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sunnydays · 12-05-2007, 01:05 AM

We're MH newbies still experiencing some fear at doing the wrong thing - lol. We're taking our newly acquired 06 Adventure (and first MH) on its second outing but this time in the cold to a state park with 20/30 amp sites only. We have a dedicated 30 amp line from our house to the MH and trip the breaker when we use the furnace on electric. The control panel shows fluctuation but it maxes out about 20 amps. I gather we should not attempt to run the furnace on electric power at the park, but I hate to disturb neighbors with the generator. Is the best solution just to set it to gas only?

sunnydays · 12-05-2007, 01:05 AM

We're MH newbies still experiencing some fear at doing the wrong thing - lol. We're taking our newly acquired 06 Adventure (and first MH) on its second outing but this time in the cold to a state park with 20/30 amp sites only. We have a dedicated 30 amp line from our house to the MH and trip the breaker when we use the furnace on electric. The control panel shows fluctuation but it maxes out about 20 amps. I gather we should not attempt to run the furnace on electric power at the park, but I hate to disturb neighbors with the generator. Is the best solution just to set it to gas only?

Route 66 · 12-05-2007, 02:03 AM

You have confused me a bit with your terms.

The furnace is propane fueled and the blower is a 12 volt motor. No AC needed

I frequently run 1 Air Conditioner or 1 Heat Pump on 30 amps.

However, you need to be mindful of other loads.

A coffee pot, toaster, microwave, etc, can overload a 30 amp circuit when the AC/heat pump is running.

A 20 amp circuit may not work for you.

I've linked your post to the RV systems forum for more visibility.

John_Canfield · 12-05-2007, 03:04 AM

We can get by just fine on 30 amp power in the heat or cold. The Energy Management System (EMS) will shed loads as necessary to keep the total demand to 30 (or 20 amps if you selected that position.)

Like Dirk says, your furnace uses 12 volts and propane, the heat pump of course uses AC.

Some state parks (and commercial campgrounds) have very poor power due to inadequate wiring. You might find the advertised 30 amp power to be 30 amps only if you are the only one in the park, otherwise when the campground is full and everybody fires up the coffee pots in the morning you might find your voltage sagging to 100-110 volts.

To counter this. I finally broke down this summer and bought a Hughes 30 amp autoformer and it works just great. If you will be doing much camping in state/national parks, I suggest getting one.

You should not be blowing the 30 amp breaker at your house. I would change out the breaker and see if that helps.

Dsouthw524 · 12-05-2007, 03:24 AM

I would also like to suggest that you can save many problems by buying a simple plug into the wall AC voltage meter, obtainable at CW, RV Upgrades and other camping sales locations. You might find that the voltage at the coach is not in the safe range(Lower than 103 volts).

One of the things that can draw amps when on minimal power many forget about is the refrigerator running on electric. The current draw for the refrig is almost as much as a hair dryer!

Pusherman · 12-05-2007, 03:53 AM

Your EMS system should shed the other loads as described above, but you can take some precautions, such as making sure that the refrigerator is on LP, the electric hot water heater element is off. And try to run the coffee pot, microwave, hair dryer only when the heat pump is NOT running. The heat pump/ac system should run on 20A, and certainly on 30A

The voltage warnings in the above post are also key. I have the low-cost voltage meter from CW and keep an eye on that.

Better yet use the LP gas furnace. Runs on 12V as Dirk stated above, and your AC hookup will keep your batteries charged.

Remember, the heat pump is not effective below 40 degrees anyhow.

Tom N · 12-05-2007, 04:57 AM

Your heat pump/AC will operate fine on 30 amps. After all, many Winnebagos only come with 30 amp. and have basement AC/heat.

-Tom

Tenn.Vol. · 12-05-2007, 06:10 AM

Sunnydays, after I read your thread again, I think you are concerned about the PARK 30 amp. becaause
YOUR 30 amp. will not carry much over 20 amps before it pops a breaker.

My question is to your electriction, Is the breaker a good 30 amp breaker, is the size of the wire
approapate for the length of the run to the 30 amp plug?
Keep in mind a breaker will trip if it has a thermo overload. Defective breaker, undersize wire,
low voltage or a looose connection anywhere in the circuit.

My thinking is you have a problem in YOUR 30 amp. circuit, somewhere!!!!!TENN.

