Full size breakers vs. tandem (double) breakers?

And just to reiterate, I'm going to add a single tandem breaker (2X15A). I don't want both heaters running off one leg, so I'll move a 15A circuit off the other leg and have it and the heater on the tandem breaker, and the other heater where I removed one circuit from the other leg.

The only problems I have with tandem breakers is where both sides have a large load on them- often the 30 amp service coaches will use a 30/20, with the 30 being the input, and the 20 being the air conditioner- these will get pretty hot.

A tandem breaker will work just fine for the OP. There is no need to run a space heater off each leg. It just doesnt matter.
As David P wrote, we're making this more complicated than it needs to be.

westend wrote:
Not at all. The OP wishes to run two heaters with a 50 amp service. He wishes to balance the loads between the two legs of his 50 amp service.

If the tandem breaker or two single breakers only attach to one leg of his 50 amp service, he is not balancing the load between the two legs.

I don't think he's planning on connecting the circuits for both heaters to the new tandem.

He wants to move the circuit supporting one of the heaters to the other leg. To do that, he can replace an existing full size breaker on that other leg with a tandem, and reconnect the exiting load to one side of the tandem. He can then connect the heater circuit he wants to move to the other side of the tandem. Done - he has the heaters on different legs.

I unplugged my rig and put my meter on each leg: as expected, the left breakers are on one leg and the right breakers are on the other.

DavidP wrote:

westend wrote:

DavidP wrote:

Stefonius wrote:
If you're running "one heater on each leg", you should use two single breakers rather than a tandem. You can easily make sure each breaker is on a different leg. If you're using a tandem breaker with two potentially unbalanced 110v loads, you can cause problems.

Taking the single out and adding a tandem will put each heater on its own leg. He will not need two single breaker since the tandem will give him two legs/circuits. Balance will be no different than having two single breakers.

Are you sure about this? Most tandem breakers I've handled only attach to one load center bus.
Edit: This may not be true of a 50 amp RV load center. I use a residential load center in my trailer so don't have a specific RV load center.

And, there is no reason not to balance the amount of potential draw between the two legs of the service. Why would you want to pull everything off one leg?

Your making this more complicated than it needs to be. He is removing a single 15 AMP breaker and replacing it with a tandem giving him two 15amp 120 volt circuits. The tandem will now be two singles using one single pole breaker slot. The circuit breaker bus branch/bus stab does not play into this at all.

Not at all. The OP wishes to run two heaters with a 50 amp service. He wishes to balance the loads between the two legs of his 50 amp service.

If the tandem breaker or two single breakers only attach to one leg of his 50 amp service, he is not balancing the load between the two legs. This is why he states that he will remove a breaker connection from one side of the load center and power his heaters off each individual leg. He is thinking ahead and rightly so.

You do understand that typical 240V service has two separate bus connections in the load center, one for each leg?

There seems to be some confusion with a tandem breaker (two individual half-size breakers in a single unit width case) and a double-pole circuit breaker (two full-size circuit breakers connected by a single handle).

A tandem circuit breaker connects two independent 120V circuits, both necessarily on the same leg since it's a single slot in the load center. A dual pole breaker is usually used for a 240V circuit and on a residential load center would connect to both legs. In an RV, they're pretty much only used for the main breaker, and on many RV load centers in any other position it would only connect to one or the other leg.

A tandem breaker is fine in the situation the original poster describes.

westend wrote:

DavidP wrote:

Stefonius wrote:
If you're running "one heater on each leg", you should use two single breakers rather than a tandem. You can easily make sure each breaker is on a different leg. If you're using a tandem breaker with two potentially unbalanced 110v loads, you can cause problems.

Taking the single out and adding a tandem will put each heater on its own leg. He will not need two single breaker since the tandem will give him two legs/circuits. Balance will be no different than having two single breakers.

Are you sure about this? Most tandem breakers I've handled only attach to one load center bus.
Edit: This may not be true of a 50 amp RV load center. I use a residential load center in my trailer so don't have a specific RV load center.

And, there is no reason not to balance the amount of potential draw between the two legs of the service. Why would you want to pull everything off one leg?

Your making this more complicated than it needs to be. He is removing a single 15 AMP breaker and replacing it with a tandem giving him two 15amp 120 volt circuits. The tandem will now be two singles using one single pole breaker slot. The circuit breaker bus branch/bus stab does not play into this at all.

Two issues. SOME panels will not accept tandem breakers. Second, a tandem breaker only attaches to one leg so both sides of the tandem are on the same leg not split.

I'm very surprised by this. I assumed that all the breakers to the left of the main 50A breaker were on one leg and the ones on the right were on the other leg.

I'm going out there with a flashlight and check it right now.