February 17, 2024
Feeling better today but very weak. The alarm went off and we got up. We had no power. Most RVs have 2 power systems. A 12 volt system that powers your slides and most lights and your furnace. And then a 110 volt system that powers a residential fridge, fireplace, TVs, coffee pot, etc. Nancy started work and found one of the guys from Maintenance that just happened to be the electrician. He came over to our site. He tested things and it was determined that we had not thrown a breaker either in or out so he went to the next breaker box in the system. Yup, the breaker was thrown. So he reset that breaker. Meanwhile, I’m sitting in the RV waiting to get power so I can have a cup of coffee. As I’m sitting there I here this loud electrical sound and see a poof of smoke. I immediately grabbed our fire extinguisher and headed to the electrical box. The plug end of our 50 amp service was smoking. John, the electrician, pulled the plug. We blew on the small fire and it went out. We pulled the plug out of the surge protector and noticed that the ground prong was loose. Now this has not been unplugged from the surge protector in over two years. Not sure how it happened. So the main breaker was turned on again. We tested our surge protector. It showed no power. John tested with his multimeter. There was indeed power. So I got dressed and headed out to WalMart to get a replacement plug and a new surge protector. WalMart had neither. My next stop was Camping World. I was able to get the plug but not the surge protector. John was nice enough to come back and he replaced the plug for us. We had power.
I looked on Amazon and found the exact same surge protector. It served us well for 7 years. I was not about to pay $200 to $300 for one. Nancy thought she remembered seeing one at Camper’s Inn. So we opted to wait until Monday after work and go check it out.
As this is Israel and Heather’s last night here, we decided to have a campfire and cook dinner over the campfire. The Carters were in charge of dinner. We had steak and baked potato. I was able to eat a little bit but was very cautious. It was very good. After dinner and a little campfire time, we went in and played Mexican Train Dominos again. Hate to see our friends leave.