SargeW · 12-05-2007, 06:36 AM

Also I noted that you included 20 amp in your original post. The answer to that is probably not. I just tried my electric heat pump while plugged into a regular 20 amp circut at my house. The pump kicked on and the fan started to blow, but when the grid heater in the pump started to get hot I was standing watching the amp meter on my power center. It quickly hit 22 amps, and my surge guard in the basement cut power to the coach. On a 30 amp circut you probably would have enough to run the heat pump as long as not a lot of other electric devices are running. John is right, the EMS will shed other devices to allow you to run the heat pump if necessary. However, I would recommend purchasing a Surge Guard for your rig. It has protection built in for both high and low voltage. You will most likely encounter a lot more instances of low voltage parks than the other way around. Low voltages will distroy electrical appliances just as fast as high voltage will.

Sarge

skigramp · 12-05-2007, 08:55 AM

I travelled in a WIT caravan during the summer of 2006. There were some RV parks that the wagonmaster new had power problems. In those parks we all turned OFF the number 2 compressor on the air-conditioner/heat-pump to decrease the voltage drop across the electrical service boxes to the sites occupied by the caravan. We turned off the compressors by flipping the internal circuit breakers on our rigs.

The point of this is that you can probably run your number one compressor for your heat-pump without popping a circuit breaker in your house. The inside circuit breakers for the heat-pump are located at the foot of the bed in my rig .

In colder weather you should always fill your propane tank before you head out ... depending on the humidity your heat-pump will cut out near the 40 degree mark and call on heat from the LP furnace.

sunnydays · 12-05-2007, 11:18 AM

Thanks so much for pointing out numerous pieces of advice. I have been wondering if we should have our 30 amp line at the house re-checked by another electrician (wire size/circuit breaker) and I'm reassured that I need to do just that. I think we will run the fridge on LP to help lower our overall electric draw because it will be cold the next few nights and HEAT will be a priority. I didn't realize we could turn off one of the heat pump compressors and should we run into a problem once there, that might help until we get a handle on things. I'm pretty sure our breakers are located at the foot of our bed, too. Next plan is to get an AC voltage meter and surge guard. We're still trying to wrap our minds around our upgrade to the MH from a fifth wheel and it feels kind of like being thrown off a diving board to learn to swim. We keep researching topics but there's so much to absorb and one definitely learns best from the mistakes one makes! lol Thanks, again!

Tom-NC · 12-06-2007, 03:31 PM

Congratulations on your new Adventurer. We have an 04 Adventurer and love it even though it is a 33 footer.

As for your heat pump which should work on any 30 amp circuit. I have my coach plugged into a 30 amp circuit 24/7 and was out there today and no problem with heat pump. I also ran generator with heat pump and no problem in fact there was the same current draw on the EMS panel. If you have problem at home I suggest checking breaker and that you have a dedicated 30 amp circuit at home. At Cg try a different site as Campgrounds have a tendency to have lousy breakers.

I'm not sure if compressor 2 works with heat as my currant draw is only 10 amps and I get plenty of heat.

One final point is that heat pumps don't work below forty degrees and will automatically kick in gas heat. Also when heat pump is running that will not heat compartments where tanks are located as only gas heater keeps them warm.

Enjoy and I hope this answers your question.

Ray,IN · 12-07-2007, 04:46 PM

sunnydays, there is an industry standard for safe voltage. The nominal voltage is 120VAC, the maximum deviation is 10% either side of that. This means the highest safe voltage is 132VAC and the lowest safe voltage is 108VAC. Beyond those deviations you are harming any electric motors, your heat pump is an electric motor. The only way to know is to use a voltage monitor on that circuit.
FYI, Either of our heat pumps(main=15.5/2nd=13.5k btu) will operate safely on a 15A circuit(when correctly wired) if it is the only load.

Roadking · 12-10-2007, 11:09 AM

With both compressors running and all other 110VAC circuits off (including invertor/charger) I pull 22 amps. Same with the heat pump... 22 amps when both are running. The first compressor and blowers pull about 13 amps and the second compressor pulls about 9 amps, for 22 total. So yes, the heat pump under heavy demand will run both compressors.

So, yes I run my AC on a 20AMP circuit, however, I turn the circuit breaker for compressor number two off. A single compressor with associated internal/externl blowers pulls 13 amps.

Most importantly if you elect to run on a 20 amp circuit then use only very heavy 10 or 12 gauge extension cords and make them short as short as possible else you will have a huge voltage drop. Don't use any of those cheap 14-16 gauge orange extension cords. Once you start the AC, check the voltage and if you're much below 106 or 107, then stop,else you'll be pulling higher currents which will damage your compressor motor.

By the way, I also run a single AC compressor from my Honda EU2000 generator.