Is 30 amps enough for full timers

[Wanabee FTer]

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

If the coach has one air conditioner than 30 amps is likely enough, Provided it's a good 30 amps (Many CG's the power is a bit.. anemic)

If you have two A/C's you will want a PSRV adapter http://www.psrv.net

I have a 50 amp rig,, When I'm on 30 amps I practice a bit of conservation, use the PSRV adapter for A/C #2, and get along just fine most of the time.. Problem is wife has Mrs. Douglas Disease (Refers to Eva Gabor's character on the TV show Green Acers) can't remember to turn one thing off before microwaving.

We recently went full-time in our 30 amp rig and am so glad we installed the dual power adapter mentioned above. It adds a second shore power line so I can power both a/c's at the same time and I can still use most of the appliances. I went one step further and added a 20 amp outlet under the rear bed. During the winter I use this to power our cube heater on high when needed. A life saver for DW, she always fears being too cold.
When you know you will need to use the additional 15 amps, make sure you get a 50 amp site. I have not had any problems so far since most 50/30/15 amp sites wire the 30 and 15 amp circuits independently.

[Lorna]

Fascinating! We full-time on 30 amps have often run 1 (and only) AC unit (13.5KBTU), the TV and DVD player, a 1000 watt microwave (gotta have popcorn to watch the movie) and travel size iron all at the same time, just not on the same circuit. I didn't know that I couldn't do that. Thanks for letting me know that. I also didn't know that we had to have 50 amp capable RV to full time in. Guess we need to stop full timing in the 30 amp RV.... Gotta break the news to hubby.

Whether or not you can live fulltime on 30 amp or 50 amp depends on the power usage of your RV not on any persons opinion. Our smaller RV simply requires less power to operate at full capacity than some other RV's that are designed to use more power. We also have a roof coating that reflects heat and cuts down on the AC's power usage as well (I know the AC unit compressor cycled less after coating the roof than it did the two days prior to coating the roof). We run a lot of stuff on 30 amps... flat screen TV, AC, DVD player, desktop computer/monitor, printer, 1000W microwave, 3.2 cf refrigerator, 4.2 cf freezer, 4 cf refrigerator 10 12vDC lights and all at the same time without tripping any of our RV's breakers. I can even run a big commercial pour over coffeemaker (in place of the AC).

[John_N_Terry]

We full time and our Brave is a 30 Amp. As stated previously, you just need to be careful about running major draw items on the same circuit, but I'd be willing to bet those with 50 amps have to be careful of the same thing.

All said, you can make anything work for you. Just be flexible and willing to change a few small habits here and there, and you're golden.

On edit...I see a lot of nay-saying from posters who do not full time. I'd only listen to opinions from folks who are actually full timing in their RV. You actually get used to making minor changes here and there to support your lifestyle.

[John_N_Terry]

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

Problem is wife has Mrs. Douglas Disease (Refers to Eva Gabor's character on the TV show Green Acers) can't remember to turn one thing off before microwaving.

Hey, my wife has the same disease...are there medications for that?

[YosemiteBobR]

50 is better that 30, but 30 will work. Having it when you need it is better than watching what you use. I don't have kids anymore (at home) and even without them, I'd still have to watch if I had 30, running the hair dryer, one using the microwave, both Ac's on, taking showers, we use both electrical and gas, I don't have to worry with 50. It's all up to how you currently use it. Oh, I had two girls, both would be using hair dryers at the same time. Opps, I didn't include my wife, sometimes there were three dryers going at the same time. Ever try to tell them to take turns, yeah right.

[Gary - K7GLD]

Probably not that many in this thread that have actually stayed on an extended basis in truly HOT weather!

We stayed in Florida for several months, and even though it was during "Winter", daytime temps dictated that we run the AC all day, and some into the night - the 30 amp service in our KIT 5er had ALL it could do to handle the A/C, let alone the microwave, refrigerator and power converter draw along with it - actually melted out one main RV power plug, and well into the second before we left!

As noted further above, in many older CG's where 30 amp is ALL that's available, and where everyone ELSE is also running THEIR A/C's, the main line power can drop far enough that what YOUR RV is getting is well down from 120 vac, and that makes it even harder on the appliances in your RV - and as also stated, none of that is helped just because your RV is capable of 50 amp service - if that 50 amp service isn't available...

[Lorna]

Originally Posted by Gary - K7GLD

Probably not that many in this thread that have actually stayed on an extended basis in truly HOT weather!

Summered in Cordele/Vienna, GA a few times... in a 30 amp AC equipped pop-up and once in the Class C... AC runs constantly in the summer due to humidity
Summered in Socorro, NM twice so far... I believe it is called a "desert". I miss humidity
Headed out west over July... temps were over 100*F thru TX.

100*F and up... guess that's not hot.

