By Mike Sokol
I received a number of inquiries last week about possible changes to the 2020 National Electrical Code (NEC) and how it might affect campgrounds and RVs that plug into their shore power. Here’s a link to the ARVC article that got your attention.
Let me explain why I believe this could cause harm to you and other RVers.
For those of you who aren’t aware, the National Electrical Code has a 3-year update cycle, with hundreds of electricians, engineers, inspectors and manufacturers involved in improving the safety and performance of the electrical systems that power our lives. And electrical power systems are vastly safer now than when I first started playing with electricity back in the mid-1960s.
Not only are grounding and bonding required for nearly everything, there have been huge technology advances in the last 20 years that have reduced shock hazards greatly. The best example of this would be GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters) which work by detecting small leakage currents to ground (5 mA or less, which is 0.005 amperes of current). For a refresher on how GFCIs actually work, read my article about them.
So, GFCIs have been required by code on all bathroom, kitchen and outdoor 15- and 20-amp outlets for the last few decades, and in that position they work very well. That’s because they’re protecting a single branch circuit with perhaps a few appliances connected to the same GFCI. And because of the code implementation, I do believe that GFCIs have saved a lot of lives, since their main job is protect humans from leakage currents.
Note that a GFCI is not a circuit breaker (even though it can be incorporated INTO a circuit breaker if desired), so it’s not there to protect wiring from too much current. No, it’s there to protect you from a shock of 5 mA to 100 mA of fault current that can go through your heart, causing ventricular fibrillation and death within minutes.
So GFCI protection has been required on the 20-amp pedestal outlets for quite a while, which I believe is a good thing. However, someone on the 2020 revision code panel got the idea that if a GFCI outlet on a 20-amp branch circuit was a good idea, then requiring them on 30- and 50-amp pedestal outlets would be even better.
And to top it off, someone in that initial meeting was misquoting me, improperly saying that Mike Sokol from the No~Shock~Zone was advocating the use of GFCI breakers on campground pedestals for their 30- and 50-amp outlets.
I never said that, and here’s why. I have anecdotal evidence to back up my theory that total ground leakage currents in an RV shore power connection can easily total more than 5 mA. That’s because everything you plug into your RV leaks a little current to ground. That includes your microwave, stove, battery charger, inverters, air conditioner and control systems.
Most of these leakages are allowed by UL and the NEC, but each one could easily be 0.5 mA or so, with switching power supplies for your 12-volt converter having an exception to allow up to 3 mA of leakage (or thereabouts). Even long extension cords can create leakage currents through inductive coupling of their internal conductors. These leakage currents are additive, so you can see that just plugging in your normal electrical devices in an RV can easily add up to more than 5 mA of leakage current which is the threshold that will trip a GFCI. That means that GFCI protection on 20-amp circuits works quite well, but that’s probably not the case if they’re installed upstream on the 30- and 50-amp feeder circuits.
So here’s the big reason this is a bad idea. If the NEC code were to be fully implemented, I believe there would be lots of random GFCI tripping on the 30- and 50-amp breakers in campgrounds. The first time a camper comes back from a day trip and finds his air conditioner shut down and his or her pet suffering in the heat, or their refrigerator off with a bunch of spoiled food, they will figure out a way around the 30/50-amp GFCI tripping problem.
And they’ll do the same thing that musicians have been doing for decades … breaking off the ground pin of their shore power cord. Now, if they’re still plugged into a GFCI-protected 30- or 50-amp pedestal outlet they should be safe from electric shock. But the next time they plug into a 30- or 50-amp pedestal WITHOUT a GFCI, then they’re putting themselves at risk for electric shock and possible death by electrocution.
The rollback to the 2017 code requirements in the 2020 code is only a temporary fix since it still allows local electrical inspectors (the AHJ, or Authority Having Jurisdiction) in every state and county to decide if they want to force campgrounds to spend tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars upgrading their pedestals to 30- and 50-amp GFCI breakers. And once again, forcing GFCI protection on 30- and 50-amp breakers won’t save lives, and may actually increase shock hazards since there will be a ton of YouTube videos showing everyone how to break off their shore power ground pins. (Don’t do it. That’s a very dangerous “fix.”)
What we can learn from this is that there needs to be better coordination and cooperation among campground organizations such as ARVC, RV manufacturer organizations such as the RVIA, RV technician training organizations such as the RVDA, and electrical inspection organizations such as the NEC.
