What can you run on 30 amps?

[DCC]

Hi everyone!

We just picked up our new 28BKST last week in Texas at the start of the heat wave. This is our first travel trailer. We had a Class C back in the 90's and I don't remember not being able to run refridge, hot water heater and AC on 30 amps.

But, that is what is happening with the 28BKS Titanium (with 15K AC).

I'm exceeding 30 amps when all three appliances are active and either the HW element turns on or the compressor kicks in on the AC - I've got a Power Watchdog, so I'm able to see the actual draw.

So, this is my question.

Is this by design?

For those of you with a trailer or 5th wheel, can you run all three at the same time?

[Camp CA]

My first fifth wheel trailer had 30 amps and we were able to run electric refrigerator, electric hot water heater and one AC on 30 amps. Same with my current fifth wheel trailer and motorhome. The only time we ever need 50 amps is when we run 2 AC's and other high amp appliances like MW, clothers dryer, hair dryer etc.

You can check this by adding up the running watts of each appliance (look up manufacuturer/model/watts) and dividing by 120 volts to find the total amp draw.

If you are having issues then suggest putting your hot water heater on gas and confirm you can run AC and other appliances.

https://www.lilacresort.com/applianc...ge-draw-chart/

[TXiceman]

Have you checked the voltage in the RV. It should be a minimum of 108 volts to operate the A/C unit. On inductive (motor) loads, if the voltage drops, the amp draw goes up.

Normally, you should be able to run one A/C, water heater on electric and RV fridge on electric. CHECK YOUR VOLTAGE. Older parks suffer in the summer as they are not designed for the load from the newer larger RVs.

Try turning the water heater and fridge to propane and check your voltage with just the A/C on.

Ken

[Dave Pelletier]

Well a 15k AC uses about 13 amps, a 6 gall HWT about 12 amps, a 8 cu ft. fridge about 8 amps so that's over 30 (33) right there not including the converter which can use up to 6 amps so I'd say that they are not all designed to run on AC power at the same time.

I've never had an issue but then I always keep my water heater on propane and usually the fridge too.

Dave

[Bigd9]

My roof air conditioner draws 13 amps when the compressor is running. Water heater 8 amps, our 20.1 cu ft residential refrigerator draws 2 amps. I can run all three on 30 amps.

Since you have a Power Watchdog, what are you seeing as amp draw for each item? Do you see any amp draw when those three items are turned off? I suspect there is something else drawing current...... like engine block heater, or so many other things these RV have now days!

Also, as TXiceman indicated, what is the incoming voltage? This is very important when trying to figure out why something doesn't work.

Keep us posted

[Soppy]

On a good 30 amp service, I can run 2 A/C units (11.5a each) along with the fridge (4a) and the converter (1a with charged batteries). If I turn 1 A/C unit off , I can substitute it for a coffee pot, microwave, toaster , hair dryer, etc. Some parks have poor wiring and lower voltage so the second A/C unit or any other substituted appliances can't be run with the first A/C unit running.

[craigd853]

Originally Posted by DCC

Hi everyone!

We just picked up our new 28BKST last week in Texas at the start of the heat wave. This is our first travel trailer. We had a Class C back in the 90's and I don't remember not being able to run refridge, hot water heater and AC on 30 amps.

But, that is what is happening with the 28BKS Titanium (with 15K AC).

I'm exceeding 30 amps when all three appliances are active and either the HW element turns on or the compressor kicks in on the AC - I've got a Power Watchdog, so I'm able to see the actual draw.

So, this is my question.

Is this by design?

For those of you with a trailer or 5th wheel, can you run all three at the same time?

Hello sir, sorry for your issues. I know it sux but you can put a hard start on your a/c unit and it will fix all of your problems. It's only about 50.00 dollars. Good luck

[NLOVNIT]

X2 with Ken on checking your incoming voltage. That's very important.

I have a PI EMS & there's a voltage readout right on the thing. I have a 30A RV & can run the 1 AC, fridge & water heater all on electric with amps to spare when I've got good incoming power (120-124v). But I rarely have the water heater on electric. Since this is the first 30A RV I've had in 16 years, as well as one that doesn't auto-shed loads when going over allotted amps, I used my PI EMS to chart what each of my appliances draw. Put that on a Word doc, laminated it & stuck it to the inside of a cabinet door.

When a park is full (& hot weather as where you are), with everyone drawing on the power, there will be a drop in the voltage which will impact what you can have on all at the same time. I've also found, if I'm at the end of the wiring run on a loop, the voltage can be drastically cut.

[scrapperjohn]

Simple solution,
Run fridge on propane,it uses a lot of power.

[DCC]

Hey guys, thanks for the info. Will post more info when I get back home. I can tell you that when I first encountered this problem, the voltage at the park ranged from 118 to 123.

[Vintage465]

I'm able to run the big three off 120v when plugged in to a solid source. My own house has a pretty stinking weak electric system. I was tripping the house breaker, not the trailer. During those times that I was out of my house, living in the trailer, but plugged into the house, I'd shut the water heater off and I was able to run the A/C and the fridge without tripping the house breaker.

[hamm2018]

There is one device you can install on the A/C unit. It is called a Soft Start.
It allows the A/C unit to start at a lower start up amp draw.
But these are costly, but on the other hand for a 30-amp rig, it is nice to have.
The killer is the amp draw at start-up on the A/C unit.

https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...%20and%20Parts

[DCC]

Back from a long road trip including camping in Round Rock, TX in 102 deg heat! Learned some things on how to stay cool and will post in the general forum.

Here's what I'm seeing for current draws. Note that these are absolute values, I've already subtracted the base draw from each appliance.

Base RV*: 0.4A @ 118V
Refridge: 2.4A @ 119V
Hot Water Heater: 11.5A @ 118V
AC Fan 2.3A @ 119V
AC Comp + Fan 12.8A @ 117V

Base with refridge and AC fan+comp is at 16.2A @ 118V
Base with refridge, AC and HWH is 27.4A @ 114V

* The base RV had all lights off, radio off but had main and bedroom TVs plugged in, but not on. House batteries showed they were at full charge.

So, that 27.4A with AC compressor on tells me that I'm going to see a spike over 30 amps with the compressor kicks on. In fact, while camping, I did see the meter reach 35+ amps, but then the Watchdog tripped.

Going to give a little more information to add to the conversation.

First day in TX and not knowing much about the trailer or Watchdog was when I was experienced the most power over currents. Thinking there might be something wrong with the Power Watchdog, I didn't use it and plugged directly into the shore power. The 30 amp breaker tripped. But, only once and then it stayed on. Because I had AC, HWH and refridge all on electric, I don't know what the culprit was the ultimately caused the fault.

I bring this up, because I'm wondering if those of you that are actually able to run all three are relying on the shore power breaker to not immediately trip at 30+ amps. Let me know your thoughts on this.

As a couple people suggested, adding a soft start will probably fix this problem, but don't know that I'm exactly pleased with that answer.

[Dave Pelletier]

For me the answer is clear; cheapest and easiest solution is to keep the HWT on propane. it uses very little. 2 cents.

Dave