amp TT connection in the next couple of weeks.

After removing the shore cable, the problem does not repeat. So it's definitely related to the shore power connection rather than coach battery.

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OK. Is there a separate 110 source you can use to energize your ac system? Maybe the on-board generator? (That might not work, as the RV's generator doesn't use the natural earth as a grounding reference, while your household system does.)

I'm thinking about the possibility that this specific screw may have been driven into a hidden electric cable. (Although one would think it would energize the whole door frame.) That may explain why a door frame mounting screw is giving a shock to someone standing on the ground outside, but the condition goes away when the shore power is disconnected.
It may very well be that the grounding isn't adequate through the dogbone, but the shock condition is what concerns me the most

There's a very good reason why the "Grounding" section in the Nat'l Electrical Code is the largest section.

Then too, Rich may be quite correct.

Roger

 

[LMHS]

This is called "Hot Skin". It is dangerous. My husband had to take a fellow camper to the hospital over a "little tingle" that he had been experiencing for a few rainy days. It was the shock that knocked him off his feet that put him in the hospital (which was less than a mile from the campground we were in). Seems someone rewired the pedestal in his site. He kept saying it was just a little tingle, it wasn't anything to worry about. PLEASE read

Hot-Skin Voltage

Never accept feeling a shock from your RV

rvelectricity.substack.com

What causes a hot-skin shock voltage?

Here's the basics of how and why hot-skin voltages happen on an RV...

rvelectricity.substack.com

Hot-Skin Part 2: Troubleshooting

Last month I published Part 1 of RV Hot-Skin testing. Here's Part 2 which takes a deep dive into hot-skin troubleshooting! Please proceed with caution since this can be dangerous….

rvelectricity.substack.com

RVelectricity: Part 4 – Hot-Skin Voltage

Just what is a hot-skin and how do you measure it?

rvelectricity.substack.com

Reflected Hot-Skin Voltage!

Is it the RV's or the campground's fault?

rvelectricity.substack.com

 

[forty_caliber]

This is called "Hot Skin". It is dangerous. My husband had to take a fellow camper to the hospital over a "little tingle" that he had been experiencing for a few rainy days. It was the shock that knocked him off his feet that put him in the hospital (which was less than a mile from the campground we were in). Seems someone rewired the pedestal in his site. He kept saying it was just a little tingle, it wasn't anything to worry about. PLEASE read

Hot-Skin Voltage

Never accept feeling a shock from your RV

rvelectricity.substack.com

What causes a hot-skin shock voltage?

Here's the basics of how and why hot-skin voltages happen on an RV...

rvelectricity.substack.com

Hot-Skin Part 2: Troubleshooting

Last month I published Part 1 of RV Hot-Skin testing. Here's Part 2 which takes a deep dive into hot-skin troubleshooting! Please proceed with caution since this can be dangerous….

rvelectricity.substack.com

RVelectricity: Part 4 – Hot-Skin Voltage

Just what is a hot-skin and how do you measure it?

rvelectricity.substack.com

Reflected Hot-Skin Voltage!

Is it the RV's or the campground's fault?

rvelectricity.substack.com

Wow! Thank you for the detailed response. Pretty much covers what Larry the electrician said when he came by this morning. Currently the RV is unplugged from shore power. A proper TT 30a 120v outlet will be installed this coming Monday. Pretty sure that will take care of the problem.

Our home was built in the 60's and has been through remodels and additions. This plug and few others are original to the house. Looks like another item on the honey do list.

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