Interestingly, many of those same organizations have been contacting me for an interpretation on what this could possibly mean and, as mentioned already, I’m being misquoted in NEC meetings. So if any or all of the above groups would like me to help figure this out, with perhaps a few demonstrations and explanations of why 30- and 50-amp GFCIs could introduce a lot of additional shock hazards, I’m at the ready. All they have to do is contact me to get the discussion going. Write to me at mike(at)rvtravel.com.
Keep up with Mike’s latest news and information about RV electricity by signing up for his monthly RV Electricity Newsletter.
##RVT912
Everyone…. Here’s my article which shows you an inexpensive way to measure the actual leakage current using any clamp-ammeter and an extension cord modified to multiply the measured current by 10x. Study up on this and let me know if you have any questions, but this is exactly how I troubleshoot these types of failures. https://www.rvtravel.com/rvelectricity-no-shock-zone-part-10-rvt-922/
We have the same scenario as Liz.
The problem is the Converter/ Charger. Switching Type Supply. If I understand GFCI Breakers they measure the current on the Hot and Neutral and consider a difference of 5milliAmps 0.005 Amps) to be a Ground Fault.
Some of our equipment here at ur lace have built-in GFCIs and do Not have a safety ground connection on the power plug…this is from the Factory. again looking for a difference between Hot and neutral. (Nomex Flame Suit ON)…
Our problem is the Converter/ Charger will trip any GFCI circuit. Converter Breaker OFF and No Problem. We can run any AC operated Device on Shore Power EXCEPT the Converter..
Is there a Converter/ Charger that does NOT rip a GCFI Breaker when a load ???? Make and Models Please. Or do I reverse engineer the conversation we have to eliminate the differential between Hot/ Neutral?
FWIW: Never Cut The Ground Pin
BoB
Hi!
We are having exactly this problem. Our 2009 KZ Spree 5th Wheel has no problems on non-GFCI shore power. But the last two years, every campground we go to has 30 and 50amp GFCI so we can’t use shore power initially. We did not snip our ground plug because we prefer being above ground. Pun intended.
The workaround we use for now is we get to the campground and if it has GFCI at the shore pole, we fire up our generator, plug into that, get our awnings and slides out, then turn off the generator, turn off the breaker to our converter in the RV panel, then plug into shore power. We have to use small lamps plugged into outlets for light, and can’t use our water pump, slides, awnings, or water heater. Bleh. But everything else works with the converter breaker off.
My question – is there any known *replacement* RV converter that does *not* trip GFCI breakers? We’d really love to get one! It stinks not being able to use all of our RV’s great features.
I think you should perform an EGC ground leakage test to determine the actual fault current. It’s possible that your converter has a failed RF filter capacitor that’s creating an abnormally high amount of fault current. I have an article somewhere about how to do this test with a clamp ammeter and a special adapter cable. Let me look for it and I’ll post a link later.
Thank You Mike….
I was considering this since one of the switching supplies for the Ham Radio Station went Nutzsome time back, made a LOT of RFI….when testing it in the barn shop (on GCFI) it tripped the breaker…. Bad RFI Capacitor…. Have the schematic. Repaired and now Super Quiet with no RFI….and does not trip the GFCI in the shop.
Turns out the RV Converter/ Charger manufacturer is NOT forthcoming with a schematic…so “Reverse Engineering”… what fun… Will pull it down after we get back from this camping trip next week..so far boondocking on the generator and batteries. and the one campground we will use is over 10 years old.
Again: FWIW: Never Ever Cut ANY Ground Pin….It is there for YOUR Protection.
One: The NEC is not retroactive. Meaning campgrounds do not have to spend 10s of thousands to upgrade their sites. If the existing installation was to code when it was installed then they do not have to upgrade. Do you have an electrician come thru your house every three years upgrading?
Two: In the comments I’ve read where people say “It’s fine electrically.” If the GFCi trips. there’s something wrong. Just because your fridge powers up on a non GFCI device does not mean it’s fine.
Three and most importantly: Do you value your AC and fridge over a child’s life? Life over property.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the equipment grounding conductor supposed to eliminate or at least lower the leakage current to a safe level so nobody gets shocked or electrocuted?
Another question would be couldn’t the rv manufacturers bond the skin to the grounded conductor (green/bare copper) wire to help eliminate shocks/deaths from a potential hot conductor energizing the skin of the rv?
