Simultaneous loss of charging and fridge cb won't reset

[SteveDRO]

Hello fellow escapees. Our 2018 19 has been nearly flawless, until yesterday. Perhaps one with deeper knowledge of power systems will have insights into this issue:
We're plugged in to shore power, in the garage, at home. All electrical is functional with the exception of battery charging (we have dual 6v and rooftop solar) and fridge (3-way). The latter will run on propane and 12v, but the 15a circuit breaker is tripped and will not reset. The fridge inline 30a fuse is good, as is the 20a fuse in the WFCO 8955. Possible diagnoses and solutions welcome!

[Chamberman]

Have you tried pulling the exterior DS access panel off and unplugging the AC power to the fridge and then reset the 15A breaker? This would eliminate or point to where to look next.

[SteveDRO]

Yes, have done so, no reset

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by Chamberman

Have you tried pulling the exterior DS access panel off and unplugging the AC power to the fridge and then reset the 15A breaker? This would eliminate or point to where to look next.

Originally Posted by SteveDRO

Yes, have done so, no reset

Did you manipulate the breaker by pushing it to the completely off position and then to the reset position? If yes, try unplugging the refrigerator from that circuit and plugging it into an extension cord to see if it will operate on 120vac. If it does, that would seem to indicate a dead short in the refrigerator circuit. If the refrigerator does not come on using an extension cord, I would suspect a problem in the main board or the eyebrow board.

[SteveDRO]

Originally Posted by C&G in FL

Did you manipulate the breaker by pushing it to the completely off position and then to the reset position? If yes, try unplugging the refrigerator from that circuit and plugging it into an extension cord to see if it will operate on 120vac. If it does, that would seem to indicate a dead short in the refrigerator circuit. If the refrigerator does not come on using an extension cord, I would suspect a problem in the main board or the eyebrow board.

So, using an extension cord, plugged in the fridge for a few hours and it's functioning well. Also, I disassembled the fridge outlet yesterday, which is a typical self-contained unit, and all is in order. Could it be a faulty breaker?

[Chamberman]

Yes it could be a bad breaker. Disconnect AC power to the trailer and with the power shutdown see if the breaker will reset. If it still will not reset then it's bad. It's been my experience that they typically only go bad after they've tripped in an overcurrent condition. Whether that condition is still present or not remains to be seen.

[SteveDRO]

The breaker won't reset with power disconnected and turned off. That would explain the fridge portion. Now to figure out why batteries aren't charging when plugged in to shore power.
We had the trailer out on the driveway a few days ago to drain and flush the HW heater. Thereafter, I rinsed the body and know some water sprinkled into the back of the fridge area. Is it possible a bit of water caused a short, thus causing the breaker to fail and fry something else related to battery charging?

[Chamberman]

Its possible that the WFCO failed. I would verify that you have 120VAC going to the WFCO input and then see if there's >12VDC coming out of it on the terminal buss inside of the front cover of the converter. Be sure to turn off the battery disconnect switch so you're not measuring DCV from your batteries. If 120VAC is going in and there's no/low DCV on the output then that suggests the converter has failed.

As to why the fridge breaker tripped and failed, its hard to say. I wouldn't think that a short on the Fridge circuit would kill the WFCO on a separate circuit. Is it possible that you had a power surge?

Come to think of it, you should check to make sure that the WFCO is wired directly to the breaker labeled for it and that its not been wired in parallel on the fridge breaker.

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by SteveDRO

So, using an extension cord, plugged in the fridge for a few hours and it's functioning well. Also, I disassembled the fridge outlet yesterday, which is a typical self-contained unit, and all is in order. Could it be a faulty breaker?

Originally Posted by SteveDRO

The breaker won't reset with power disconnected and turned off. That would explain the fridge portion. Now to figure out why batteries aren't charging when plugged in to shore power.
We had the trailer out on the driveway a few days ago to drain and flush the HW heater. Thereafter, I rinsed the body and know some water sprinkled into the back of the fridge area. Is it possible a bit of water caused a short, thus causing the breaker to fail and fry something else related to battery charging?

Yes, the breaker could be bad, but in my experience it’s the fancy breakers (ground fault, arc fault) that go bad much more often than a “regular” breaker. I would disconnect from shore power and pull the breaker out and a known functioning one from another position and use it in the refrigerator slot to test the circuit. If the swapped breaker resets in the refrigerator circuit that would confirm the breaker in question is faulty. No sense spending money for a new breaker if the one that currently won’t reset isn’t faulty.

I sincerely doubt that splashing a little water into the refrigerator compartment would short anything out. You have probably gotten a bit of water in there in the past if wind driven rain comes down at the right angle when traveling or even when not moving. My refrigerator outlet is installed above the louvered opening; isn’t yours.

As far as the batteries not charging, check both sides of the battery cut off switch in the on position with a meter. If neither side is hot, test the WFCO as Chamberman suggests after verifying that the wires to the switch are making good contact. But if there is power on one side of the cutoff switch, it could be a bad switch.

[SteveDRO]

Chamberman and C&G: Thank you very much for your help! This electrical adventure has successfully concluded. After doing the suggested tests and finding all in order with regard to power, I pulled the breaker. It’s a 30/15, with the 30 labeled Converter and the 15 labeled Fridge, the latter being the tripped one that did not want to be reset. So, with the breaker removed and disconnected...it could be reset. Unusual?! Anyway, reassembled and in good working order

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by SteveDRO

Chamberman and C&G: Thank you very much for your help! This electrical adventure has successfully concluded. After doing the suggested tests and finding all in order with regard to power, I pulled the breaker. It’s a 30/15, with the 30 labeled Converter and the 15 labeled Fridge, the latter being the tripped one that did not want to be reset. So, with the breaker removed and disconnected...it could be reset. Unusual?! Anyway, reassembled and in good working order

Just so you know, the 30 amp half of the breaker is the main and is back wired, ie the wire from the EMS goes to the "output" connection & the back side of the breaker powers the buss bar & the rest of the breakers.

For a number of years (maybe still) Escape uses a wire nut to parallel the refrigerator feed to the converter feed & connects the resulting pigtail to the 15 amp side of the dual 30/15 breaker. One of the early modifications I did to me 2017 21C was to separate the two so that I could turn off the converter without turning off the refrigerator.