50 amp camper on 30 amp service

[rconkin]

This will be our first camper with 50 amp service with two air conditioners and just had a couple of questions. Fortunately the previous owner of our house installed a 50 amp hookup where we store our camper, however, our favorite local campground only has 30 amp hookups.

1. Will both ac's run when plugged into a 30 amp hookup?

2. If they do, I would assume that to run something such as the microwave, one would have to be turned off. Is this correct?

3. If the water heater is on electric, would this also prevent running both ac's?

4. What other issues will I run into on 30 amp hookup?

5. Since both ac's are factory insatlled, are they both ducted?

[bncinwv]

1) Probably not, but you may get both running by starting one, then the other. If you run both, there will be very little else that can be run.
2) Most likely correct, if two will start.
3) Most likley.
4) Electrical management and knowing your amperage draw on devices will be critical. I can assure you that a coffee pot and hair dryer will factor into this heavily (experience from toting around three women is invaluable for what and when the pedestal breaker will kick!!)
5) They should both be ducted, but I am not sure about the Mountaineer models.
An additional option, if there is a 20 amp receptacle on the pedestal, is to run an extension cord into the rig for additional loads. Or, if the pedestal is an older type without a GFCI on it, you can also purchase a cheater box which will plug into the 30 amp and 20 amp receptacles and give you close to 50 amps for the rig. These devices will not work with GFCI's.
Bingo

[1retired06]

Short answer: Do not use both AC at the same time unless you are on 50A. With that, unless you happen to be running the M/W, toaster, and Hair Dryer all at the same time, you should be fine.

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

We have lived at the KOA in Dillon for the past year and learned to deal with 30-amp service after living with the luxury of 50-amp service on some property we sold before we moved here. You'll quickly learn that balance and sacrifice are two words you have to consider every day. We cannot run both of our AC's on the 30-amp service here. Even if we run only one of them, we can't use the microwave or hairdryer at the same time. If the coffee pot is on, we can't have the fireplace on and run the hair dryer without noticing flickering lights. You also have to remember that even the small electrical items are using some of that 30-amp service, too, so figure them into the total amps you're using.

We have learned by memory (from checking all the time) just how many amps most of our electrical things draw, so we haven't had a problem here as long as we count the total amps and don't overload the circuit.

Carolyn

[mhs4771]

Yep, 30 amp service takes some carefull power management. We pulled into a CG last summer and were suppose to have a 50 amp site, well we didn't, move to a 50 amp site to find out one leg was dead, so back to the original site. Now temps were near 95 so we fired up both ACs (15K & 13.5K), ran for about 10 minutes before the CG breaker tripped. So we got by with only 1 AC.

[DQDick]

Where we are camp hosting we only have 30amp. Our rig is a Montana and both AC's are ducted so if we want we can run the living room one during the day and the bedroom one at night. We run the one AC, electric water heater, refrigerator and a computer or two and our normal lights and run right up against the limit. If we are cooking electrically and the water heater, frig and AC all come on at once I'll be heading for the pedestal. We do have a Progressive EMS on the pedestal so I have been able to run our usage right to the max. Oh, and we also have LED lights from Michael and Kat which also helps some I'm sure.

[Art-n-Marge]

I have an RV Park membership and found most of the CG power pole to be mostly 30amps. The 50amp tends to be used by Full-time members so good look getting 50 amp anyway. This is one reason we haven't run out and getting a 2nd A/C (we try and avoid hot location RVing but this doesn't always work.

Bingo is correct in that some careful management of power MIGHT be achieved, but I would never run both A/Cs on only 30amps unless you also have the additional protection of a power management system (EMS). You can't always control when these will start up except for the intial power up. After that, good luck. I would also caution about of brownouts too. I wouldn't try this without an EMS that could increase the power or shut it off (works the opposite of a circuit breaker).

Brownouts occur when the amount of power is below normal but enough to not reset anything. Any device with a motor burn up because to make up for the voltage drop it draws more current - A/C motors, the fridge, blowdryer, etc. Other devices will not run as well.

Other ways to minimize power are run the fridge on 12v/propane, use only propane for the water heater (turn of the electric element switch) and identify and minimize 110v lighting. Note that even the 12v devices use power from the 30 amps via the converter, but the trailer batteries provide additional power.

In summary, I just wouldn't use a 2nd A/C at all and be careful with everything else. If you really need both A/Cs at anytime, get a suitable generator and skip the power pole.

[steelpony5555]

I always thought too that if you were under powered that was bad for your AC compressors??

[1retired06]

low power is not good for anything

[RickW]

Low power is tuff on the compressors.

If you had a 30amp unit before you should have no problems as long as you are only trying to run 1 A/C at a time. We have stayed many a places that only have 30amp and we have had no problems.

[rconkin]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm feeling somewhat like a newbie even though this is our fourth 5er. This one just has so many more things on it than our previous ones. I ordered a cheater box just in case. Our "home" campground is a company owned one and most of it is shaded and doubt I will ever need two ac's there. I'm also looking at some of the energy management systems and boy, they like them real well. Although, it looks like it would be an expense well justified to prevent more expensive damage. Thanks again, I'm learning real quick what a great bunch of people are Montana owners.

[Sniperduce]

Our factory installed front unit is not ducted. We have a 2011 347THT.

[ols1932]

Bingo has it right. Nothing more need be said.

Orv

[NCFischers]

An EMS/surge protector is a must.

[Dogman131]

Maybe this list will help:
Appliance Amperage Consumption (Approximate)

Convection Microwave 16 amps
Air Conditioner 13-16 amps
Space Heater 10-15 amps
Toaster 7-13 amps
Microwave 10 amps
Hair Dryer 10 amps
Water Heater 10 amps
Electric Frying Pan 10 amps
Iron 10 amps
Converter 5-9 amps
Computer 8 amps
Coffee Maker 7 amps
Food Processor 6 amps
Refrigerator 3-4 amps
Curling Iron 3-4 amps
Blender 3 amps
Satellite Receiver 2 amps
TV/VCR 1 amps
Crock Pot 1 amp

[fauch]

In my 2006 2955RL, when we connect to a 30 amp pedestal receptacle with an adapter for the 50 amp coach power cord, only some of the receptacles in the coach are energized. The bedroom AC outlet is not powered on. I do not know if something is different on your trailers, but i have just become confused and goofy reading the above posts.

found this on the inter-webs:
In an RV wired for 30 amp service all outlets and appliances are connected to the single 30 amp leg. In an RV wired for 50 amp service some outlets and appliances are connected to one leg while other outlets and appliances are connected to the other leg. Manufacturers try to anticipate the power requirements and balance which outlets and appliances are connected to which leg. For example, all the kitchen outlets and appliances might be connected to leg one and the rest would
be connected to leg two. RVs with two air conditioners would have one connected to each 120 volt leg.

[jimcol]

fauch, I have a 2006 and everything is energized when on 30 amp service. I would suspect your 30 to 50 adapter is defective. That is where the 30amp hot leg is married to both hots in the 50 amp cord. Jim

[rconkin]

Is the portable surge/spike protector that CW sells good?

[fauch]

Well hell Jim you are right! I had been de-legged with the adapter i was using. So after reading your post, i picked up a new one at my local RV dealer and low-and-behold!! i now have both legs back on the ground. I would think that this is a rare defect in one of these adapters. I'll see if CW will give me credit the next time i stop in one.

[CamillaMichael]

Our fix would be to adopt another campground as our favorite...if we wanted to "rough it," we would live out of our cargo pockets! Since we spent the extra bucks to have more things which run on electricity, we want to use those things. Can we adapt? Of course!