All of this would be on the a.c./pedestal grounded conductor not the d.c. side.
Can u tell me what all I need to upgrade from 30 amp to 50,i have 30 amp wfco converter with 12v distribution panel
First of all the 30 amp service is 120vac and the 50 amp service is 240vac. Thus increasing to a 50amp from a 30 amp requires an Electrical overhaul of the Distribution Panel, converter, as well as wiring in the unit. This isn’t recommended for a nonprofessional .
A worthy discussion to be sure, and I’m glad you are warning folks against the home hack of severing the ground. I work in the marine industry and we’ve faced similar issues, 5mA is fine for a single outlet, but collective faults for an entire boat often exceed this very quickly, as you noted. Thankfully cooler heads have prevailed and we are moving toward RCD’s or residual current devices on docks, and ELCI’s, or Equipment Leakage Circuit Interrupter, on boats, both of which trip at 30 mA, thereby reducing the collective fault tripping issue. The problem is, technically, the NEC considers the 30 mA threshold too high for people protection, in spite f the fact that it has been used for just that in Europe for decades. I’ve personally been saved by an ELCI trip, and I lived to tell about it.
Now, boats are different than RVs in that they float in a semi-conductive medium, and one of our concerns is leakage into the water, which can lead to not only electrocution but electric shock drowning as well. On boats braking off the ground pin would only work (well, it should never ‘work’, as it’s very dangerous as you note) for a fault that is returning to the source via the green grounding wire, however, there is another path for boats, the water in which they float.
RCDs and ELCIs have been a god-send in this respect, rendering many faults safe before they could effect a swimmer. We still have implementation issues that are causing frequent tripping, some of which are genuine faults and some nuisance collective faults, but there’s no way to tell the difference without knowing how to test for them. Still, the marine industry is slowly moving in the right direction with 30 mA pedestal protection, and then higher trip threshold devices further up the power supply line.
Given the choice, it seems as if an RCD approach would make sense for RV power supplies, but it would technically be equipment protection, at least according to the NEC.
For more on the marine approach, the ELCI and RCD, you can read this article https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/electric-shock-drowning-and-elcis-explained/
Steven,
Thanks for your detailed response. Yes, I do believe that a 30 mA RCD would be a much better choice to protect an RV feeder circuit than a 5 mA GFCI. That’s because, as you mentioned, the additive fault leakage in an RV can soon reach the 5 mA trip threshold of a GFCI. One of the biggest culprits appears to be RV converter/chargers, which include noise filter capacitors on the incoming power to reduce RF noise feeding back into the power lines. And there’s a UL exception that allows up to 3 mA of line-to-chassis leakage for these inverter/converter/charger devices with switch-mode power supplies. So even with nothing else in an RV being energized you can easily be over half the GFCI trip threshold. Plug in a cheap outlet “surge strip” or two (each of which can leak a few more mA of current to ground through their MOV devices) and now you have a random trip problem if you plug your RV’s 30 or 50-amp shore power cord into a GFCI protected receptacle. And as you note, a 30 mA trip point is really designed to protect gear, not humans, from ground fault currents. Much more for me to study about this…
We stayed at a NJ County park that had GFCIs on their 30 amp & it drove me crazy trying to figure out what was wrong. I Ranger comes along and states, “yes , that happens to some rigs because of the GFCI, we’ll move you to another site”. I had a conversation online where someone said it should not happen at all but I believe it matters what sort of inverter you have. Comments?
A few years back I was at a camp ground with GFCI on all 20/30/50 amp plugs. My camper has a 50 amp cord. It tripped the 50 amp and 30 amp GFCI’S. It did not trip the 20 amp GFCI. It was a brand new 5th wheel that we lived in full time for 7.5 years and never had a electrical problem again.
Mike great article. I gathered leakage current in appliances are the culprit for GFCI’s popping by mistake. Also the purpose of the GFCI is to prevent ground fault electrical shock protecting people, not over current protection of wires. Perhaps the solution would be to have a NEC require GFCI protection of a branch circuit(s) that feed receptacles where a person is more likely to get shocked (e.g. hairdryer connected in a bathroom, blender in the kitchen etc., ) and not connected to receptacles that feed fixed appliances such as A/C’s, refrigerators, chargers etc. Definitely not on the whole 30A/50A shore power circuit. Thoughts?
