Brain damage

[jeepman71]

I think the brain damage my mom accussed me of as a youth is starting to show up.

We haven't had our fifth wheel out enough to completely get the sequence of events for setting up and breaking camp yet. After almost ten years in our motorhome it was second nature. We were able to get out camping this weekend. We got the 5er home Sunday and parked it in its place hooked up the electric and turned on a small heater to keep everything from getting too cold. Monday I noticed the breaker had tripped and the furnace was running. I reset the breaker and commented about it to my wife. She calls me a little later that day and tells me the breaker had tripped again and won't stay reset. I had wired the plug for a 20amp GFCI and used a 15 amp breaker so I picked up a 20 amp and went home after work Tuesday and installed it. All is well right?

This morning I come in to work and turn on my computer and the epiphany hits. I am blowing the 15 amp breaker that had worked fine for the last two motorhomes and 10 months with this rig because I am running an 1500 watt heater and the water heater. Can you say Homer Simpson?

My hope is it will be ok because I did not drain the water heater. It has been pretty cold here until yesterday so maybe I got lucky. Time to put the switch inside where it should be.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by jeepman71

I think the brain damage my mom accussed me of as a youth is starting to show up.

We haven't had our fifth wheel out enough to completely get the sequence of events for setting up and breaking camp yet. After almost ten years in our motorhome it was second nature. We were able to get out camping this weekend. We got the 5er home Sunday and parked it in its place hooked up the electric and turned on a small heater to keep everything from getting too cold. Monday I noticed the breaker had tripped and the furnace was running. I reset the breaker and commented about it to my wife. She calls me a little later that day and tells me the breaker had tripped again and won't stay reset. I had wired the plug for a 20amp GFCI and used a 15 amp breaker so I picked up a 20 amp and went home after work Tuesday and installed it. All is well right?

This morning I come in to work and turn on my computer and the epiphany hits. I am blowing the 15 amp breaker that had worked fine for the last two motorhomes and 10 months with this rig because I am running an 1500 watt heater and the water heater. Can you say Homer Simpson?

My hope is it will be ok because I did not drain the water heater. It has been pretty cold here until yesterday so maybe I got lucky. Time to put the switch inside where it should be.

A 1500 watt electric heater is going to be using 12.5 amps

They say the electric water heater element averages 9-13 amps (depending on the wattage). Turbo just posted the results of his the other day in another forum, and I think it was around 11-12 amps. Maybe he will read this and confirm.

Yep, as you stated, you were definitely overloading your 15 amp, then 20 amp breaker....when both heaters were on at the same time. This doesn't even take into account any amps your AC/DC converter was drawing.

As long as you kept water in the heater, you should be fine. I am guessing you left the electric element on from your previous camping trip you just returned from?

If you need any help in wiring/installing an inside electric heating element switch:There are several forum posts from other members that you might can do a search for here, that'll explain in detail the process.

[rattleNsmoke]

I've that that infliction of Dain Bramage for years and years.