Pulling more than 50 amps ?
Our park electrician says that some of the big rigs with 3 ACs and electric everything can sometimes draw more than 50A from a 50A pedestal. Truth or BS?
Forum Discussion
valhalla360 wrote:BB_TX wrote:valhalla360 wrote:
I see a lot of supposed experts talking about amperage without specifying voltage...then calling the guy an idiot.
Without knowing the voltage, you can't answer the question.
Since there are almost never 240v appliances on an RV, we should logically assume the electrician was talking about amps @ 120v. In that case the total amps (regardless of which leg they come in on), can easily exceed 50amps.
Another wrong answer. He specifically said "big rig". And some of the high end rigs do have some 240 vac appliances. And a 240 vac appliance draws current thru the same main circuit breaker as the 120 vac appliances. The only difference is the 240 vac appliance draws current thru both poles of the breaker while the 120 vac appliances draw current thru only one or the other of the poles. So the total current flow thru each pole of the circuit breaker would be the total of the current drawn by the 240 vac appliances and by the 120 vac appliances. How much current is drawn by which voltage is irrelevant. It is the total current thru either pole that trips the breaker whether there are any 240 vac appliances or not.
I've yet to come across one of these rigs that have 240v appliances. I'm sure they exist but kind of like hen's teeth (maybe with rock band buses or some other specialized system but so far from common as to be a wild leap to assume he was talking about rigs actually using 240v power)...so not really relevant other than in a pedantic sense that it's possible.
The vast majority of RVs...even the big ones with 3 air/con units use no 240v devices.
You are also presuming the issue being discussed. You assume, it's about tripping the breaker at the pedestal. He could just as easily be talking about the larger system where they stay under 50amp per leg and when you have many rigs doing similar things, it stresses the upstream system. Or they could have simply been talking about the utility bill and how many KWH the park has to pay for. We don't know the specifics of what was discussed or how the OP translated that into the original post.
From the OP:
Our park electrician says that some of the big rigs with 3 ACs and electric everything can sometimes draw more than 50A from a 50A pedestal.
A very simple statement regardless of the intent behind it. And that simple statement is absolutely true, at least until either the park 50 amp breaker trips, or the RV 50 amp breaker trips. And the voltage being used is entirely irrelevant. Doesn't matter whether the RV has any 240 vac appliances or if they are all 120 vac.
Boggles my mind that this has turned into a 9 page (an counting) debate about an "idiot electrician" making a very simple and very true statement and everyone turning that into their own personal interpretation as if they know more about what he was referring to than the electrician himself.
