Breakers Tripping

[4Gcampers]

A little off topic, but has anyone had any issues with the breakers tripping with the electric water heater and the AC running? 15k or 13.5 btu? Does Italy a difference? I know the gen set can't handle both.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by 4Gcampers

A little off topic, but has anyone had any issues with the breakers tripping with the electric water heater and the AC running? 15k or 13.5 btu? Does Italy a difference? I know the gen set can't handle both.

What breakers are tripping?

Gennie breakers?
Camper breakers?
What size gennie?

Any gennie less than 3000 watts is marginal when when running a/c and anything else .

These show yow why.
http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...rmal+appliance

Also why not run wh on gas?

Turbs

[4Gcampers]

I don't have the unit yet. I posted this originally in the Sunseeker forum since we have one on order but it was moved. I was asking the other owners about what they can run on shore power safely. It's a 30 amp unit. If the AC pulls 16-18 amps and the water heater draws around 12 that's close to 30 amps alone. Was wondering if they ever had issues tripping breakers on shore power. They all have the Onan 4000kw gen set so the air alone would consume most of that. Yes, we could use gas for WH as we did in our old TT but was looking forward to not using gas when possible.

[TURBS]

50 amp would make things much easier !!!!!!!
4000 watt should be plenty to run a/c and hw heater .....
but remember you have to add in the converter usage as its a constant and somtimes can be 8-9 amps
as well as the fridge if its not on gas .

[ependydad]

We were in a park in Florida at a 30amp site on our 50amp rig. I finally switched the water heater to gas because we kept tripping the breaker out at the campground box and had fewer problems from there out (though, our baby bottle warmer uses a remarkable amount of electricity - it caused us problems when used in conjunction with other stuff!).

[Herk7769]

There are several great threads here that talk about the hazards of LOW park power and the increase in amps drawn by inductive motors (like AC compressors) as a result.

[4Gcampers]

Seems like if most modern RV appliances are drawing so much power they would just outfit all motorhome and larger travel trailers for 50Amp. Seems pointless to have a class c that you can only run limited appliances on 30 amp.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by 4Gcampers

Seems like if most modern RV appliances are drawing so much power they would just outfit all motorhome and larger travel trailers for 50Amp. Seems pointless to have a class c that you can only run limited appliances on 30 amp.

I suppose that is true to some extent. In the 50s a 45 amp service was plenty for a home. By the 60s 100 amp services were common. Now a house with less than 200 amps is grossly underpowered.

Most well established campgrounds still only supply 30 amp service (though most of those are upgrading to 50 amps as quickly as they can afford it).

Being able to have the fireplace (1500 watts), 15K AC (2000 watts each), microwave (1500 watts), and all the entertainment equipment far exceeds the 3600 watt (30 amp) service commonly supplied.

Pointless or not, convincing small 30 amp service campgrounds to spend a few hundred thousand dollars upgrading all of their sites to 50 amps will take a long time, me thinks.

[4Gcampers]

Good point Herk. I can understand the work involved in that. Surprisingly I've noticed more and more state parks going to 50a service. Well, it's not the end of the world if you have to turn the AC off to turn on the water heater or microwave some soup!

[Oakman]

Our last two fifth wheels had 30 amp service. During the summer months when the air conditioner was necessary I always used propane for the water heater. I can’t speak to a 10 gallon water heater, but the six gallon water heater we had in those trailers really didn’t use that much propane to keep the water hot. That was our only real concession to having just 30 amps. We never had issues using the microwave or other appliances when the A/C was running over the nine years we only had 30 amps.

During cold weather I would use the electric side for the water heater to conserve every bit of the propane for the furnace. The furnace was the biggest hog of propane. When we camped with temps in the upper 20’s to lower 30’s we could use up 7 gallons of propane in 4 days.

[ependydad]

I didn't see any kind of exceptionally noticeable use with propane our week in Florida with the 10 gallon water heater.

[Herk7769]

When campground voltage drops to the point my Franks Autotransformer starts boosting, I switch the water heater and fridge to propane. Propane is way more efficient in low voltage conditions.