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marywmccall2022's avatar
Jun 21, 2025

5th wheel living issues

We have a fifth wheel that we live in full-time (at least in the summers). We are running power to it from a shop my husband owns. I don't think the a.c. is big enough, it probably needs 2 a.c.s, but it only has 1. It's a 41-foot 5th wheel. 

The problem started when the temperature got too hot (90 degrees), and the heat was unbearable, so the A/C. wasn't keeping up. So we bought a portable one at Costco, which helps, but if we have anything else on with it, the breakers start flipping. It's a 30-amp breaker that flips. Also, the water pressure is not good. There are several other issues but does anyone have any help with these? I really need help!

 

 

 

 

11 Replies

  • A 40 foot 5th wheel needs 3 roof ac units. I've never seen that large of an RV with a single unit, but I suppose one may have been removed.  Even a 30 foot 5th wheel can struggle with a single AC.

    The next thing you need to understand is how your electric system works. Your RV has a 240Vac 50 amp split phase system. This means a maximum of 12,000 watts. Small RV's have a 120Vac 30 amp system that is capable of only 3600 watts. If you connect your RV into a 120Vac 30 amp breaker, it will only have 3600 watts available. That is not enough to run a rooftop AC and a portable AC when the compressors are started.  If you are trying to run other electrical devices, it will be impossible.

    Another thing to look at is how they ran the electric. Sometimes they do crazy things. My "living room", kitchen and basement outlets are all on a single 15 amp breaker. This means that I can't run a coffee maker and a instapot at the same time.  The bathroom and bedroom share another 15 amp circuit. The kitchen should have had at least a dedicated 20 amp circuit. It would have been better with a 20 amp circuit for the kitchen, and another 20 amp circuit for an extra kitchen outlet, the living room, bathroom, and bedroom. I'm good enough with electrical that I am resolving that issue.

    It is important to understand how much power devices need. Your microwave should be on it's own 15 amp circuit and will use up to 1500 watts. A 15k btu AC will use about 2000 watts while running on high, but likely over 3000 watts when the compressor starts (for a few seconds). Kitchen appliances, hair dryers and other hair appliances, and electric heaters use over a thousand watts each. Most hair dryers are 1875 watts (try to find a "travel" 1500 watt hair dryer). Coffee makers can use 700-1000 watts. The electric water heater uses 1440 watts while running. 

    Even smaller devices, like your TV, water pump, fans, lights, and refrigerator all quickly add up in wattage. 

    Portable AC units are not a good solution unless you are willing to deal with an ugly solution. You want to get a portable AC unit that has 2 air handler hoses. One hose is an air intake, and the other one is the hot air exhaust.  AC units create a huge amount of heat in order to cool, in fact that is how a heat pump works. If you do not properly vent that hot air, you will actually heat up the room. This means that you have to run a 3-4 inch hose from the AC to the outside. You also need to properly insulate the hot air exhaust because the vent hose gets very hot (sometimes 110-120F). If you do not insulate it, then that hot hose will radiate hot air back into your RV. 

    If you are living in the RV full time and not moving it, I would recommend that you buy a mini-split heat pump. For that size RV you will likely need at least an 18K btu unit. I would get a 24K btu unit so that I could hopefully rarely have to run the very low efficiency roof AC.

    With a bit of work, you can mount the mini-split compressor side outside the RV (they are designed to be outside). Then configure the air handlers inside of a well insulated wooden box at window level.  This will keep the large and ugly air handler unit(s) out of your RV, but the cool air (or heated air) will blow into the RV through an open window. Most mini-split AC units include remote control(s) so that you can change settings from inside the RV. 

    If it is a more permanent need and/or you need to travel during the hot season, you may be able to find a way to install a smaller mini-split. You will want to get help picking a unit, finding a spot to install it (the compressor unit is often too tall for a 5th wheel roof), and run the cooling lines in side your 5th wheel. You will need to have a spot on the wall to mount the air handler and it will require a dedicated 15-20 amp circuit (depending on size).

