Water setup

Pedestal Electric Checking 30A

Electrical – Checking of Campground Pedestal (Basic) Test Non-Contact Voltage Tester (NCVT) in a working electrical socket, before using at pedestal, based on instructions in the manual for your specific NCVT.

The one I have is a Southwire Model 40116N Get out your NCVT and turn it on, most of them should beep.

Walk up to the pedestal, WITHOUT TOUCHING THE BOX WITH YOUR BARE HAND, touch the outside of the electrical box with the tip of the NCVT, then all around it, just lightly touch the box, do not tap it hard as you could get a false positive reading. Did if beep, not just once while holding it there but continuous beeping?

If so, STOP DO NOTHING ELSE, DO NOT TOUCH THE BOX WITH YOUR BARE HANDS. Contact the campground admin/owner and let them know the electrical pedestal has stray voltage on the outside of the electrical box.

If no beeping from touching all around the box, then you can continue, as at this point, it means one of two things:

There is no stray electricity on the box OR The breaker in the box is turned off.

If you got here then, it is time to open the box and see if there is a circuit breaker in the box, not all electrical pedestals at all campgrounds have the breakers in the electrical box.

Is the breaker turned on or is there no breaker?

If breaker is present and it is turned on, then you are safe there is no stray electricity on the outside of the electrical pedestal box, turn off the breaker and plug in your RV and turn breaker back on.

If breaker is present and it was turned off then turn it on and do the test in step 2 & 3 again, if no beeping, turn it back off and plug in your RV and turn breaker on. If no breaker, then it is somewhere else possibly in a central location at the campground but at this point you are safe to plug in your RV.

Now the last scenario that I just encountered is the front of the pedestal box would NOT stay open, hinges were not tight, so as soon as I was able to touch the box and opened it, it would not stay open, so while using the NCVT to hold open the box, THEN turn the breaker on and while still using the NCVT you are using to hold it open, lower it to closed position while still NOT touching the box with your bare hand, test all around the box, no beeping, open the box back up, turn off breaker, plug in RV and turn break back on.