"Safety on the Road ... ... ."

Hello Fellow RVers,

If you are a faithful reader of “The Dynamo News” and I sincerely hope that you one of many, the recent stories about Pete and Connie and Bob and Bernie and their lightning strike experiences are of interest.  Their experiences should cause each of us to take another look at the safety aspects of our RVs. 

Now this is a subject that not many folks want to be serious about, yet there are many safety features built into our RVs that we rely on every day to keep us safe. 

So hang in there with me as I look into the subject of SAFETY and I promise to not bore you with endless facts.

First lets start with just a few facts. 

• RVs are designed and built with safety in mind.  All RV Manufacturers realize that that the folks who purchase an RV need to feel safe and secure and thus they put safety at the top of their list of requirements for their product.
• Safety Regulations are in place to provide guides for all RV Manufacturers in the design and fabrication of their product.  The National Fire Protection Administration (NFPA), The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) have explicit requirements in place to ensure the safety, health, and well-being of the folks who love the RV life.
• More specifically, NFPA 1192 (Standard for Recreational Vehicles) and NFPA 70 (National Electrical Code) have detailed requirements that deal with all of the sub-systems that RVers rely on every day.  These requirements include the electrical system, propane system, the low-voltage (i.e – 12 volt) RV lighting system, heating system, etc.  In other words, the in-place Standards to a pretty decent job of detailing the requirements personal safety in the RV.

 However, the potential for damage to an RV is always likely when it encounters a lightning -induced surge on the Power Line.

So why are RVs more prevalent to damage than a house or other building?  The answer is found in the difference of how they are Grounded.

Lets take a moment to consider the Grounding subject.  You may recall that many years ago it was common to see lightning rods placed on  structures, especially on isolated buildings and farm houses.  The purpose of these simple, yet ideal devices, was to allow a safe path for cloud formed electrical energy to find a low resistance path to the earth.  In other words, if the building or structure (such as a tall tree) happened to be in the area where the clouds were highly charged, the lightning rod would allow the highly charged clouds to discharge and protect the area from a lightning strike.

Lightning rods are still in use today in many areas and are easy to see on the tops of the large electrical transmission lines that string across endless miles of our country.

So, with this piece of history in mind, why are RVs more prevalent to damage than a home or other building?  As I mentioned, the reason is in how the RV and the house are Grounded.

House and similar structures are required by the National Electrical Code to have a solid rod (usually copper) to be inserted into the earth within a defined number of feet from the electrical power entrance to the house or similar structure.  Just walk around a house and look closely near the foundation.  Chances are you will see the Grounding rod.  It is this rod, just like the old lightning rod, that provides a low resistance path to the earth.

Such, however, is not the case with RVs.  The RV relies on a Grounding wire (Green in color) to provide a Grounding path from the RV’s electrical system to the Earth Ground at the Power Post.  Now, in almost all circumstances, this Grounding Path provided by the RV’s Power Cable is sufficient, that is, until it is significantly overloaded.  It does meet the requirements of NFPA 1192 and NFPA 70, Parts 1 and 3-6 and more specifically, the Grounding requirements of Chapter 2.  Yet, because of the length of the Grounding wire and the fact that it is connected to the Earth ground at the Power Post by a Plug, it is only capable of safely grounding the RV at the rated current (either 30 or 50 Amps) of the RV.

But is this sufficient?  Well, maybe.  In this case, RVers can be assured that the electrical system in their RV is designed to be safe.

That is, until lightning strikes in the vicinity of where your RV is parked.  If this happens, we who own an RV can only hope that our RV is not damaged.

Respectfully,

Tech Support