Grey Wolf 19RR Dometic AC causing pole breaker to keep flipping

[bandctaylorare]

Hello,

The breaker on the outside pole at the camp ground keeps flipping when i have my air conditioner running along with other appliances but the breaker inside the camper doesn't flip.Also when i'm at home running to a 110 plug the breaker to my house will also flip after just a few minutes running by itself. I've checked for loose connections and checked my filter and so far it looks normal.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[TURBS]

What's the incoming voltage at the park pedestal?

Are you using an adapter and lightweight cord at home?

These a/c unit require 20 amps to start and 15-18 amps to run especially if it's hot and humid.


I'd suspect the cg that your at is at a low voltage situation especially if your camper is 30 amp.

At home I suspect your plugged into a 15 household outlet and using an extension cord.


2015 Columbus 320RS
2008 2500HD Duramax
2015 nights camped "34"
2016 nights camped "22"

[bandctaylorare]

Whats cg? The campground is 30 amp and its 20 amp at home. I was going to get someone to wire up a 30 amp plug for me at home.

[TURBS]

Cg = campground

Have you checked voltage at the campground pedestal?

Very rarely a household outlet is 20 amp unless it was specifically installed for a 20 amp device

2015 Columbus 320RS
2008 2500HD Duramax
2015 nights camped "34"
2016 nights camped "22"

[bandctaylorare]

Your probably right, i just thought they were 20 amp. As you can tell i'm new to this and know nothing about electricity other than it will kill you. lol

[TURBS]

[emoji6]


2015 Columbus 320RS
2008 2500HD Duramax
2015 nights camped "34"
2016 nights camped "22"

[glb6]

Same thing happened to me last week at cg while running everthing. The breaker tripped 5 times while hooked to 30 amp in my Forester. So I switched the water heater to propane and had no more problems during the entire stay.

[CedarCreekWoody]

Use a clamp on amp meter and see how many amps you are actually pulling. It could be bad breakers, or you could be overloading them. It would help to know which issue is the problem before you try to fix it.

[Billy P]

I had the same problem at an old 30 amp only campground.
My Camper prefers 50 amp service
I solved the problem by using a two 30 amp into one Y adapter. I plugged in the two male 110 plugs into the pole service and then plugged in my 50 step down to 30 amp adapter into the single female of the Y adapters. No more outside pole breakers being tripped.

It's really far simpler than this sounds. You can find the Y adapter at most campsite stores and even Wally World. Any and all RV shops should sell this Y adapter. You are still stuck with 30 amp "service" but the pole breakers won't trip unless you have much too much other electrical stuff running.

[Thurman]

Let's say that you go to a campground that is at least five (5) years old. A lot of campers, me especially, will turn all the breakers within a box to OFF before we connect anything. Then after making our connection we turn the breakers to ON. Circuit breakers are not designed to be switches, just protection from electrical loads drawing more amps than the circuit is designed for. Flipping the breakers OFF and ON will cause the breaker to have a shortened life. I have been taught that circuit breakers will/do become weaker the more they are flipped On and/or OFF. You could have been operating on a weak 30 amp breaker. I have had to ask one cg to change out a 30 amp breaker once and that did resolve my problem at that time. As stated in one post, figure a 15,00 BTU RV air conditioner unit will require 20 amps to start and then 12-15 amps to run. Add in 8-10 amps for the fridge, 6-8 amps for an electric water heater (these numbers vary with manufacturers and appliance age) and you will understand how a single 30 amp breaker reacts to the load of a camper. Just this weekend we went camping with two other campers/friends. It was hot, the temp in my truck showed 96* when we pulled into the campground. One of the campers had a short shore power cord so he hooked up with a 14 ga. 25 foot cord he had with him. After about 4 hours his unit went dark. The male end of his cord, plugged into the campground 30 amp receptacle, had actually melted and shorted out. The outer insulation of his cord had signs of high heat a good 24" back from the male end. We went to a local Wally World and bought a 25 foor 10 ga. RV type cord for him and he made it through the rest of the weekend. Some of the older readers may even remember the "Green Acres" method of using electrical appliances.