Leaving breakers in the camper on while away?

[jaycoman89]

Hello campers,

I've heard different opinions on this. My Jayco sits permanently on a campground that supplies shore power. I've been told to turn all the breakers (the ones inside, not at the pedestal) off when I leave, but I've been told but many more that they leave their breakers on, and they just turn the air off at the thermostat and the water heater off when they leave.

Just curious on opinions here. I turned my breakers off every time but left them on this time so the fridge would stay on. Thoughts?

[kellem]

Bobbo wrote:

deltabravo wrote:

kellem wrote:
we leave trailer plugged up

What in tarnation?!?

I though this was an electrical discussion, not plumbing.

I thought more along the lines of needing a laxative. It is the Pharmacist in me.

Rough crowd here so let's rephrase so I don't feel compelled to change my diet.
The wife and I prefer to keep our trailer plugged into an electrical outlet year around and have suffered no consequences by doing so.

[BurbMan]

pianotuna wrote:
In theory, if the power is on and mice happen to chew through the wiring it would be possible for a short to occur and a fire might happen.

I would rather the power be on so at least I electrocute the little bugger that chewed the wiring. If the trailer is gonna burn down, better it happen when I'm not there, and not the first night I'm back and the power is back on...

[Bobbo]

deltabravo wrote:

kellem wrote:
we leave trailer plugged up

What in tarnation?!?

I though this was an electrical discussion, not plumbing.

I thought more along the lines of needing a laxative. It is the Pharmacist in me.

[AJR]

Never thought about turning the breakers off, ever.

[dodge_guy]

No need to turn anything off. I don't even turn off the water when I leave. At a permanent spot you will want the power to run the fridge and keep the battery charged if the power does go out. If you don't need any of that then just turn off tenpower at the pedestal. The cheap charges they put in can overcharge and boil he battery.

[deltabravo]

kellem wrote:
we leave trailer plugged up

What in tarnation?!?

I though this was an electrical discussion, not plumbing.

[deltabravo]

If you turn off the breakers when you leave you will come back to dead batteries because the DC charging system is on one of those breakers.

Food in the fridge will go bad., unless you unload it before leaving.

If someone doesn't want AC power on in their rig when they lave, pull the shore power cord out of the park pedestal.

[colliehauler]

pianotuna wrote:
In theory, if the power is on and mice happen to chew through the wiring it would be possible for a short to occur and a fire might happen.

That would be a win win, wouldn't have to deal with mice problems or wiring problems in my new replacement trailer.

[colliehauler]

GDS-3950BH wrote:

brianosaur wrote:


Sounds like paranoid old timers

Here? You're kidding right? LOL!

Best post, got a chuckle out of that.

[GDS-3950BH]

brianosaur wrote:


Sounds like paranoid old timers

Here? You're kidding right? LOL!

[Walaby]

If I were worried, I'd just unplug from the pedestal.

Mike

[kellem]

I have indeed heard of it but personally don't practice it.

We know an elderly couple "our age" that are fanatical about shutting everything down, flipping breakers on top of unplugging everything.
They follow the same regime in their home before leaving for a duration.

Contrary to their beliefs, we leave trailer plugged up year around and even leave furnace set to 38* to avoid some unloading.
4th trailer and never an issue.

When leaving the house for a month or more, we simply lock the door behind us.

We all have different DNA.

[Guy_Roan]

I have a similar situation, but what I do is turn the main breaker off at the post/ panel and then remove the feeder cable and store it in the trailer compartment. ( It only takes a minute)
That way I don't have to worry about someone coming by and turning on something in the trailer and the feeder cable is not left out in the weather elements

Guy

[whjco]

jaycoman89 wrote:
Hello campers,

I've heard different opinions on this. My Jayco sits permanently on a campground that supplies shore power. I've been told to turn all the breakers (the ones inside, not at the pedestal) off when I leave, but I've been told but many more that they leave their breakers on, and they just turn the air off at the thermostat and the water heater off when they leave.

Just curious on opinions here. I turned my breakers off every time but left them on this time so the fridge would stay on. Thoughts?

I never turn off the breakers in my RV. Also, most breakers are not rated for switch duty.