Are RV Surge Protectors Safe?

by Don Sommerville
(West Jordan, Utah)

Are surge protectors safe? I would like to install one in my Motorhome rather than hang a $500.00 unit on the utility post.

I saw a letter once where a person said they found smoke and their surge protector on fire. They put it out and all was well other than the now destroyed surge protector. They learned that a spike had destroyed many other campers’ appliances but all theirs were safe. That's great but had they been away at the time their entire coach and appliances would have been burnt to the ground. Your comments please. thanks

Don Sommerville

ANSWER: Greetings Don thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

Can RV Surge Protectors catch fire, yes under very rare conditions they can. Most good RV Surge Protectors have built in safeguards to prevent this from happening. In the event of a severe power spike you have a greater chance of having a fire in your RV if you do not have a surge protector.

One thing to you have to understand about RV Surge Protectors is that you get what you pay for and a little bit of research on your part will make sure you get the right surge protector for your RV. There are two important Surge Protector Ratings you need to keep in mind when shopping for one.

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1. Joule Rating: this is the amount of energy that the surge protector can absorb before it fails. The higher the Joule Rating the better.

2. Clamping Voltage: basically this is the voltage that the RV Surge Protector will allow into your RV's electrical system before it starts to suppress it. In this case a lower number is better.

There are two different types of surge protectors that you can buy.

The first type plugs into the shore power source and then you plug your RV into the surge protector. One of the concerns you had was that you did not want to leave a surge protector outside so it would get stolen. There are lock boxes that you can buy for these outside surge protectors to prevent theft.

The second types are surge protectors that can be hard-wired into your RV's electrical system.

I hope that this information has been helpful to you.

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