bar—here’s the serious injury or death issue.
At the other end of the breaker you’ll find the wire that leads
to the circuit served by that breaker. With your electrical multimeter set to AC volts (set to 130 volts or more) touch one probe
to the terminal screw on the breaker and the other to the terminal block where the circuit neutral wires come together—these
will all be white wires. Assuming the breaker is set in the on position, if the meter reads no power, the breaker is defective.
But what if it’s one of those, “runs a few minutes and trips”
situations? With all electrical loads “off” on the circuit, trip the
breaker back and forth from on to off a few times. The lever
should move through crisply without feeling “mushy.” Turn off
loads on another working breaker, and run it through its paces
for a comparison. A breaker that’s “wearing out” may tell the tale
by how it “feels.” If in doubt, it may be best to simply replace the
breaker.
insert the wire into the terminal, and firmly tighten down the
screw. It’s not a bad idea to check to make sure that wires to each
of the breakers are firmly snugged up—a loose connection can
lead to failure, even a chance of fire. With the wire in place and
snug, slide the “head” end of the breaker back into its clip and
firmly push the rest of the breaker into place. ;
Russ and Tiña De Maris are authors of RV Boondocking
Basics—A Guide to Living Without Hookups, which covers a full
range of dry camping topics. They also provide great resources in
their book, Camp Hosting USA—Your Guide to State Park
Volunteering. Visit www.icanrv.com for more information.
Breaker Replacement
When replacing a breaker,
for safety’s sake, disconnect
your RV from shore power.
Don’t run your generator, and
if your rig automatically connects to a power inverter, make
sure that’s turned off too. You
want ALL power to the circuit
panel turned off.
With the panel cover
removed, grasp the breaker and
rock it in the direction of the
wire end of the breaker. You
may have to rock it several
times to get it to loosen, and
then give it a firm yank. It may
require a bit of muscle to do
this, but typically the breaker
will “give,” starting at the
“wire end” and then slide out
of the bus bar. Now remove the
wire by loosening the terminal
screw.
You’ll need to replace the
breaker with an identical one.
In RVs, you’ll often find that
the “name” on the breaker may
vary, but these breakers are
often made by the same outfit,
and then have a different label
slapped on it. Some breakers
have more than one lever and
hence, serve more than one circuit. If one side of the breaker
conks out, the other will keep
working, but you will still need
to replace the entire breaker. In
the typical home, both sides of
such a dual breaker will be of
the same value, but not necessarily so in an RV. You can
often get a suitable replacement breaker for a single or
double of the same value at the
hardware store, but if you can’t
find what you need, by all
means, visit an RV supplier.
To replace the breaker,
