Before we plug in at any camp site we always check the electrical on the campground side first. Twice in our camping ventures we have found electrical hookups at campgrounds with open grounds. If you are not familiar with electrical systems… basically this means if there is a surge in power on the city power side then it can fry all your electrical systems and items in the RV and none of your GFI electric plugs in the RV will work (which is dangerous because usually the GFI plugs are located next to the kitchen and bathroom sink… places that have water… to keep you from electrocuting yourself if you drop something into water!)
This is really easy and inexpensive to check. You can purchase an electrical checking system that is small and doesn’t take up much room and only takes a second to do a quick check to prevent some major potential problems. Usually when you notify the campground there is a problem with the hook up, they resolve it (or move you to a different spot) right away. Occasionally you have to argue with them because they have no clue about what this means and think because someone used the electrical hook up before you, and had no problems, then it’s no big deal. We stand our ground in that case and refuse to use the hook up provided. It’s not worth such potential costly electrical system destruction to our RV to chance it. We also do a review of all our campgrounds and specifically note problems like this, so it’s not in the campgrounds best interest to ignore electrical problems when it is brought to their attention!
Anyway here are a few photos of the little device we use to test the electrical hook up and in the photo if you look at the lights this particular hook up has an open ground! This particular campground tried to argue with us that the hook up was just fine because someone else had used it the day before lol but we hooked into the site next to us (since they didn’t offer to let us move) and they got a bad review. Which is unfortunate because the campground itself was quite nice otherwise. Which brings me to another point… having an electrical extension chord for your RV is handy as well! As well as a surge protector specifically made for RV’s which connects somewhere between the electric box and the RV depending on the type you purchase.
Paying attention to these types of things can save you a ton of money in potential un-needed repairs! So it’s worth doing a few checks before just hooking up and calling it a day 🙂
Happy trails to our fellow Conestoga travelers on the wagon train that we call our full time RV life 🙂
Conestoga Chuck 