We have been living in our 5er for about 9 months now. No major issues, but we are wondering about the black tank? There are several people that are work camping and we have never seen them dump or flush their black tanks? The other issue or concern we are having is our main AC is tripping almost every day, it is a dometic duo therm, is any one else having issues with this unit? Temps behave been pushing 100 degrees every day. Any advise or imput would be appreciated.

Black tank problem.. they probably have the dump valve open all the time and will eventually experience the dreaded "won't drain" issue.Breaker.. do acquire a DVM(digital volt meter) and measure voltage during the day when most AC's are being used. If the reading is much less than 108ish, you are on the borderline of damaging your AC. The park itself may not be able to improve on this, but you can put your fridge and WH on gas, and be careful with other usage, MW, hair dryer, etc.Jim

Also verify the connections. Make sure they are tight inside the panel and AC unit.

gatorcq wrote:Also verify the connections. Make sure they are tight inside the panel and AC unit.This is something just about everybody should do. When I replaced my converter I was shocked at how loose the breaker connections were.

Is it the post breaker or the RV breaker. In either case get some shade on it if outside and if it is an inside breaker get some air on the panel if hidden in a closet. Mine just recently did this and the panel was very hot to the touch. The panel is in a closet with no air. I considered venting it or adding a cooling fan and found that just a 1/8 inch space on the front cover panel allows air to circulate throught the front.I just placed washers behind each screw. Much cooler now.

The workampers likely have full hookup that are behind their rv. We volunteer at a CA state park and most of them have no hookups for campers, however, most have hookups for park hosts. Our utilities can't be seen by anyone going by so they would not know when we dump our tanks.

9 months and no major issues | Good Sam Community

Jim-Linda
Explorer II
Jul 02, 2013
Black tank problem.. they probably have the dump valve open all the time and will eventually experience the dreaded "won't drain" issue.
Breaker.. do acquire a DVM(digital volt meter) and measure voltage during the day when most AC's are being used. If the reading is much less than 108ish, you are on the borderline of damaging your AC. The park itself may not be able to improve on this, but you can put your fridge and WH on gas, and be careful with other usage, MW, hair dryer, etc.

Jim
gatorcq
Explorer
Jul 02, 2013
Also verify the connections. Make sure they are tight inside the panel and AC unit.
ScottG
Nomad
Jul 02, 2013
gatorcq wrote:
Also verify the connections. Make sure they are tight inside the panel and AC unit.

This is something just about everybody should do.
When I replaced my converter I was shocked at how loose the breaker connections were.
YC_1
Nomad
Jul 02, 2013
Is it the post breaker or the RV breaker. In either case get some shade on it if outside and if it is an inside breaker get some air on the panel if hidden in a closet. Mine just recently did this and the panel was very hot to the touch. The panel is in a closet with no air. I considered venting it or adding a cooling fan and found that just a 1/8 inch space on the front cover panel allows air to circulate throught the front.I just placed washers behind each screw. Much cooler now.
missourijan
Explorer
Jul 02, 2013
The workampers likely have full hookup that are behind their rv. We volunteer at a CA state park and most of them have no hookups for campers, however, most have hookups for park hosts. Our utilities can't be seen by anyone going by so they would not know when we dump our tanks.
Brynjolf
Explorer
Jul 02, 2013
Breakers do fail. And, once they start to fail, they break more often under less stress.

Once you've verified the campground voltage is ok, you may want to consider swapping out the breaker with a new one.
stickdog
Explorer
Jul 04, 2013
Brynjolf wrote:
Breakers do fail. And, once they start to fail, they break more often under less stress.

Once you've verified the campground voltage is ok, you may want to consider swapping out the breaker with a new one.

+1
Aridon
Explorer
Jul 04, 2013
Breaker tripping at the pedestal or in the rv?

Always best to check the voltage on those hot days when the park is full and everyone is juicing the A/C.

Black tanks: We dump ours late at night usually after everyone is in bed. I rarely see other people dumping as well because it only takes a minute and I'm rarely watching. So easy to miss.
BarbaraOK
Explorer
Jul 04, 2013
And in 7 years we have never felt the need to rinse the tanks. Just wait until there are full (burping at us) we dump and put water in the tank to start over again. If stationary for more than a few days I'll leave the gray open using the washer and just make sure I do a load after I dump the black tank to flush the hose.

Barb
cuzbcuz
Explorer
Jul 05, 2013
Campground host checked the volatage and it is between 108 & 112, which should be OK. We talked to a RV repair tech and he thinks that the washer/dryer might be causing the triped breaker. This is due to the load on the system during the hottest part of the day. He also suggested that we get the units serviced. I think that cleaning the condenser coils and general maintence would take care of the service issue.