Overseas sites that do not have an earth
Hi all
On an overseas site that does not have an Earth on the hook up , please can anyone advise how this will affect us and how and if we can get round it so we can still use electric.
Thanks
Comments
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My experience of numerous sites in France over 30 years would suggest that it isn't a problem. Even reverse polarity is rarer these days. No experience of other European countries. I would think that only run down sites would not have hook ups earthed and who would want to stay on them anyway? If unsure of the electrics on a site I would move to a different site.
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Nicki,can I ask why you think the site may not have an earth, and how are you testing this.
Earthing in a caravan is very important and without going into too much electrical theory meaning the chassis of the van could potentially go live is a fault develops.
I would not use a site with dodgy electrics.
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The house that I live in here in Germany was built in the late sixties before electrical installations had a proper earth. There are only two leads to each socket with a bridge between neutral and earth. The requirements were changed soon after the house was built, but there has never been any need to change existing installations. I imagine that some older campsites are in a similar state.
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Thank you all
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We always check the bollard using a neon tester before connecting. We often find reverse polarity (yes I know, but I prefer to correct it) and have on several occasions had an earth fault flagged up.
This happened in June this year at Bella Riva (was Les Pommiers) in Ouistreham. Another bollard gave a safe result.
Another outfit did hook up to the bollard I'd found faulty and I did warn them but they didn't seem to be bothered.
I accept the risk from reverse polarity may be minimal, but the same cannot be said for lack of earth (and I also accept that the neon tester is fairly crude).
I would add that we generally tend to use municipals and other low-key sites where maintenance may be on the casual side.
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The earth connection is there solely to prevent death by electrocution. It is used to detect wiring or other faults which may result in the caravan chassis and exposed metal surfaces from becoming Live. ( including kettles and toasters).
On campsites there should be an earth spike beside or integrated with the EHU . If your mains tester indicates that there is no earth, you should not use that supply. If you feel competent, you can use a starter cable or similar to connect the chassis to a metal spike driven into the ground.
Thankfully, there are few examples caravanners being electrocuted. This is an indication of how successful the regulations are in preventing accidents, not an indication that they can be ignored!
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I can see the idea of a metal earthing spike for motorhomes on rubber tyres, but a caravan with four metal steadies firmly to the ground is perhaps different.
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If you have an RCD protecting your own caravan/M/H mains wiring (usually part of the caravan consumer unit), does this not protect you from any problem with the earth, or lack of it....??
Sorry, my college days are a few years behind me.....
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If the caravan steadies are making good electrical contact with the ground, the 'no earth' warning will not appear. Using pads would prevent such contact. The earth spike ( long metal peg) needs to be driven into the soil. In this case it's length not girth that matters.
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I smiled at your last sentence.
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The rcd depends on having an earth to detect that there is connection or leak from the live to chassis. These devices can detect minute amounts of current and therefore trip the supply. The fault can be in a kettle, for example, and will trip the rcd only when plugged in. This could save you touching an earthed tap and a live kettle.
However, the principal danger is stepping in or out of your 'van, one foot on the ground and one on a live step.
Don't use EHUs which haven't got earths and you can sleep soundly in your 'van and enjoy your holiday.
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You usually have a choice to pay for EHU or not. The easiest solution is to switch to gas and save the cost of EHU.
Lutz but don't you have dual pole switching which makes it safer than the UK system to which standards our caravans and motorhomes are wired.
peedee
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The caravan has dual pole switching, yes, (because it is fairly new), but not the household circuits (at least not in my house). My understanding is that current UK caravans are also dual pole switched,
I've had more jolts from the mains than I care to remember, but that was always because I had been working on a connection that was mistakenly assumed to be dead.
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"The rcd depends on having an earth to detect that there is connection or leak from the live to chassis".
The RCDs we have do not depend on having an earth to detect anything. They independently function detecting the current flowing in the neural wire very accurately matches that flowing in the live wire; no connection to the earth to detect anything is involved.
If these two current flows do not match within the units threshold value and timescale it cuts the circuit, as that imbalance could be lost via our bodies parts.
Google provides us a simple explanation of how they work;
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So as not to look like I'm a complete idiot, I'd like to add that the earth connection is established back at the sub-station where the star point of the three phase transformer secondary is grounded: this is also the neutral line. In domestic UK supplies, the outer sheath of the mains cable is used to carry the neutral connection and is grounded repeatedly on its way to your house. The earth connection is made from the neutral/sheath to the house earth and thence to sockets and gas/water pipes. On a campsite, the regulations specify that each EHU must have an earth spike or similar local earth.
As if by magic, when all the neutral currents end up back at the sub-station they add up to zero ( if all three loads are balanced). That's more than enough on this topic, I should think.
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I have used two pin plugs before I still keep them in my van do check the polarity however a modern van will adjust you can of course reverse the plug in the bollard this also works. There are not many sites now in Europe that dont have what they like to call the Euro plug
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