Good Read about Circuit Breakers (Debunking Myths)
My last camping trip for Halloween weekend, I brought 2 electric heaters with me. I plugged one into a regular wall outlet, and one into the outlet for the electric hot water heater (I would swap out one heater for electric HW during the day, and use residual hot water at night and replug in the heater). I had both heaters on high, 2 heated beds on, refer on electric, and the converter on. I looked at my Progressive Industries monitor, and noticed that I was pulling 38 amps. I was wondering, why am I not tripping anything. I lowered my power use and got under 30 amps, but I needed to know more. So I investigated. This is what I found.
SOURCE: Goodson Engineering - Forensic Engineering * Fire Investigations
MOD Idea: Put a separate 20 amp into the camper for purposes of running 2 heaters. I know some have done it for a 2nd AC on a 30 amp unit before.
Goodson Engineering wrote:
The first (and most common) misconception is that a breaker trips when its nameplate rating is exceeded. One fire text has stated (incorrectly) that a circuit breaker will trip in several minutes with a small increase in current over its rating[1]. Actually, a 20 amp breaker must trip at a sustained current of 27 amperes (135 percent) at less than one hour, and at 40 amperes (200 percent of wire rating) in less than 120 seconds—far different from what the cited text implies. These two trip points (135 percent and 200 percent) are defined in NEMA Standard AB-1, MCCBs and Molded Case Switches[2]
SOURCE: Goodson Engineering - Forensic Engineering * Fire Investigations
MOD Idea: Put a separate 20 amp into the camper for purposes of running 2 heaters. I know some have done it for a 2nd AC on a 30 amp unit before.
