Main Breaker Help Please

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by rkymtn57

Ok Wmtire , Im understanding your posts , thank you ....Yes , she is running the hot water on elect. because she cant go and refill gas bottles but turns it off when not needed. I got ya 30amp only at a time.... I dont think she is using Air Cond. its cool there. Im thinking of all elect. appliances including Refrigerator. Thanks

Im waiting on her.

OK, I was editing my post above with a few more questions to ask her.

[rkymtn57]

meganjoe , thank you very much , i appriciate it ! D

[rkymtn57]

Its raining hard there and she is 81, Ha ha ...Dang !

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by rkymtn57

Its raining hard there and she is 81, Ha ha ...Dang !

Hmmm, we definitely don't want to send her outside to fiddle with anything.

This may be outside the realm of her troubleshooting it.

You wouldn't be lucky enough for her to be near West Monroe, LA would you?

[rkymtn57]

No , its ok she can switch a breaker. Thats all.

[Tiggerdad]

Ask a manager at the park to assist her. Although they may nmot be electrically included they should be able to check the breakers and fuses.

[dan-nickie]

If I understand it after reading the entire post and reading between the lines.

1. The inside breaker only pops when she turns on the hair dryer?

2. And you don't think any other appliances are pulling a big load?

3. But the water heater may be on electric also?

Make sure the water heater is not on electric.


ETA: Oh, now I see the breaker won't reset any more.

[rkymtn57]

Its on a private lot , she has to use Elect. hot water she cannot carry propane tanks .
She turns it off and on as needed. When she can go outside I will let ya know what happened.

[rkymtn57]

Wmtire , Can I make this permanent rv.....50 amp. ? I guess I would need a new converter ?

[BigTJohn]

50 amp conversion from 30 amp will mean extra wiring and as you mentioned an electrician to do the job correctly. You should not need to do that, however. 30 amp should be more than enough for a 30' rig. The problem could be with the hair dryer itself. If the hair dryer has internal problems, it may be tripping the breaker.

[rkymtn57]

Thank you all very much , I think she overloading the circuit , trying to run a free standing floor heater . She reset all breakers and elect. came back on.
We'll see what else happens , she can also run a extension cord fron the outside pole in to the RV to run the little heater. D

[geotex1]

Originally Posted by BigTJohn

50 amp conversion from 30 amp will mean extra wiring and as you mentioned an electrician to do the job correctly. You should not need to do that, however. 30 amp should be more than enough for a 30' rig. The problem could be with the hair dryer itself. If the hair dryer has internal problems, it may be tripping the breaker.

A typical 1500W hair dryer is pulling 12.5A, running with an A/C, for instance, and you've taxed all 30A.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by rkymtn57

Thank you all very much , I think she overloading the circuit , trying to run a free standing floor heater . She reset all breakers and elect. came back on.
We'll see what else happens , she can also run a extension cord fron the outside pole in to the RV to run the little heater. D

She is trying to run an electric heater, with a hair dryer?

As explained, she is limited to 30 amps total.

Another way to look at this is

watts = voltage x amps
or
3600 watts = 120 volts X 30 amps

She cannot run over 3600 watts of things or 30 amps.

a 1500 watt hair dryer and a 1500 watt electric heater are 25 amps together. 1500 watts divided by 120 volts = 12.5 amps

She may even have a 1850 watt hair dryer which draws even more amps.

Her electric water heater element is 1440 watts or 12 amps....when it is on and heating the water.

This isn't counting anything else on 120 volts (microwave, air-conditioner, fridge on electric since you said she has no propane which is 5-8 amps, television, anything plugged into an electric outlet)

She also has a converter that takes 120 volts AC and convert it to power 12 volts DC stuff (lights, fans, furnace, detectors, etc.) The AC amps used by the converter will vary depending on how many 12 volt things she uses at the same time which can be from basically 0-8 amps.

She probably cannot have a hair dryer and electric heater on at the same time. She may also need to turn off the electric water heater element when running the space heater.....as it may overload the main circuit when combined with the amps the converter and refrigerator are drawing in the background.

Just taking some approximations, she is using say 6 amps for the fridge and 3 amps from the converter. If you add the 12.5 amps from the space heater (or more if it's more than 1500 watts), she is using 21.5 amps on those 3 things alone. If the electric water heater element comes on, then you add another 12 amps and you immediately went to 33.5 amps or overload.

She will have to practice energy conversation and learn what can be on...and thus what has to be off at the same time.

Here is some better reading that also has some average appliance amp draws for both 120 volt AC and 12 volt DC:

Basic RV Electricity - RV Information (RV Maintenance)

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

[wmtire]

But if I understand, she has reset all the subcircuit breakers and currently has 120 volt power? Is this correct?

[dan-nickie]

Originally Posted by rkymtn57

Thank you all very much , I think she overloading the circuit , trying to run a free standing floor heater . She reset all breakers and elect. came back on.
We'll see what else happens , she can also run a extension cord fron the outside pole in to the RV to run the little heater. D

I fugured there had to something else on that was not known.
Glad she got it.

[geotex1]

Originally Posted by rkymtn57

We'll see what else happens , she can also run a extension cord fron the outside pole in to the RV to run the little heater. D

Not necessarily. It's fairly common for the 20A and 30A receptacles to be on the same feed so there's only 30A available.

Have you considered setting your mother up with a propane service since it's on a lot? Have a much larger free-standing tank delivered and filled on a schedule. May work out cheaper (and safer) in the long-run for her to be able to use the propane furnace and heat hot water this way since I'd assume the electric is metered. Just a suggestion.

[rkymtn57]

Yes , Im thinking about a propane tank. Thank you.

[rkymtn57]

Yes , Wmtire she now has 120.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by rkymtn57

Yes , Wmtire she now has 120.

Excellent, I just edited my previous post #33 to add more information.

It may help you educate her somewhat on what she should turn off....or not turn on at the same time.

[Flybob]

A 30A RV outlet and a 20A household outlet in your pedestal does not mean you can run 50A from the pedestal. It generally means you have two ways to access power but only 30A to work with.