electrical option - not enough juice for everything

[LaydBack]

I'm an electrician by trade, and will leave that part at that. I won't get into a debate over practical sense vs. common sense. I'll say propane can get expensive when using it for heat, hot water, and cooking, especially as cozy as my wife likes the trailer. My mod was pricey because I did the surge guard $260, otherwise, i think the panel was $45 and the cord maybe $120-$140. Regardless, I'd say it pays for itself in propane and relaxing comfortably. I had the ability to heat with electric primarily, have a 2nd AC for added comfort, and use whatever I wanted to without running around the trailer turning things on and off, or rigging up cords to run extra stuff on. Made for an overall happier experience for everyone, and I got to kick back and relax more. I'm sure when I get the new one, I'll go thru it and break up the circuits for the same enjoyable experience. Anyone interested in further detail, check the link in my sig or PM me, I don't want to take away from the OPs thread by debating people's opinion of what someone else would like to accomplish.

[DXSMac]

Originally Posted by wmtire

LOL

A lot of people will run an extension cord from the camp pedestals 120 (20 amp) outlet into their trailer, to run some things off of (like your coffee maker), which will take some of the load off of your trailers 30 amp.

NO WAY! You can't do this. If the post you are plugging into is 50 amp max, you might get away with this if you are a 30 amp RV.

But, if the post you plug into is 30 amp max, you cannot plug stuff into the 20 amp to take load off the 30 amp.

Experienced that when I camp hosted in Colorado. Entire park had 30 amp posts. People were coming into the park with these home made devices that would allow them to plug into both outlets, popped a lot of breakers.

[mattb]

Imade a couple of these, 1 for myself and 1 for my neighbor. It is used primarily outside at the prep table. Inexpensive option.

Matt

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ice-21187.html

[dwaynerz]

Lol show them the shower house

originally thought this was funny reply, but after reading thru to make sure somebody else didnt post exact comment, it has lost its shine. sorry to post here, but i had already ctrl c'd it, i had to ctrl v it too.

[LaydBack]

[QUOTE=mattb;292799]Imade a couple of these, 1 for myself and 1 for my neighbor. It is used primarily outside at the prep table. Inexpensive option.

Matt

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ice-21187.html[/QUOTE

Might I suggest to you and anyone else doing this to put an inline fuse in each hot line. Otherwise you are exceeding the amperage rating (15A) of the 14 gauge wire and the receptacle. I understand the logic that if I don't plug in too many things, then all should be good, but the potential dangers are there and fusing it to the wire and receptacle's rating is cheap insurance. Electricity has a way of letting you know when a component is being overloaded, and it usually isn't very nice about it. Just throwing this in for those lacking in electrical knowledge. It's not a bad solution, it's just lacking a very important safety component.

[trudinator]

This is an awful lot of discussion about changing breakers, pulling wires, surge protectors, 30A, 50A, etc. when the problem can be fixed by turning off some of your appliances. Even when we have full hook-ups, we don't shower every single day. You're camping, and as such, you have to learn to conserve your resources. Use propane to make your coffee - an old fashioned percolator works great. Use propane to heat your water, etc. With those changes, and spacing out your showers to allow your propane-fired water heater to recover, you won't have a problem.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by trudinator

This is an awful lot of discussion about changing breakers, pulling wires, surge protectors, 30A, 50A, etc. when the problem can be fixed by turning off some of your appliances. Even when we have full hook-ups, we don't shower every single day. You're camping, and as such, you have to learn to conserve your resources. Use propane to make your coffee - an old fashioned percolator works great. Use propane to heat your water, etc. With those changes, and spacing out your showers to allow your propane-fired water heater to recover, you won't have a problem.

Lol he's scared of divorce or dismemberment if he shuts off electric side of hw heater.


Shower then make coffee?

[trudinator]

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

Lol he's scared of divorce or dismemberment if he shuts off electric side of hw heater.


Shower then make coffee?

Man...life is too short to have to worry about coffee and showers. You're camping...there aren't supposed to be that many hassles!

[VinceU]

Originally Posted by jeeplj8

In the few trips we have managed in our new trailer, we have already seen a problem brewing with not enough juice to run everything we want running.

Our trailer is set-up with 30 amp service. Twice, in the mornings, we have had trouble with blowing multiple breakers. Typically what happens is the hot water heater (gas/electric) is running and the fireplace is running. Then we try to make coffee and blow a breaker. We have blown the 30 amp campground breaker twice, so I am guessing the hot water heater and fireplace pull a little more juice than I thought. Since this is the morning routine, we would like to be able to run all the above at once.

The purpose of this thread is kind of brainstorm ideas on how to go about avoiding this in the future. The first idea I have had is to install 50 amp service, and separate the hot water heater and fireplace.

Other ideas?

Give uo the energy wasting wtr. heater and cofee maker and you'll have plenty of the 30 amps left over. In nicer weather put one back on. Remember electric heat in any format is very inefficient. Millions live on 30 amp service, noot all sites have 50amp.

[whj77372]

Sorry about your problem. That is why we opted for the 50 amp and the fact that one AC will not cool a 32 ft fiver in SE Texas during the summer. I have never took a shower in our 5er, the wife does but I go to the bath house were they have lots of hot water.

