Rec/Con fuse shutting off

Here is my heater set up. I have an elec fireplace with max of 1500. I run it on 750 or 800, whichever it is in a living room outlet. The other heater is about 12" x 10" and it is in the bedroom plugged into the wall where the red button is on the outlet (forget its name). It also I NEVER run them each at 1500 watts. I have run this this way for 3 yrs. The little heater is about four months old. It has a switch that is OFF/FAN/750w low/and 1500 high. It ALSO has a dial/thermostat that can reduce the heat at either 750 or 1500. I never use the 1500. I think the heater is fine. I will be having this checked by someone soon. I live in a fairly remote area on the south Oregon coast. In the next town north is Coos Bay/North Bend and there are several RV places there, but they want $180 just to drive their van to Bandon and back, plus the cost of the work and parts. So I have to try to figure this out myself first.

CarolineGates wrote:
Member from Sunny Florida suggested to leave the MAIN ON, every branch circuit OFF and then power up one branch at a time so map out which outlets are powered by each breaker....

By "branch circuit" do you mean turn off the switches for a/c, GFI, hot water, micro? Just leave main on, then use the tester/I will try a night lite.

Exactly! You got it! The idea is to test one circuit at a time and see which outlets each one feeds. You may find one branch/breaker/circuit is all outlets/receptacles on one end or one side of your Cougar. That way, you can be sure to plug high-wattage stuff into separate CIRCUITS, not just separate Outlets in the same Circuit.

I'd sure love to see a picture of your breaker box and it's labeling as to what they say feeds what.

Bad heater?

TWO HEATERS GOING

Do BOTH shut off when the circuit breaker clicks off? Next time it does it, check BOTH heaters and see if they are playing possum.

The combination of 2 heaters going plus a converter on a SINGLE breaker may have "tired out" the one single circuit breaker. Breakers that "live" at or near their trip point, do not last nearly as long.

Member from Sunny Florida suggested to leave the MAIN ON, every branch circuit OFF and then power up one branch at a time so map out which outlets are powered by each breaker....

By "branch circuit" do you mean turn off the switches for a/c, GFI, hot water, micro? Just leave main on, then use the tester/I will try a night lite.

You could pick up a kil-a watt meter at home depot or lowes. You'd then use that to see how many amps your heater is pulling. Next use it on your converter to see how many amps it is pulling. Very handy for trouble shooting a tripping breaker and other things as well. They are around $30.

If you have a spare slot in your breaker panel, you could install another 15 amp breaker and make it dedicated for your converter and then your outlets would be on their own breaker. In my mind, they should be separate anyway. They are separate in all RV's that I have owned.

OR, if you have a breaker for your refrigerator, you could move the converter wires over to that breaker. The refer will only ever pull 3 amps at most.

Yes, the breaker can get "tired" and yes they are easy to replace.

You'll usually see four lights on "battery" pretty much regardless of battery condition IF the Converter/Charger is running and working properly. Turn the breaker Rec/Con OFF and then push your Test button. You'll probably see three lights. That's OK if you come back after a period of Converter OFF time and still have three lights.

Fourth light basically says the battery is being charged.

I suggest you get that plug-in outlet tester. Of course you could use something like a night light... Leave MAIN ON, every branch circuit OFF, and then power up one branch at a time while you map out which outlets are powered by each breaker. THEN you'll know how to spread the load between breakers.

Depending on what type of electrical heaters you have, turning the thermostat dial to the midway point may not mean it is consuming half of the total rating power. Some use the thermostat setting as just an on-off switch activating with temperature.

If the circuit breaker has tripped a number of times, it may be starting to fail or open at a lower draw than it's rating. They are cheap to buy and easy to replace.

If, after you follow the advice given here and the breaker continues to trip, you should buy a new heater that can be set at a draw of only 750 watts instead of 1500 watts.

nothing has changed expect the tripping breaker

sounds like a failing battery or failing converter

battery is cheaper and easier to replace than converter
lets hope its the battery

you will need to unplug from shore power while removing the battery
besure to take a picture of the wiring with cellphone or camera, before disconnecting the wires, wrap the wires in tape to prevent shorting problems
and you can plug back into shore power, while the battery is being checked/tested

One thing I cannot do is drive this RV away as (1) it would have to be packed up which would take days and (2) I have no rig to pull it with.

Nothing is different. I have always run both heaters (one bedroom and one living room) at half power when it is cold.

I will start using the furnace more..just don't like to deal with getting propane, use a couple tanks a year.

Battery will be checked soon.

thanks