Stupid question

[slw71297]

We just purchased a 2012 264BH Swift. Tonight we were playing with it, so we hooked it up to the house power. Every 5-10 minutes, we kicked off the breaker in the house for the receptacle we were plugged into. What are we doing wrong?

[rescuebub]

It could be alot of things, but start simple and make sure you don't have on heavy loads like the electric water heater and the A/C. If both of those are off, maybe try a different outlet? We plug ours in all the time, and the only times I've tripped a breaker was when I was trying to run the A/C. Good luck and let us know if you find an answer! Oh, and welcome to the forum and congrats on the new Swift!

[tinlizzie23]

You didn't say what all you had operating in the camper, but if you had something on, like an air conditioner, that takes a lot of power, you may have overloaded your house circuit. For example, my trailer lights, fans, microwave, and other light users will run on a 20 amp circuit with no problem. But as soon as you turn on the A/C, you need a 30 am circuit. Plugging into a 20 amp circuit with an adapter from a 30 amp cord will almost certainly blow the breaker if you are exceeding the 20 amp draw. Hope this helps. Perhaps other folks out there can give you other reasons for blowing your breaker.

[Crabman]

No stupid questions on this forum. It sounds like you had too much on for the 15 or 20 amp house circuit which can cause it to trip. I`ve tripped the 30 amp breaker in the trailer before if the AC, microwave and electric hot water heater were running at the same time. So it takes even less to trip a standard house circuit. What were you running when the breaker tripped?

[Terry]

Just to be clear - many outside breakers also are GFI breakers - did it blow the overload portion of the breaker or the GFI portion?

[slw71297]

It was an amp problem. I know better now. We were trying everything out and had the fridge, the AC, and lights on. It would pull for a few minutes, but kick the house breaker off. We're still learning! Thanks guys!

[norty1]

Don't feel to bad. Even if you had a 30a service you could trip the breaker with all on in the rv and then plug in a coffee pot or hairdryer. It is part of the learning process.

[Terry]

Yep - easy mistake to make. I knew the AC pulled a lot, but when I got my trailer at first I was not thinking about how much everything else combined pulled. I have an amp meter on mine now so I keep an eye on what I am pulling. I have seen the converter/charger alone take 8 amps when you crank up the lights. The Fridge typically shows around 3, water heater I think was 12 as was the micro.

[clutch]

We just have a 20 amp GFI at home so we have to be careful of how much we turn on.