    You will also want to hire an electrician to install an RV pedestal, like you see at campgrounds. At the minimum you want a single 240Vac 50 amp breaker and outlet. If you will be using the outside mounted minisplit you may want to install a separate 120Vac 20 amp or 30 amp circuit for outside devices. This may require that your workshop electrical outlet be upgraded. I can't say for sure because I don't know what sized breaker box is there nor what equipment it powers. I can say that if it has a 240Vac split phase 100 amp breaker box, it will struggle to handle the 240Vac split phase 50 amp RV, plus enough power to cool the workshop (likely a 240Vac 30 amp circuit to the AC unit) and power tools.

    If you are in an area of high temperatures for many months, it is important that you build an RV port (a larger carport). This will create shade so that your RV doesn't heat up as much.  That roof should be painted white, preferably special paint that will actually reduce the temperature.

    With air temps in the 90F range, your RV roof can easily exceed 120F if it is in the direct sunlight. You may want to put radiant barrier on your roof. Make sure that you close blinds and put insulation in the bathroom skylight. Many people will cut radiant barrier to fit the windows to help keep the inside temperatures down. Installing an insulated skirting can also help, this will help keep the temperature under the 5th wheel down. In hot areas, a surprising amount of heat is transferred into the RV from under the RV. Some of this is because under the 5th wheel may be close to air temperatures plus reflected radiant heating.

    Some people will also insulate everything they can on the outside of the RV. They use radiant barrier and/or pool noodles. Slide-outs have next to no insulation.  Air can easily seep into the RV at the slide out and where the slide-out mechanism enters the RV.

    Radiant barrier, especially in the amount you will need is not cheap. It is much cheaper than the electric work needed to have proper 240Vac 50 amp to your RV and cheaper than buying 2 more RV roof AC units. If you don't want to permanently mount it on the roof, you can tape it down. This is really effective for the slide out roof and side walls (many RV's have their slide out walls painted black, which draws heat in).

    I have added insulation to my basement area. I got Harbor Freight rubber "fatigue" matts and installed them on the floor of the basement. This helps with insulation and makes it easier to move around in the basement. The slam doors should have radiant barrier added to it, along with the basement roof and walls.

    Every bit of heat that you keep out of the RV is that much less cooling that you need. I doubt that you can reasonably add enough insulation to a 40 foot 5th wheel in order to keep it cool with a single roof AC unit, especially with 90+F outside air temperatures.

    A final option, for a long term 5th wheel that will not be moved is to have a geothermal passive cooling system installed. This is basically 4-5 inch tubing buried about 6 foot down (the exact depth is location based). How many tubes and how long (expect them to be several hundred feet long each) they need will be dependent on your location and other factors. Depending on location, this can keep your RV as low as the mid 60F. A decent system will be able to keep it cooled to at least 75F during 100F ambient air temperatures without using any power.

    The water pressure issue has already had good things for you to check.

  • Hey, thanks so much for replying! I'm going to check on all your suggestions, I really appreciate it!

    • Grit_dog's avatar
      Grit_dog
      Navigator II

      Where’s the husband? 
      And a 40’ 5ver would be tough as a 30A but sounds like yours may be. 

  • What is the power cord going to the shop? Is it a 4 blade 50 amp cord or a 3 blade 30 amp cord? Are there any adapters or extensions on the cord? 

    When the 30 amp breaker trips does the main AC continue running? If so you are probably on 50 amps.

    Without having any more information I can only hazard a guess. 

    If the 30 amp breaker is working fine with the portable AC unit running right up until there is a second significant load on the system. A load such as the water heater (on electric) coming on. Or the Microwave turning probably trips the breaker. If this is the case then you just need to be careful of your loads. Turn off or put the water heater on propane when you're running the portable AC. Temporarily turn off the portable AC to run the microwave. You can turn it back on once the microwave finishes.