Also just curious if leakage current be measured by a clamp meter around the ground wire only on the shore power cable or can leakage current bleed out of the RV in other areas in an RV that touch the ground (tires, leveling or tongue jacks etc.?
Yes, leakage currents can be measured that way, but unfortunately most clamp ammeters around resolve down to 10 mA of leakage, not low enough for real troubleshooting at the under 5 mA level. However, if you wrap the ground wire around the jaws of the clamp ammeter 10 times, it boosts the current reading by a factor of 10x. So your clamp ammeter will read 10 mA when there’s only 1 mA of leakage current. Slick trick, eh?
Nice trick!
So that ground wire measurement would be an accurate of total leakage current and there shouldn’t be any other (or negligible) leaks to ground from physical contacts with the ground by the RV?
Exactly right. That’s how to turn a $50 clamp meter into a decent tool for measuring ground fault leakage currents.
Yikes! I can fully relate, Mike. I brought my 40 DP Coach to my house last year while preparing to build an RV Barn to house it. As an interim measure I plugged it into a 20 amp outside fixture. I’ve found that there is so much parasitic leakage in the rig that the batteries will go totally flat in a couple weeks without the inverter/charger being powered up. Sure enough – within a few minutes the GFCI circuit breaker (my house is brand new and has ALL it’s circuits so protected, but of course the outside outlets would have been anyway) was tripped by leakage in the Coach. I shut down everything in the coach but the inverter/charger – and STILL got the breaker tripping at least once an hour. In desperation, I replaced the GFCI breaker on that circuit with a standard 20 amp breaker, which solved the problem. Yea – I know, now I’m in violation for having an outdoor outlet on a non GFI circuit. I recently finished the barn, which has it’s own 50 amp sub-panel and a dedicated 30-amp non-GFI outlet for the coach. So now, I’ll get a new GFCI breaker for my outside outlet circuit, and I’ll be legal again. AND Happy! Thanks SO much for all you do for us RV’ing folks…
You’re very welcome. I’ve been studying the reasons that GFCIs trip for the last few decades since live sound systems have a lot of the same leakage issues as RVs. This ain’t my first rodeo….
Does the barn have a dirt floor?
I believe the GFCI is meant more for marinas than RV parks. I have never heard of anyone dying from walking past a RV, however there are many cases where people have been electrocuted while swimming near a marina.
Not true. I know of many cases where people (and children) have been electrocuted while standing on damp ground and touching an RV with a hot skin.
Hi, John. Here is a link to an updated article we posted a couple of years ago regarding a 3-year-old boy who died from touching an RV: https://www.rvtravel.com/child-dies-from-touching-the-family-rv Very tragic, but we believe that relating this information has helped to save other lives. —Diane at RVtravel.com
Statistics are available by the NFPA-NEC as to injuries and deaths from RV Park Power Pedestal or RV Units. Records come from Emergency Trauma Reports.
I believe it’s all about lobbyists for the circuit breaker company’s. I can see no good reason to implement gfci breakers on pedestals as you explained. I am not going to worry about it as here in Wisconsin they take 3 to 5 years in get around changing the code . We are probably working on the 2014 yet. Don’t know because I’m no longer working but that’s the way it was. Just like arc fault breakers. I was told by the head inspector in Madison, don’t use them, we won’t pass NEC for a couple more years yet. It’s all about money.
Remember that each and every AHJ (electrical inspector) can choose to interpret the NEC any way he or she wants to. This can be frustrating at times, but it’s how building codes work.
Mike, After reading “And to top it off, someone in that initial meeting was misquoting me, improperly saying that Mike Sokol from the No~Shock~Zone was advocating the use of GFCI breakers on campground pedestals for their 30- and 50-amp outlets.” Since they seem to value your opinion, what was their reaction to your contacting them and explaining the miss-quote and the dangers of their possible change in regulations?
Interestingly, the same NEC board member who had initially contacted me with the mis-quote a year earlier is the one who asked me to write a paper to be presented at the meeting for discussion. And a different board member told me a few days ago that he had seen my paper at the meeting. So I’m guessing it was distributed to everyone in the group and a discussion ensued about the risks and benefits of requiring 30 and 50 amp GFCIs. So logic has won out for now, but it would have been a lot simpler to hire me as a consultant to discuss the ramifications of such a plan.
Since this issue of RV Travel was posted this morning, I have been researching like crazy trying to get some answers and who are these people on the NEC Board?
