This is a blade fuse, and I am a certified RV repair tech. And in the last month alone, I've made over a thousand dollars just because I know how to test and replace these.

And this is something anyone can do.

So today, I'm going to show you how to save some major money on RV repairs and test And replace these bad boys yourself.

First off, what is this thing?

Well, it's called a blade fuse. And they come in a variety of sizes, But luckily for you, when it comes to RVs, the standard size is usually the way they go. It’s made up of two metal paddles, a small filament in between, and a plastic case around it to protect it. Its job is to be a cheap and reliable protection in front of your expensive appliances.

That tiny filament inside of the plastic part is meant to get hot and break when too much power goes through the system.Think of it as the knight in shining armor standing in front of your air conditioner and your fridge, protecting it from big power surges. But, unfortunately, this knight only has one life. Once that filament breaks, the fuse has done its job and it needs to be replaced before the appliance will ever work again.

So, where the heck are these things, and how can you test to see if they are your problem?

You're almost always going to have something called a fuse panel inside of your RV somewhere.

It looks something like this and can usually be found in the middle of the rig, in the kitchen near to the floor. But unfortunately, when it comes to RVs, nothing is a hundred percent across all of them.I have found the fuse panel in the bedroom underneath the bed as well, so take a look there If you can't find yours.

When you do find your fuse panel, open it up and it's probably going to look something like this. Keep in mind that all of the fuses you see inside of this panel are going to control and protect the parts of your RV that make it feel like a house. This is going to include things like your lights, your leveling jacks, your slides, and any of your appliances, like your AC and your water heater.

If you're in a motorhome, there's usually going to be a separate fuse panel for the parts of the RV that are like a car. And that can usually be found near the motor. For me, that's in the front of my rig. You can test the fuses in your fuse panel and near your motor the exact same way.

Now that you've found your fuse panel, here's how you can test to see if any of your fuses are the reason why something has stopped working.You can either go for the method where you'll need no tools at all except for your eyeballs, which might just take a little longer. Or you can use a multimeter, Which is going to allow you to be able to test all of your fuses in seconds.

If you don't have a multimeter, then all you're going to do is one by one remove your fuses and give them a visual inspection. See if you can see the filament inside and if it's still intact. If it's still intact, then the fuse is probably good. If it's broken in any way, or you see any charring, then the fuse is probably bad and needs to be replaced.

Just make sure to do your fuses one at a time so that you can put each fuse back where it belongs.

Your fuse panel may be labeled on the side, telling you which fuses go to what. I, as a rule of thumb, ignore those labels. Half the time they're wrong and they've led me down the wrong path too many times. So just check all of your fuses while you're there.

If you have a multimeter, this process can be even faster. Just take your multimeter and set it to continuity. That's the symbol that looks like this.

You can take your two probes and touch them together and you should hear a beep.This tells you that your multimeter is ready to go and test all of your fuses.

Then if you look at your fuses, there's usually a small opening at the top with a little bit of metal poking through for this exact purpose.

So you can take one probe and put it on one side of the fuse, and take your other probe and put it on the other side of the fuse.If you hear a beep, then the fuse is good, if you don't hear a beep, then the fuse is probably bad.

Okay so you found a dead fuse, now what?

All you need to do is take it to your local AutoZone, O'Reilly's, auto parts store, slam it down on the counter and they should be able to help you.

If you're shy, like me, and don't like talking to customer service, just look at the top of the fuse and you should see a number. Just replace it with a fuse that's the same size and has the same number on top and you should be good to go. So a 10 is going to be replaced with a 10.

If for whatever reason you cannot find or don't have on hand the exact size fuse that you need, you can, in emergencies, replace the fuse with something smaller. Never. Larger.

So I can replace a 7. 5 amp fuse with a 5 amp fuse, but just know that that five amp fuse is going to pop easier than the seven and a half did. So know that I usually only do this in emergencies where that's the only thing I have on hand. And then I recommend that customers return the fuse to the right size as soon as possible.

And that's it.

It's that easy.

You'd be surprised how many calls I get where these little guys are the only problem. Just replacing a fuse is only going to cost you a couple cents, whereas calling a tech is going to cost you a couple hundred bucks.

So save yourself the trouble, and the next time something stops working, the first place I want you to check is the fuse box.

If you found this video helpful, I also have my Ultimate Guide to RV Maintenance, where I walk through how to maintain everything in your rig, from your leveling jacks to your air conditioners. The number one way to save money on RV repairs is to give your rig a little love.

So go check that out and see if it can help you.

This has been RV Repair Woman. You got this.