    Lack of water pressure can be many things. Are you running your water off the onboard fresh water tank and pump? Or are you hooked up to water from the shop? 

    If it's lack of pressure and flow out of the faucets try unscrewing the aerators out of the end of the faucet. With the aerator off you'll know immediately if it was plugged up and causing the problem. If you're on shop water try putting water in the fresh tank and run off the pump. Is there a difference?

    • Slackware1995's avatar
      Slackware1995
      Explorer

      About the only way 2 AC's can be run from a 120Vac 30 amp connection is if they are both using (good) "soft starts".  120Vac 30 amps is only 3600 watts and a 15k btu roof AC will need over 2500 watts to start the compressor. That only leaves 1100 watts available, not enough to run a portable AC.

      To make matters even more confusing, the 30 amp rating is the ampacity rating. This means that the actual amp rating is 24 amps or 2880 watts. The breaker will generally trip after several minutes at about 25 to 27 amps.

      This is why larger RV's have 240Vac split phase 50 amp systems. These are capable of up to 12,000 watts based on 50 amps ampacity. The actual amp rating is 40 amps or 9,600 watts. This is enough to run 3 roof AC units with a small amount left over. If each AC unit draws 2000 watts while running, that is 6000 watts, leaving 3600 watts for other devices. With 3 roof AC units it is best to stagger start them so that the don't trip a breaker (or better yet use soft starts).

      • StirCrazy's avatar
        StirCrazy
        Moderator

        To make matters even more confusing, the 30 amp rating is the ampacity rating. This means that the actual amp rating is 24 amps or 2880 watts. The breaker will generally trip after several minutes at about 25 to 27 amps.

         a 30 amp breaker is actually rated for 30amps continuously at 120V so 3600watts.  the wire and fixtures are rated even higher but the breaker is your cut off point. for design purposes if you are going to run a load for 3 hours strait then you size it to 80% of the household circuit, that's what you might be referring to.  the reason for this is eventually over time it will prematurely wear out the breaker.  you see a lot of this in old houses with the 30amp breaker the stove/oven is on.  newer ranges use pretty much that full capacity so if you do a lot of baking while cooking on the top eventually your breaker gets week and you start popping one leg.   you can replace it with a brand new 30 amp breaker and be good for a couple years or so then replace it again, or you can pull a new 40 amp rated wire and install the 40 amp breaker and be good for the foreseeable future.  if the breaker won't hold hours at a full 15 amps you have a defective or worn out breaker.  but yes household design for circuits is to only load them to 80% of the capacity, but the reason is so there is room in the future to tap into runs with out having to pull new wire for the whole circuit.  

        AC's are not a continuous load as the compressor turns on and off as needed, only the fan is constant, so ya what could be happening is when they start up and the other one is running it is spiking over the 30 amps and tripping the breaker.  then the more this happens the weaker the breaker gets and the lower and/or faster it will trip.  

        I have been having fun with my 1970's house and previous owners that did their own electrical with out having a clue.  I think I have moved 12 circuits off the main panel onto a sub panel now and replaced 60% of the breakers.  as well as replacing probably 300 feet of shoddy wiring that doesn't come close to meeting code but made it through all the inspections over the years 🤔

         

    • joebedford's avatar
      joebedford
      Nomad II

      I can only run both my air conditioners on SOME 30A circuits.

      I am thinking of getting a portable AC but I would run a heavy extension cord to an extra receptacle  - not through the RV panel. Of course, her husband's shop might not have another circuit available.

      My 5er is 42' and it needs THREE ACs.

      • Slackware1995's avatar
        Slackware1995
        Explorer

        I was going to say that very very very few 40 foot 5th wheels come with a single AC. Even two 15K btu AC units is tough with that large of a 5th wheel.

        I have a 35.5 foot (floorplan) 5th wheel with a 15K btu and 13.5K btu AC and if I don't start them early (before the inside temp hits 70F) they will really struggle in 90F temps. I'm thinking about upgrading the 13.5K btu AC to a 15k btu.