Fuse Box Melt

[Karen M]

After a tech replaced the distribution box in our trailer and fuses started blowing on the 15 amp circuit that supports the overhead and slide lights, stove light and refrigerator, we hauled it to the dealership. They found a screw had been driven into a wire causing the intermittent short behind the sofa. The wall was scorched! Very happy it was fixed and we are on the road!

[LV Naturist]

After a tech replaced the distribution box in our trailer and fuses started blowing on the 15 amp circuit that supports the overhead and slide lights, stove light and refrigerator, we hauled it to the dealership. They found a screw had been driven into a wire causing the intermittent short behind the sofa. The wall was scorched! Very happy it was fixed and we are on the road!

I'm glad that they definitively found the issue. That should give you peace of mind moving forward. And thanks for coming back here and letting us know that the issue was fixed and what they found. All too often posters come on here seeking advice, it's given, and then we never hear from them again... Safe travels!

John

[CoChris]

After a tech replaced the distribution box in our trailer and fuses started blowing on the 15 amp circuit that supports the overhead and slide lights, stove light and refrigerator, we hauled it to the dealership. They found a screw had been driven into a wire causing the intermittent short behind the sofa. The wall was scorched! Very happy it was fixed and we are on the road!

Glad they found (and fixed) the cause of your problems. Thank you for letting us know what it was.

Chris

[Johnrb]

What usually causes fuses and connections to burn like that is excessive current (Ampere) draw. There are two things that cause excessive current draw, power wires shorted to ground, and low voltage conditions. Think of it this way, loads (fridge, furnace blower, etc.) draw a certain amount of wattage (amps times voltage). As voltage drops, current increases. My thoughts are you have a low voltage issue. You stated above that the batteries are fine. I would double check them, isolate them from the system and have them rechecked. Reason being, if the trailer was plugged in, the batteries were charging and may have overcharged if there was no load on them. This could boil the water out of them and caused an internal short, causing low voltage. Another way you can check for excessive current draw is to get a clamp on amp meter and measure the current draw on the circuits that you said blew the fuse multiple times. If those circuits are drawing close to or more than the fuse rating, then those particular circuits need further tracing. Hope that helps...

John

Lower voltage does not always equal higher current in an electrical device. Electric motors will do this up to a point, but other devices do not. Loads such as heating elements, light bulbs and other fixed resistance loads will have lower current with lower voltage. Just for FYI.

[Saldog]

For added peace of mind you might check and see if you have one of each type of smoke detector. The ionization detector is suited for fast flaming fires, while a photoelectric detector is suited for smoldering fires that may produce more smoke particles prior to free burning.

Hope this gets rectified to your peace of mind, some good replies for trouble shooting have been provided.

Jim

[LV Naturist]

Lower voltage does not always equal higher current in an electrical device. Electric motors will do this up to a point, but other devices do not. Loads such as heating elements, light bulbs and other fixed resistance loads will have lower current with lower voltage. Just for FYI.

Yes, fixed resistance loads like lamps and heating elements will not increase current, lamps just get dimmer and heating elements just don't get as hot under low voltage situations. The reason I was thinking a low voltage situation is because in the original post, the OP indicated they were running the furnace when the panel released the smoke. The furnace blower draws a significant amount of current. In my experience working with automotive blowers (bus air conditioning most notably), I've seen lot's of fried C/B's and wiring due to low voltage situations. Turns out the high current draw was due to a screw causing a high enough resistance short to ground. Not enough to simply pop the breaker, but enough to cause excessive current draw. Hence the scorching. YMMV.

John

[Saldog]

Glad to hear the source of the problem was located. Sounds like they were diligent in finding the problem.

Safe travels, J im