Roof Air

[Lightning73]

Hi. I recently purchased a 2008 surveyor 235 RKS. As we upgraded from a tent trailer. I am new to this stuff. I plugged trailer into outlet on house that is just a 15 amp breaker. I was just checking things out I tried A/C and it ran for few mins then blew breaker in house. I tried with fridge shut off and same thing. Am I to understand that it will not work on 15 amp?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

[Chuck_S]

Startup on these is spotty on a 15a circuit. My Roo runs on 15a but not all do as in your example. There are "soft start" capacitors that can be installed in the air conditioner that may allow the AC to run. But probably just that, nothing else.

I've known guys who just pulled the 15a breaker and put in a 20a but I doubt any licensed electrician will do that.

If you're going to the trouble to run a 20a circuit to power the camper you may as well run a 30a outlet. My current house has one with the same connection as at the campground and on it's own 30a breaker. Currently running the AC and anything else I want. Just confirmed the water heater works as does the microwave. My power panel is in the garage within 2feet from the sidewall so it was easy-peasy. If the breaker is in the basement it will require some wiring but worth the effort.

-- Chuck

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by Lightning73

Hi. I recently purchased a 2008 surveyor 235 RKS. As we upgraded from a tent trailer. I am new to this stuff. I plugged trailer into outlet on house that is just a 15 amp breaker. I was just checking things out I tried A/C and it ran for few mins then blew breaker in house. I tried with fridge shut off and same thing. Am I to understand that it will not work on 15 amp?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

If the trailer plugged into the house outlet is not tripping the GFCI outlet or breaker you need to narrow down what else is drawing power. How well charged is the battery(ies)? If the battery is low and the converter is charging the battery at full power then there is too much draw on the 15amp house breaker when the A/C is running. You can try turning off the battery disconnect, or turning off the converter breaker in the trailers breaker panel, or disconnect the negative cable from the battery.

[Lightning73]

Originally Posted by Chuck_S

Startup on these is spotty on a 15a circuit. My Roo runs on 15a but not all do as in your example. There are "soft start" capacitors that can be installed in the air conditioner that may allow the AC to run. But probably just that, nothing else.

I've known guys who just pulled the 15a breaker and put in a 20a but I doubt any licensed electrician will do that.

If you're going to the trouble to run a 20a circuit to power the camper you may as well run a 30a outlet. My current house has one with the same connection as at the campground and on it's own 30a breaker. Currently running the AC and anything else I want. Just confirmed the water heater works as does the microwave. My power panel is in the garage within 2feet from the sidewall so it was easy-peasy. If the breaker is in the basement it will require some wiring but worth the effort.

-- Chuck

Thanks for the reply. I will look into the 30 amp idea. I had cord inside garage into 15 amp. So would be easy to add outlet on outside of garage as I have sub panel right there.

[bikendan]

Was it plugged into a GFCI outlet?

[Lightning73]

Originally Posted by Scrapper

If the trailer plugged into the house outlet is not tripping the GFCI outlet or breaker you need to narrow down what else is drawing power. How well charged is the battery(ies)? If the battery is low and the converter is charging the battery at full power then there is too much draw on the 15amp house breaker when the A/C is running. You can try turning off the battery disconnect, or turning off the converter breaker in the trailers breaker panel, or disconnect the negative cable from the battery.

Thanks for info. Battery is brand new and fully charged. It wasn’t plugged into GFCI outlet as I had plugged inside detached garage. I currently have no outlets outside yet

[Chuck_S]

30a external outlet is easy peasy and all the parts are at Lowes or Home Depot at half the price of the RV stores. Just get the right 30a RV outlet. There are at least three: RV, range, and dryer and only the RV will work -- stories of professional electricians installing the wrong outlet are not rare. Heck, the guys installing my new range brought the dryer cord.

I had a little outlet box made up that plugs into the 30a outlet for use when the trailer isn't home. No point in wasting an outlet.

-- Chuck

[rsdata]

There could also be the possibility that you ran TOO LONG of a small wire diameter extension cord to the trailer. Keep the cord as short as possible, like 15 feet or less and as large a diameter as you can. Many extension cords are 50 feet and 14 gauge wire, where the ideal one would be 10 feet and 10 gauge wire.

If the extension cord is warm when being used it is much too small a diameter or way too long to be used in that application.

A hardware store will sell 6 and 10 foot air conditioner extension power cables for just this purpose.