Longtime lurker, first-time poster.
I want to share my success story in the hope that it might be useful to someone out there with a similar problem.
I was going in to the trailer one day when the doorknob buzzed me. After researching it a bit, it seemed the only way this could happen is if the trailer is not connected properly to shore ground, and also if something is faulting to ground in the trailer.
To investigate the first problem, I opened the trailer's electrical panel and discovered to my surprise that the previous owner had
disconnected and capped the ground wire from shore! I assume they did this because the trailer was tripping their home GFCI circuit. I could imagine doing such a thing in an emergency, but then I would repair the problem ASAP! Anyhow, after reconnecting the shore ground wire, my home 110v/15a home GFCI immediately tripped. Even with the heater element switch turned off, my home GFCI would still trip.
Next I ordered a new water heater element and replaced my old one. My thanks go to [user]Bill[/user] for his
excellent instructions. I attached a photo of my old heater element. You can clearly see where the short was probably occurring.
After replacing the heater element, my home GFCI no longer trips, and I no longer get buzzed when I touch the shell of the trailer!
Thank you again to everyone who provided great tips, explanations, and instructions.
/Matt