Turning off breaker is dangerous?

[Richpatty]

I am glad I am not the only one who thinks this is odd. DW and I stood there for several seconds wondering if we were reading it wrong…

 

[Neal]

So let’s talk about arcing for a moment. When do you see arcing (spark) with plugs? When plugging in or removing a plug? Me? Always when plugging in. Never when removing that I can recall. And this is with 120V outlets. Breaker is off for me when dealing with the RV 50A.

 

[rvkev]

My procedure:

1. Open box and make sure the last person turned off all the circuits.
2. Make both the connections at the box and camper.
3. Turn on only the circuits that you are plugged into.
4.. Enjoy your stay

 

[GTS225]

So let’s talk about arcing for a moment. When do you see arcing (spark) with plugs? When plugging in or removing a plug? Me? Always when plugging in. Never when removing that I can recall. And this is with 120V outlets. Breaker is off for me when dealing with the RV 50A.

Actually, there's arcing at both moments.....you just may not see it.
Newton's law states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted on by outside forces. This applies to electrons in motion as well. If there's a load ready at the moment of contact in the plug/outlet interface, there'll be arcing, and the same goes if there's a load of any type at the moment of disengaging the plug/outlet interface. Even if that load is just the digital readout of your microwave, or the always ready convertor. The only practical way I can see to eliminate those small loads is to have a main breaker in the camper turned off. Even then, there's no guarantee something wasn't done to your unit before you got it, or there's a load not controlled by the main.

Just my 2-pence.....Roger

 

[GypsyR]

I have a 50 amp hookup at home where the RV lives and it stays plugged into it 24/7. One day when getting ready to leave I forgot to turn of the breaker before unplugging. I don't recall what I might have had running in the coach but there was an arc big enough to make me jump back. After that I was ALWAYS sure to turn off the breaker before connecting or disconnecting and that's what I do at campgrounds too. Period. Arcs like that are not healthy.

 

[Neal]

I've spent minutes hours days vetting the community to find the most knowledgeable electrician in the community to perform a test of arcing both insert and withdrawing a precise measuring device for a very important analytical purpose the entire RV community depends on. It seems the person to perform this test is clear, based on this post, and we are all eager for the results and video of course. Clodzapper - you are the man for the job!

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

My experience (when not turning off the breaker)
- when plugging in I have never seen an arc or heard anything. This is because the power transfer switch in the rig does not transfer full power to the shore until a few seconds after plugging in the rig
- when unplugging I have never seen an arc as we always turn off all 120v items before unplugging from shore power (ac, floor heat, water heater, microwave, etc)
At home base we do NOT use the breaker for killing power but we do use a double pole switch that are designed to handle switching on / off.

 

[team bradfield]

we found some campgrounds out west had similar signage, they want you to leave the breakers on to keep the spigots from freezing (wrapped and plugged in) we always make sure to turn them back on after unplugging, they are on the 20amp circuit but I guess some turn them all off out of habit?

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

I've spent minutes hours days vetting the community to find the most knowledgeable electrician in the community to perform a test of arcing both insert and withdrawing a precise measuring device for a very important analytical purpose the entire RV community depends on. It seems the person to perform this test is clear, based on this post, and we are all eager for the results and video of course. Clodzapper - you are the man for the job!

I love it. Please change my official "who am I known as" from Texas Clodhopper to Clodzapper. It's an electrifying moniker.

 

[Mighty_J]

I’ve always shut them off before plugging in as well, but I get the comment about the pipe heaters. On this new to us coach, it’s got a manual shore shut-off switch in the driver’s first bay, so my plan is to switch that off, plug the watchdog to the energized pedestal plug, if I’ve got good power, plug the shore cord into the watchdog and then flip the shore switch. Unplugging I’ll just flip the shore switch off and leave it off until the next campground. At first I thought it was gonna be annoying, but the idea of the manual switch is growing on me.