We partially rewired our old vintage RV and re-arranged the circuits. Perhaps that has something to do with it. When we bought the RV (just ever so slightly used) back in 2006, we found some breakers had only one or two things on it and one circuit had everything on the whole passenger side on it. This was from the factory set up. We added a GFI breaker to the panel box and rewired a few things to separate the panel box into 4 circuits. Works for us.

[John_N_Terry]

Originally Posted by Gary - K7GLD

Probably not that many in this thread that have actually stayed on an extended basis in truly HOT weather!

I think extreme south Texas qualifies as hot...

[melvonnar]

Originally Posted by Webetravelin

Greetings
We are really new to all that is RVing but that's not slowing us down. Looks like we found a 32ft class A rig we're going to buy. It's 30amp ... with today's electrically needs - is that enough? We are planning to living in this rig full time.
We will have to work our first few years ... so how do full timers handle the need to iron clothes... is 30 amps enough? We will probably be in south south deep south TX with the heat and all... with A/C running can we run other appliances as needed?
Thanks for any insight on these questions.
WeBeTravelin

Some of the posters here haven't read your question correctly; I would sugest that they read your first post before answering and suggusting that you get 50 amps. you have already decided on a 30 amp motorhome.
That said:
My motorhome has only 30 amps; most campgrounds have a 30 amp and a 20 amp plug on there post.
I had my rear airconditioner rewired for a seperate 20 amp plug, I now have two plugs that come out of my motorhome, I plug one into the 30 amp, and one into the 20 amp; I run everything in the motorhome with no problem; my motorhome is 34 feet long and in the summer heat I run both airs.

[Easyrider]

Sounds like melvonnar has a good idea to use if 30 amps is not enough power for you. I would try your rv for a while with no modifications to see if 30 amps will fit your needs. Our rv is 30 amp with 2 acs and we have never had a problem staying comfortable in the heat and Wisconsin can get very uncomfortable in the summer with temps commonly in the mid 90s and dew points in the mid 70s. Our ems does a good job regulating the power distribution and just shuts off the bedroom ac if needed. Since the microwave doesn't have to run often or for very long we don't notice any warming up in hot weather. We have friends that have 50 amp rvs and I've noticed they don't like wrestling with the bigger 50 amp cord and unless we are staying somewhere for an extended period of time they prefer to use the 30 amp adapter and cord. I guess if I was staying in one spot for months or more 50 amp would be more desireable to me- but maybe not. We don't fulltime yet but hope to someday and we will start out with the 30 amp rv we have. If we get another rv down the road it will be for other reasons more than to get 50 amp electric I'm sure.

[RustyJC]

Originally Posted by melvonnar

...most campgrounds have a 30 amp and a 20 amp plug on there post.

Unfortunately, many of the older campgrounds without 50 amp service only have 30 amp capability at the pedestal and wire the 20 amp plug off the 30 amp circuit. The 30 and 20 amp plugs are designed to be used in an either/or scenario, not a both/and application such as you describe that will result in a tripped 30 amp breaker.

This whole discussion reminds me of the 3/4 ton versus dually truck discussions. I see individuals try to justify pulling 16K GVWR 5th wheels with 3/4 ton trucks all the time, while others of us buy the tool that's capable of handling the job at hand. If, because of the size of the RV and the locations where you'll be camping, 30 amp service is adequate, then by all means go for it. In our case, when we moved back to Texas with our 30 amp 5th wheel, we quickly found that 1 each 13,500 BTU A/C wouldn't cut it on a 100 degree, high humidity southeast Texas summer day. When we traded for our next 5th wheel, you can bet that it had 2 A/Cs and 50 amp service.

Rusty

[bachler]

Through the years; We have allways done just fine with 30 amps. think about it;; Even if you have 2 Roof airs One in the rear one in front. You can close the door between and run the air were you are.. We have TRU AIR, basement in our present coach with a 50 amp power, We use 30 or 50 have never had a problem that could not be rectafied be flipping a switch and turn something off for a few minutes;;; The point being you'll be just fine with 30 amp, service. We also have members that need a concrete slab to park on; I say thats OK, what ever turns there crank;

[melvonnar]

Quote:
Unfortunately, many of the older campgrounds without 50 amp service only have 30 amp capability at the pedestal and wire the 20 amp plug off the 30 amp circuit. The 30 and 20 amp plugs are designed to be used in an either/or scenario, not a both/and application such as you describe that will result in a tripped 30 amp breaker.

In the many campgrounds that I've been, useing both the 30 and 20 amp outlets, I've never triped either of the 20 or 30 amp breakers.

[thelastplace]

The one thing that struck me in most of the responses was the expression 'you have to be careful'. Do you really want to spend all your time worried about what could, and should, be an non-issue. Electricity is not something to have to worry about. Would you wire a house with 16ga wire just because it was enough? More is better!!!!!