Apparently, the time for Public Comments has past and unless Mike Sokol has some very overwhelming influence, these recommendations will probably be added to the NEC 2020 Code. Which hopefully will take a LONG time to implement at RV Parks around the US. Of course if a NEW RV Park is being built, they will of course have to implement this Ridiculous GFCI Requirement.
I have to wonder also how a GFCI Breaker will effect the EMS Smart Surge Protectors?
So, hopefully Mike will have some solid influence on this GENIUS recommendation and get it stopped from being implemented!
I do indeed have lots of connections on the inside. I’ve got your back on this, so don’t worry.
Thanks Mike:
As if RVers don’t have enough to worry about with RV Parks that are RUN Down and due to cost, are rarely fixed.
We don’t need anymore requirements piled on top the ones we already have to comply with.
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say, Please keep us updated on this situation.
I know you are very busy.
Thanks for all the stuff you do.
I would like to know WHAT Genius (being nice) thought this up! Do they RV or even understand RVing? And then according to Mike Sokol they do this stuff behind closed doors and the End USER (the RVer) has little or No input into the matter.
To be fair, there is a public forum on the NEC website where you can voice concerns and ideas for future code changes. However, you have to understand how to read the code books in the first place, and it’s pretty deep. I have a few hundred hours in studying the 2017 code so I understand all the changes, and I’ll have the same time in going through the entire 2020 code. It’s a lot of work.
Mike:
I definitely understand the HUGE Complexity of Electricity and Codes. And the enormous amount of technical knowledge and education required.
You tend to explain things to us RV Travelers in easy to understand language.
I hope these Code Recommendations are NOT approved and we can move on from this subject.
The language around the 30- and 50-amp GFCI implementation was indeed rolled back to the 2017 definition last week, so things are stable for now. But that could change during the next code upgrade, so there’s lots of work to be done. I’m looking for a grant that would allow me to advocate for the RV owners and campgrounds since I can’t afford to give up my day job to do this. That’s why I do what I can on a zero budget. But since I have some really good contacts in high places I can leverage my knowledge to its greatest advantage. Stay tuned for a wild ride in the next year or two.
How about an article giving your take on the 2020 NEC ban on autotransformers (autoformers)? Nothing in the reasons I’ve read make any sense so what am I missing? Autotransformers cannot “steal” power in excess of the circuit breaker rating on the pedestal.JJ
I’m only one person and there’s only so much I can do on a zero budget since I also have a day job. Autotransformers do indeed have their uses, but they’re not a universal fix for the problems associated with low voltage at campgrounds. I’m working on something really big on this topic, but it will take dozens of hours to research and gather data to present. Stay tuned.
How many deaths or injuries have been caused with the present wiring system to justify the REAL need for 30/50 amp for GFCI? Or is this simply a “boogy man in the closet?”
GFCIs on 15/20-amp branch circuits save hundreds if not thousands of lives every year. But my engineering opinion is simply that they’re a bad idea on 30- and 50-amp pedestal outlets due to the nuisance tripping problems associated with additive leakage currents.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but the “fix” mentioned by removing the ground connection would not prevent the GFCI from tripping. The GFCI is able to work on two as well as three wire systems, which is a good thing for the very reason that people DO remove the ground connection to use two wire extension cords.
A GFCI works by monitoring the power going out is the same as coming back in (Hot and neutral on 120V circuits).
Stay cool
You are correct that a broken-off ground pin won’t prevent the GFCI from tripping if your RV is plugged into a GFCI protected outlet. But the next time the RV is plugged into a non-GFCI outlet there will be no protection and the possibility of shock and electrocution.
Remember, the 30 and 50 amp services power a distribution center. And the distribution centers support GFCI on the individual circuits. Why not put the 30 or 50 amp GFCI on the receiving end in the RV?
Still not a good idea since the normal leakage currents in an RV will cause random tripping. Been there, done that…
This conversion will NOT affect me for one nano second. First, I would never use an adapter without a ground pin as my Progressive Industries EMS HW-50C will NOT allow power to my coach when a proper ground in not detected. Second, if the new GFCI 50 amp circuit breaker were to trip while we were gone thereby shutting down our AC’s my Onan Wireless EC-30W would start the onboard generator seconds after a NO POWER situation is detected. Then the AC’s will come back on about one minute later. I always have a FULL tank of diesel before parking for any period of time so that both my generator and my Aqua-Hot will have fuel to keep running for days on end.
I do like the nano second thing. Seriously…