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Old 01-03-2015, 10:44 PM   #1
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Heater help please

I have a 2013 sunseeker, I bought a 1500 watt heater which continuously blew all breakers in the rv..this happened when I ploughed into a house and at a rv park. Can anyone tell me is there a certain type of heater I should have?
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Old 01-03-2015, 10:56 PM   #2
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I use a 1500w heater in my GT with no problem. The GT is hooked to my power pedistal with a 30 amp cord. I would occasionally blow the carport circuit breaker before I had the 30 amp recepticle installed.

If you are trying to run it on 15 amps, then I would try a smaller heater or run it on low power. I don't think it should blow the fuses inside the unit unless you are running other things on the same circuit.
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Old 01-03-2015, 11:55 PM   #3
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That makes no sense at all, UNLESS the heater itself is bad. Try another one if possible. Does that heater work ok plugged into a regular receptacle in your house?
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Old 01-04-2015, 07:12 AM   #4
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It was a new heater from Wal-Mart. Never used it anywhere else. We were on the road camping
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Old 01-04-2015, 07:16 AM   #5
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Stop at a rest area or some place where there is an outlet and plug the heater in that.
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Old 01-04-2015, 07:18 AM   #6
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Plug it directly into the campground power pedestal, preferably the 15 or 20 amp receptacle. If it trips their breaker you have a defective heater.
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Old 01-04-2015, 07:18 AM   #7
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Stop at a rest area or some place where there is an outlet and plug the heater in that.
Also what else do you have plugged in in your unit on the same circuit.
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Old 01-04-2015, 07:24 AM   #8
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This is less likely than a defective heater, but do any of the receptacles you tried in your Sunseeker have other things on the same circuit? Television?


The convertor is on one of the breakers that serves receptacles, and it could be pulling a lot of amps if the coach batteries are really low. The refrigerator and furnace require 12 volts when running, so they are adding to the convertor's load.
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Old 01-04-2015, 09:37 AM   #9
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Even if you have a defective heater or are overloading that one breaker, it should not blow "all" the breakers in the RV. If the entire RV is loosing power, you are tripping the main breaker which means the total RV draw is over 30A. You can't run that heater on high (1500 watts) while running the HW heater on electric as well as other things ( Tv etc). Turn off major current hogs ( HW heater ect) and try again.
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Old 01-04-2015, 09:55 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coupevillefish View Post
If you are trying to run it on 15 amps, then I would try a smaller heater or run it on low power. I don't think it should blow the fuses inside the unit unless you are running other things on the same circuit.

According to OP, it's not a question of fuses (12v side) but breakerS (odd but on 110v side).


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Old 01-04-2015, 10:25 AM   #11
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I have a 2013 sunseeker, I bought a 1500 watt heater which continuously blew all breakers in the rv..this happened when I ploughed into a house and at a rv park. Can anyone tell me is there a certain type of heater I should have?
This is kind of a summary of all the great previous advice:

As others have pointed out, you shouldn't be "tripping" all the 120 volt breakers, but either the one breaker that controls the circuit/outlet the heater is plugged into, or possibly the "main" 30 amp breaker.

I agree with the excellent advice of plugging the heater directly into a campground power pedestals 15/20 amp outlet and see if it trips the pedestals breaker. This will let you know if you may just have a faulty new heater (it happens).

If the pedestals breaker doesn't trip, then you might want to add up your total amp draws from all of your other electrical things and make sure you are not:

1. Overloading the individual 15 amp circuit in your Sunseeker that the heater is plugged into

or

2. Overloading the main 30 amp circuit, which controls all the individual circuits in your Sunseeker.

Quick and easy electrical 101 and amps lesson if you have a 30 amp RV.. You usually cannot exceed 15 amps per circuit, or 30 amps total for all circuits added together of all electrical items in use. This includes air conditioner, microwave, televisions, fridge on electric, and all things plugged into outlets (space heaters, toasters, coffee makers, and hair dryers are big amp users), and the often overlooked water heater when using the electric heating element side of it.

Watts = volts X amps or maybe an easier way to understand is amps = watts divided by volts.

If you are using a 1500 watt space heater divided by 120 volts, then you are utilizing 12.5 amps just for the heater. Anything else on that same circuit as the heater is plugged into, then needs to be 2.5 amps or less...to keep you under the 15 amp threshold for the individual circuit.

Now also, since the space heater itself is using 12.5 amps......then EVERYTHING else in your RV combined needs to be 17.5 amps or less to keep you under the 30 amp main breaker threshold.

This will include your air conditioner (average 12-16 amps), microwave (8-13 amps), fridge on electric mode (5-8 amps), television (1.5-4 amps), and water heater on electric (12 amps).

You also have to take into consideration your converter, which converts 120 volt AC to 12 volt DC, that powers your DC stuff (lights, furnace, fridge on 12 volt/propane, CO2 detectors, etc). The more DC stuff you use at one time, requires more 120 volt amps from the converter which will be anywhere from around 1-8 amps.

Everyone will need to learn power management, on 30 amp power supplies...and also learn what items you can have on at the same time, as well as what items you have to turn off to stay within the 30 amp total and not trip the breaker(s)..

Here are a few good articles to read by Mark Polk:

Basic RV Electricity - RV Information (RV Maintenance)

RV Converters and Amp Draw - RV Information (RV Maintenance)

Hope this helps and you get it all figured out
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