Fuses don't do anything

[Sean]

We have a 2005 Thor Skamper Kodiak 214 Hybrid. While camping this past weekend and running an electric space heater my furnace suddenly kicked on and I noticed my laptop was suddenly running on battery. So, I started checking fuses and outlets and soon realized that I had plugged my heater and laptop into the GFCI circuit that starts at the bathroom and runs through the kitchen and then to the outlet that is attached to the water heater cover. The GFCI tripped and won't reset, so I'll replace it.
But - before I realized what had happened I started pulling fuses while my wife went around with a hair dryer to verify everything was working okay. Well, with every fuse pulled the hair dryer continued to work on every outlet in the camper except the GFCI circuit. The only circuit that seemed to shut off by removing the fuse was the propane leak detector near the floor - it beeped every time I pulled the its fuse. I pulled the main 30 amp DC and AC fuses and nothing shut off. I turned off the two main power switches by the entry door and nothing turned off.
Is this normal? Shouldn't all electrical circuits always be protected by fuses?

[hddecker]

Welcome to the forum, Sean.

You have two totally seperate electrical systems in your camper, the 12V side with the fuses has nothing to do with your 120V side. The GFCI is powered by one of the 120V breakers ang is usually marked as such.

Depending on your knowledge and comfort working with 120V electrical systems, use a multi meter to confirm that the breaker is powered. A simlper method may be to just swap out a couple of breakers to see if the GFCI circuit has a bad breaker.

Next check the wiring on the GFCI receptacle, you may have a bad connection, if the breaker is powered. Dutchmen is notorious for bad wire nut connections, copper wire can become brittle and break if it has gone through a bunch of high heat cycles.

Keep in mind that you don't want to use two high draw devices on the same circuit and perhaps get a plug in circuit tester, of a night light to use to test your receptacles.

Good luck in finding the problem.

[Sean]

I didn't see any circuit breakers when I opened the door to the fuse panel. When I pull the battery for the winter I'll have another look.

[hddecker]

Sean,

The power distribution panel usually has both systems combined in one unit, but it is possible that they are in seperate locations.

[Sean]

Found the circuit breakers! They were indeed in the box, but black on black so I didn't even see them until I basically got down low enough.
But what do the two switches by the door do? Do they only control the AC circuits?