Full Time RV Maintenance - Do You Need A Surge Protector For Your RV?

From Blog Posts

To the question, "do you need a surge protector for your RV?" I answer a resounding YES!

If you have read very much of my stuff, you have heard me talk about this subject before. I am a believer! I have personally known several different RV'ers who have either plugged their rigs into plugs that were wired incorrectly, have been plugged in at a park that experienced a brown out (too low) or a power spike (too high) and because they had no surge protector they burned out various TV's, microwaves, and assorted other electrical devices that they will continue to discover on down the road.

In this article I recently read do you need a surge protector for your RV? the author was saying that someone asked him if it was worth spending $300 to have one. I call that $300 worth of insurance that you are definitely going to need if you travel very much.

Case in point, this month, we are parked at a fairly large, fairly nice RV park just on the outskirts of Houston TX. . .got set up. . .all is well, until we turn on the big a/c unit. Immediately the surge protector shut us down. . .okay, that's fine, we'll just use the smaller unit until the next morning when the maintenance personnel can check things out. The problem. . .the ground was not properly connected at the box. . .fixed that. . .all is well until the outside temps begin going up, and everyone in the complex decides to run their a/c. . .our voltage meter dropped all the way to 104. . .surge protector once again shut us down.

Annoying. . .yes, but replacing appliances and a/c units would be much more annoying.

This is not a problem we have really ran in to all that often of having the voltage drops. . .and NO, we will NOT be returning to this park for this reason, but I am thankful that we have protection from this issue.

It is my understanding that this is a common occurrence in parks on the East and West Coasts, where they are not really set up for big rigs in many of their resorts.

Have any of you had these issues, or even had the lights dim when the a/c kicks on? I would be interested to hear what areas of the country experience these issues the most.

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Dave and I have lived in our RV Full Time for the past eight years, and have traveled fulltime for the past three years. Follow our tales by clicking on the RSS feed at the top of the page, or check back often as we share the tips and tricks of living the lifestyle.

The RV Doctor: Are Surge Protectors Needed in RVs?

I indeed, heartily recommend a surge protector for RVs. I tend to the favor those that are hard-wired into the AC system, but that's just a personal preference. Certainly the portable, in-line type is just as effective. ...

Publish Date: 04/06/2011 13:29

http://www.rvdoctor.com/2011/04/are-surge-protectors-needed-in-rvs.html

RV Surge Protectors

In all honesty you should stick to the hardwire devices over the RV portable surge protectors. The reason should be obvious. The portable models plug in outside of the camper, so it is easy for someone to steal it from you. ...

Publish Date: 03/09/2010 18:20

http://reviewsurgeprotector.com/rv-surge-protectors.html

The Lazy Daze Companion: Surge Protectors

There are two basic types of surge protectors: a portable protector is intended to be plugged into the campground utility box, while a hard-wired protector is permanently wired inside the RV and is always ON, so so speak. ...

Publish Date: 01/17/2011 20:37

http://lazydazearticles.blogspot.com/2011/01/surge-protectors.html