Bedroom 110v Outage Traced to Faulty Splice Under Bed in Montana 3701 LK

[Charlie W]

Hi I have a 2018 Montana 3701 LK,
My 110v is not working in the bedroom, my generator transfer switch used to make a little noise once in awhile, replaced it and it worked fine, everything's been fine, The bedroom circuit breaker keeps popping stuff like now I bypass generator transfer switch, I did not have a generator,
I think I have a short and the wire, trying to trace the wire with not much luck finding it any suggestions anybody else have this issue?
Any help would be appreciated thank you Charlie

 

[BB_TX]

The bedroom circuit breaker would be independent of anything associated with the bypass switch.

Unplug everything in the bedroom powered by 120 vac. Turn off all lights powered by 120 vac. Reset the circuit breaker. If it does not trip, then one by one plug in the devices you unplugged, one by one turn those on, and one by one turn on any light that is 120 vac. If the breaker trips at any point in that procedure then that device likely has the short.

If you reset the circuit breaker before doing any of the above and it immediately trips, then there is likely a short in your internal wiring. That would be the hardest to find and solve.

Have you done anything lately like putting screws into a wall to hang a fixture? Been reported before that a screw went thru a wire and shorted it.

 

[Charlie W]

No I haven't put any screws or anything in the walls, I don't have anything plugged in except my TV but I unplugged that breaker still trips it's been fine till Friday morning when I tried to turn the TV on and there was no power. And the breaker was tripped tried to turn it back on but it tripped us over and over again

 

[BB_TX]

It’s unlikely but breakers do fail. They are cheap and easy to replace. Available at most home improvement and hardware stores. I would replace that first to rule it out. If the new breaker trips the troubleshooting gets more complicated. Especially with the fact there are no wiring diagrams to use to trace the wiring.

There are some electric wiring transition boxes under the slides known to overheat and short out. That would be next next place to look.

 

[Daryles]

The wiring goes from the breaker, up the bathroom wall, through the attic to under the cap, (Picture 1) to the closet receptacle (white wire on the right, yellow wires on the left goes to the washer/dryer). Then to under the bed where it splits to the receptacles on the left and right of the bed slide out.
Picture 2. shows the junction box under the bed. You need to remove the bed plywood floor to access this. Inspect the wiring in the junction box.
Picture 3 shows inside a receptacle. With power removed, you will need to open each one and inspect the wiring.
If after all that, if you don't find anything, you could have a panel nail going through the wire somewhere in the wall. Very difficult to find without a TDR (Time Domaine Reflectometer) and signal tracer.

 

[Mark77]

I first suspected a bad outlet, and then got to Daryles post that showed a photo of what those outlets look like inside, and they should be outlawed... but they never will. I guess millions of them are out there and working. I'm replacing all of mine as I have time... heavy circuits first.

Side observation...

It really impresses me that people like Daryles, Carl n Susan, Mikeandebbie, Scottz, Dutchman, MandK, LeftOverParts, and so many others take so much time to do the research, source pictures and offer advice to others who ask for advice for a solution to a problem.

I guess that is what "community" is all about!

 

[Charlie W]

I found it it was under the bed under the plywood could have burnt the whole place down

 

[Charlie W]

I found it it was under the bed under the plywood could have burnt the whole place down

Also when I strip the wire back the paper around the ground wire was soaking wet, and I found this in the wall

 

[BB_TX]

I’m amazed they are still using those splice boxes. Seems to me they have opened themselves up to a huge liability issue should one cause a fire and injure someone. Or worse.

 

[St. Michael]

Good job people but just so everyone’s on the same page, that’s a splice not an outlet. Not a big fan of RV outlets and have replaced half of mine with the residential variant but a splice failing like that is really concerning.

 

[Daryles]

I would send that to Keystone.

 

[Rene T]

I surprised you didn’t smell any thing and why didn’t your smoke detector alert you