[jtrader]

The DW and I are full timers in a 28' TT with only 30A service. I run our AC, a dehumidifier, an air purifier, and the countless other things that pull juice. In the winter, such as right now at 12 degrees, we run a 1500W space heater, the WH on dual, the dehumidifier, and air purifier plus the usual without problems. When I start tripping breakers is when we plug in the coffee maker in the morning with the space heater on high. The wife's routine is to turn the space heater to low before she starts her coffee. We do trip breakers if I kick in the microwave without turning off the dehumidifier. Needless to say, summer or winter, it gets turned off to do most anything since it pulls about 14A. To sum it up I'm in the same boat you're in and after reading all these posts I plan to do some research on how to get another completely separate line into the trailer just for the dehumidifier and air purifier. That way everything else will run without having to turn off anything or tripping breakers. I think a 12' 10ga three way extension cord will work pretty good for that purpose but I need to figure out how to run it inside the trailer without cutting great big holes.

[Tblackmon9599]

Let me start by stating that I'm not an electrician, so there!

Have a 50 amp service also with a wife and two small kids. Coffee is a must have right out of bed and although we are not coffee snobs, a percolator is not a Kuerig.

I run a space heater to supplement the gas heat at night and I have a breaker tripping every time I turn the coffee maker on (with the heater going that is). The way i see it, I don't have an issue with the power supply to the 5er as much as the way the circuits are wired inside the unit. Seems to me that most available outlets are on the same 15amp breaker. So my question is If I'm not pulling more than 50 amp total from the pedestal then why would it matter if I ran a separate 20amp circuit to the 5er dedicated to the heater, or coffee maker for that matter? (assuming the CG doesn't have an issue with it) Just asking???

[caper]

If the CG has no issue with you running the extra cord then there is no problem. I unplugged my electric water heater and plugged my space heater into the outlet. I have not blown the 30 amp main breaker with this set up.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by Tblackmon9599

Let me start by stating that I'm not an electrician, so there!

Have a 50 amp service also with a wife and two small kids. Coffee is a must have right out of bed and although we are not coffee snobs, a percolator is not a Kuerig.

I run a space heater to supplement the gas heat at night and I have a breaker tripping every time I turn the coffee maker on (with the heater going that is). The way i see it, I don't have an issue with the power supply to the 5er as much as the way the circuits are wired inside the unit. Seems to me that most available outlets are on the same 15amp breaker. So my question is If I'm not pulling more than 50 amp total from the pedestal then why would it matter if I ran a separate 20amp circuit to the 5er dedicated to the heater, or coffee maker for that matter? (assuming the CG doesn't have an issue with it) Just asking???

I have the same problem in my trailer, they have to many circuits off of 1 15 amp breaker. I have never had a problem with the camp ground plugging in a extension cord to the pedestal. I plug my outdoor lights that way at times, and I have been camping awhile...:

[jimh]

have u tried putting the heater on a different outlet? i've noticed the bathroom, kitchen outlet, and maybe the tv are all on the same gf circuit. (these circuits are all on the same side of the trailer). the circuits in the rear and the other side of the trailer are on different circuits.
next time that circuit blows (provided it isn't the middle of the night), with the breaker still tripped, try the heater on different outlets. if any of the others are live then it won't be on the same circuit as the coffee maker.

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by jtrader

The DW and I are full timers in a 28' TT with only 30A service. I run our AC, a dehumidifier, an air purifier, and the countless other things that pull juice. In the winter, such as right now at 12 degrees, we run a 1500W space heater, the WH on dual, the dehumidifier, and air purifier plus the usual without problems. When I start tripping breakers is when we plug in the coffee maker in the morning with the space heater on high. The wife's routine is to turn the space heater to low before she starts her coffee. We do trip breakers if I kick in the microwave without turning off the dehumidifier. Needless to say, summer or winter, it gets turned off to do most anything since it pulls about 14A. To sum it up I'm in the same boat you're in and after reading all these posts I plan to do some research on how to get another completely separate line into the trailer just for the dehumidifier and air purifier. That way everything else will run without having to turn off anything or tripping breakers. I think a 12' 10ga three way extension cord will work pretty good for that purpose but I need to figure out how to run it inside the trailer without cutting great big holes.

I have not yet had any breakers trip in on 30A in 25 years of camping. Having said that we are thinking about having a second AC unit installed I talked about it to our dealer he gave me a price. I asked him about the 30A to 50A service he said they would being doing it as well that was included in the price. Apparently is is not a major issue to up grade at least on our unit , of coure, the main power cord & ungrades would need to be done at the incoming panel. Not totally sure all that would be required I was in a rush & mainly curious about the second AC. Not real crazy about having another hole cut in the roof.....

[jimh]

Originally Posted by jtrader

I think a 12' 10ga three way extension cord will work pretty good for that purpose but I need to figure out how to run it inside the trailer without cutting great big holes.

u should be able to do it with a #!2 which wont be as large. u can usually find a gap in the slide out wall where u can slip an extension cord thru. The #10 will probably be too large to do this.
a #12 will handle a space heater with no problem. i use one at home and can run one of my air conditioners on it w/o problems. the converter and frig can also be run at the same time.

[Tblackmon9599]

jtrader said:

"I think a 12' 10ga three way extension cord will work pretty good for that purpose but I need to figure out how to run it inside the trailer without cutting great big holes."

I agree, a #12 is fine for the heater. I installed an outlet inside my basement where the control equipment is located. I then came off that outlet with a #12 in conduit and routed underneath my trailer to under the entertainment center( this is where my space heater sits underneath the TV). Punched a 3/8" hole and then wired another outlet in the floor and sealed from below with silicon. I just took and old outdoor electrical cord and cut off the female connector and wired in a male connector in its place. Now all I have to do is plug the cord from the pedestal into the outlet in the basement and that completes the circuit. Now in addition to the outlet inside the unit I have an additional one in the basement area that I can use when needed. Works well and is easy to hook-up and disconnect without wires running everywhere. Just a thought for you.