Fire and Ice

[Crit Bliss]

Posting a little early today, Arlo the fire safety dog woke up with a jump around 3:30 this morning, another noise was odd enough to get me going. I walked out into the galley to see the voltage meters were both BRIGHT RED. The ice maker was making a ton of noise, noisy compressor type noise, and then I noticed a flickering light, a fire in the motor section. I turned the power off at the Power Selector Switch, I awoke Diane by saying "Diane, there is a fire" she flew out of bed, grabbed me the big extinguisher and some cloths (good thinking). At that point the fire went out, pretty much as soon as I turned off the power, and my investigation began. My hunch is its the start capacitor on the compressor that blew and burned, believe it or not, start capacitors frequently end their lives that dramatically. This ice maker is a U-Line and it is less than ten years old. I unplugged the unit, turned the power back on and all seems to be well, but I am sitting up watching everything. Interesting thing is both legs went RED and no breakers blew.

[racin41bb]

Glad to hear things turned out ok. We had a similar incident at the house--our fox terrier Buford woke us up at about 3AM. Damage limited to a spa, very scarry.

[Crit Bliss]

Now that i have had some time to think ( and coffee) I wonder if the redi-line relay failed? I mention this because the PO turned the redi-line hot AC wire into a supply for the front circuit that supplied the old back up monitor and now runs my TV/Satellite power supply. The surge protector for the TV is smoked and BOTH legs of power were BRIGHT RED, that would have dumped 240v into the ice maker and TV power cleaner, any thoughts? Remember, this is speculation because I do not know exactly what was done by the PO and nothing like this has happened before. I am confused because both legs were red and the tv area was effected, and it seems nothing else.

[Crit Bliss]

Just got a call from Bill Pape, thanks Bill, he explained to me that since the parks wiring is likely double 110 instead of true 220, that a direct ground from the ice maker could run through the ground or neutral on the coach and pedestal giving me the red lights on both legs of power, I'm glad it was limited and no other appliances were on.

[Crit Bliss]

forget the relay failure theory, we have the same voltage at the ice maker outlet that we do in every outlet. Looks like a simple start capacitor failure

[Rick]

No way to start the day. Thank goodness for your fur buddy, Arlo.

[AC7880]

I'm glad there was no serious damage and no one was hurt. What new toy will Arlo the fire safety dog receive?

[Crit Bliss]

Rick, the cat was no help, Dan, park trip is in his day and cookies

[racin41bb]

Good news that your problem is the capacitor. If you get 240V you will probably lose your micowave, TV, satellite receiver, electric heating element in RV refrigerator, smart charger(s), etc. This has happened to us twice--once when campground personel were working on the electrical service & when our generator was reinstalled after service and the wiring was incorrect. Only takes a second & cheap surge protectors are worthless.
Best to unplug everything after someone has worked with your electrical system & check the voltage and polarity an outlet.

[gcyeaw]

You (the puppy) must have caught it early, since the smoke alarm didn't go off.

My mother grew up in a house with no electricity. They had oil lamps for light and and wood stoves for heat. Later in the 50's we would vacation there where my grandmother still lived, sans electricity. Fire was a constant concern and my mother made sure we understood that well. Consequently I continue to think about it including when in the bird.

I am thinking again about some sort of remote sensor system similar to the one BB installed. Everything I found last time I was looking was very expensive.