Tripping 30A breaker and other issues - Help!

[weekender]

Need help/advice since I had several things happen this weekend while camping that have not happened in the past.

We have camped at this particular campground many times and have never had issues, but this weekend I kept tripping the 30A breaker on the post. I have a surge protector hardwired in my travel trailer and it kept showing more than 30 amps. Voltage with AC running was down in the 113 - 115 range. I did not do anything different this trip so I am not sure why all of a sudden I am pulling so many amps. All I had running were the AC, water heater (electric), lights and TV. Have done this in the past and did not trip the 30A breaker. Thoughts?

The second thing I had happen at 3:30 in the morning was the LP/CO detector went off. I had no gas appliance running and this was 4th noght of camping so not sure why ont he 4th night it decided to go off. Any input on this is also appreciated.

[el-dubya]

One thought on the LP/CO detector is low battery voltage. If your 30amp breaker was tripped, therefore no shore power, and your battery was low, that may have caused the alarm. LW

[outofhere]

Sorry that you had a such a hard time sounds like the CG was having a power shortage It may of help if you put the water heater on propane as it is such a power hog also where you at the end of the line on the power grid I know that this may seem silly but once we stayed at a CG in the back when we had a popup with no air just turning on a fan had the light's going out one last thing it may of been a bad breaker, some times they get week and pop easily if a surge goes thru them

[Jagiven]

Being it was the power post that was tripping, it might have been a week breaker and a power supply issue at your site. See what happens at a different campground. The 30 amp breaker inside the TT did not trip, correct? You may also want to check your cord from the male connector to the hardwired surge protector, as you should not be pulling more than 30 amps for more than a short moment while things like the AC power up. Otherwise the internal breaker should trip, before the post trips.

LP/CO detector, if it was not the low power issue, they do have a tendency to get very very sensitive as they age.

[weekender]

Thanks for all the help from everyone. It was the outside post breaker tripping and not the one inside the camper. I will check the cord. The battery was good and I think it was a campground issue that caused the issues. I will check at a different campground.

[RedHorse1]

Might be worth having a 30-50A dog bone for times like that. The 30A gets the most use (and abuse) so the plug and/or breaker could be getting flakey.

[nylyon]

Just throwing this out there about the dogbone. IF the issue is in the cord which is tripping the breaker at the supply, then using a dogbone on a 50A circuit could cause a fire since it will now take 50A draw to pop the breaker instead of 30A. A faulty cord will NOT pop the RV's 30A breaker, but the resulting fire could happen inside the unit.

In the original post, he mentions that his camper is drawing more than 30A which if correct would be why the service breaker is tripping.

Not criticizing just trying to keep it safe.

[weekender]

Ran some test this morning since I can see my volts and amps on my surge protector. With only the fridge running on electric I pull 5 amps. Here is what everythign else pulls:

AC - 12 - 15
Water heater (electric) - 12
Few lights: 2 - 4

With just these few items running I am at or slightly above 30 amps already. That coupled with voltage drop down to 112 - 115 put me over. Guess certain pedestal breakers can handle the overload for a little longer than this one did. Will need to make sure that I run my water heater on Gas if AC is running. Does not take long to hit 30 amps!

[dapoppa]

We don't use much hot water unless showering so I leave the wh off. It doesn't take long to heat back up. I can't see using the LP since it's on my nickel but elec is on the CG. Also, a couple of years ago we had an issue with the CO monitor constantly beeping until I turned the valve off at the LP tank.

[eldermike]

When I had 30 amp service we used propane to heat water and only when we needed hot water. Even with 50amp with 2 AC units we do the same thing.

Microwave added to AC can also trip your breaker. So will a coffee pot if it has a hot plate on it. Hot plate on coffee pots can be 1000 watts....

It all about decisions once the AC is running.

[Camping Couple]

Originally Posted by weekender

Ran some test this morning since I can see my volts and amps on my surge protector. With only the fridge running on electric I pull 5 amps. Here is what everythign else pulls:

AC - 12 - 15
Water heater (electric) - 12
Few lights: 2 - 4

With just these few items running I am at or slightly above 30 amps already. That coupled with voltage drop down to 112 - 115 put me over. Guess certain pedestal breakers can handle the overload for a little longer than this one did. Will need to make sure that I run my water heater on Gas if AC is running. Does not take long to hit 30 amps!

The lower the voltage the higher the amps. More amps = more heat in the breaker. It's a voltage issue I'm sure. Shut the electric water heater off at night. That is what we do. We only turn on the water heater when we need it.

[canuckowner]

yup, to the OP: we have tripped the 30A breaker at the post as you did when running AC, hot water, fridge, lights, etc. on electric. What will happen is everything will be working fine until that moment in time when electric HW and fridge happen to be working at the same time and it tips it over the limit. So if AC is blasting and someone wants to use microwave I will usually just turn off the HW or switch fridge over to gas for the few minutes that's in use.

There are also plenty of other small stuff that you might not even consider in your calculation that adds up: phones/computers charging, TV or stereo on, etc etc.

Something I discovered this summer is that mosquito spray can set of your LP alarm!! LOL. The DW was standing outside the screen door spraying herself down and the LP alarm went nuts. First time we had ever really heard it, so it was nice to know that it works!

[edatlanta]

On 50 amp I run everything on electric at the same time and never had a problem. 2 a/c's, water heater, microwave, tv set, coffee pot, refrigerator. Again - Everything.

[weekender]

Thanks to all who provided their feedback. I will watch my usage on my next trip and see if things get better. It appears that I was using too many items at the same time coupled with a drop in voltage. As for the LP/CO detector hope that was a one time thing. I will carry my 30 to 50 dog bone as well and will change over if 50 amp is available and 30 amp is giving me issues.

[Jeff61]

Just to throw this out. When all this is happening grab on to the plug at the post and the last foot of wire. Is it warm to the touch? If so look at the plug, if it looks like the plastic is deformed put on a new end... the kind that screws on direct to the wires. If you have had to use the 30A rv to 15A dogbone often enough they create lots of heat due to current draw.

[Tail_gunner]

I saw no mention of the refrigerator. Was it on and running on electric also maybe. Might be something you forgot to factor into your considerations. After all, cold beer is more important than hot water. Or at least that's what I've been told.

[weekender]

My extension cord (30amp) was very hot so I cleaned off the prongs and tried to clean the outlet. That really did not help so I just used the camper cord with basically the same result. I think the outlet was loose as the cord got extremelly hot.

The fridge was running so that is about 5 amps.

[Jagiven]

I think your AC is pulling to much power. On startup your numbers sounds about right. But once it is up and going I thought mine settled down to 5-8 amps. But this is from 2 year old memory when I check my power draw. If I had good power supply at my new place I would go out and check.

[wwsmith111]

I've had this happen many times on hot days when the hot water heater kicks in while the AC is running on both my old and new TT when I'm hooked up to a 30 amp service. I also solve this by putting the hot water on propane. At other times I've had no problems at all. It seems to be related to how much power is being used by the whole RV park and the corresponding voltage drop. It seems to happen more at older parks rather than new parks that have better power hookups.

[Tail_gunner]

FWIW: Here are the amperage values straight from the Jayco owner's manual:
Air Conditioner 18 AMPS
Coffee Maker 6-12 AMPS
Converter (each) 8 AMPS
Curling Iron or Hair Dryer 10-14 AMPS
DVD System 3 AMPS
Microwave 12 AMPS
Refrigerator 6 AMPS
Satellite Receiver 2 AMPS
TV 2-4 AMPS
Vacuum Cleaner 8 AMPS
Washer/Dryer 12 AMPS
Water Heater 12 AMPS