Not willing to freeze to death this winter in our Jayco Pinnacle in Kelowna, B.C, we purchased a 2006 29-foot Roadrunner Elite travel trailer and have been happily wintering in Apache Junction, Arizona since October. Happily, that is, except for the d--n circuit breakers!We're plugged in to 30 amp service in a good park, so we don't believe that's to blame. This problem began several weeks after starting to live in it here, with only an occasional popping of the bottom circuit breakers (labeled "Recept" and "RV Water Heater"). We figured it was occasioned by a little electric heater on low heat, but as time passed those circuits began popping more and more frequently, whether or not anything was even "on" in the trailer! Now, the top "Main" circuit breakers have begun popping as well, though not as often. The bottom breakers pop many times a day. And I mean many! Whether or not anything electric is turned on. We have an rv repair person coming as soon as he can, which will probably be this coming Monday (Jan. 14th), but would love to get ideas from you members about what might be causing this. The rv guy checked the trailer battery when last here and changed two fuses, one of which was burned out and the other was burning out. He said he didn't think the battery was to blame for this.I highly value opinions by my rv.net friends and thank anyone who submits something.braeworth

What we do when running portable electric heaters is to plug them into the camp ground 20AMP service using a HD extension cord run into our trailer.This gives us a separate 120VAC circuit to plug our portable heaters into which has their own circuit breaker.This frees up more capacity we use from our 30AMP source coming from the camp ground...Maybe you have this additional capability where you are. Most camp ground pedestals have the extra 20AMP service as well as the 30Amp service...Something to think about maybe...Roy Ken

It may be that the circuit breakers are failing. Continuous tripping will shorten their life. Replacement is the typical remedy and isn't expensive.Load balancing a single 30 amp service is an art and a science. Use of electric heaters will gobble up a lot of amps, almost half of your available power. If possible, take a note from Roy or Pianotuna and use a breakout box or even additional extension cords to distribute power from the pedestal to your RV. If I were fulltiming, I'd like to know the exact status of the pedestal at all times of the day. It may be that you experience some voltage drop during peak load times of the day at that park or that the service is not all that is assumed. Good luck with the power issues.

First, fuses either are good or not. They are never in the process of "burning out." That repair man either was just telling you something to get your money or he was full of it.Second, the circuit breakers are tripping because the circuit is overloaded. While it is possible the breakers are weak from excessive tripping, it is not probable that all of them are failing at once.You have 30 amp service. The water heater consumes 12.5 amps by itself if the park has good voltage. If it does not, then the amps on the water heater could be higher, approaching 14 amps. The little electric heater will draw the same. The microwave 10 amps. The converter powering all those electric lights 5 amps. The refrigerator 5 amps. The television and satellite box 4 amps. Do the math. You can see that you can easily exceed 30 amps without trying.Each individual circuit is probably a 15 amp circuit. The water heater is basically consuming its entire capacity but already has a receptacle on it also. Plug anything else into that receptacle and that circuit breaker trips.Your little electric heater is the same. It consumes the entire outlets capacity, but is probably wired with something else.Bottom line, control your electric consumption and the breakers will quit tripping.

Check for loose connections in breaker panel and if that does not do it then replace the bad breakers. :(

tvman44 wrote:Check for loose connections in breaker panel and if that does not do it then replace the bad breakers. :(X2And go ahead and replace those breakers that have been tripping.The one for 'water heater'...check the connections on electric element

Travel trailer circuit breakers keep popping | Good Sam Community

15 Replies

Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Jan 11, 2014
tvman44 wrote:
Check for loose connections in breaker panel and if that does not do it then replace the bad breakers. :(

X2
And go ahead and replace those breakers that have been tripping.
The one for 'water heater'...check the connections on electric element
tvman44
Explorer
Jan 11, 2014
Check for loose connections in breaker panel and if that does not do it then replace the bad breakers. :(
I_am_still_wayn
Explorer
Jan 11, 2014
First, fuses either are good or not. They are never in the process of "burning out." That repair man either was just telling you something to get your money or he was full of it.

Second, the circuit breakers are tripping because the circuit is overloaded. While it is possible the breakers are weak from excessive tripping, it is not probable that all of them are failing at once.

You have 30 amp service. The water heater consumes 12.5 amps by itself if the park has good voltage. If it does not, then the amps on the water heater could be higher, approaching 14 amps. The little electric heater will draw the same. The microwave 10 amps. The converter powering all those electric lights 5 amps. The refrigerator 5 amps. The television and satellite box 4 amps.

Do the math. You can see that you can easily exceed 30 amps without trying.

Each individual circuit is probably a 15 amp circuit. The water heater is basically consuming its entire capacity but already has a receptacle on it also. Plug anything else into that receptacle and that circuit breaker trips.

Your little electric heater is the same. It consumes the entire outlets capacity, but is probably wired with something else.

Bottom line, control your electric consumption and the breakers will quit tripping.
westend
Explorer
Jan 11, 2014
It may be that the circuit breakers are failing. Continuous tripping will shorten their life. Replacement is the typical remedy and isn't expensive.

Load balancing a single 30 amp service is an art and a science. Use of electric heaters will gobble up a lot of amps, almost half of your available power. If possible, take a note from Roy or Pianotuna and use a breakout box or even additional extension cords to distribute power from the pedestal to your RV.

If I were fulltiming, I'd like to know the exact status of the pedestal at all times of the day. It may be that you experience some voltage drop during peak load times of the day at that park or that the service is not all that is assumed.

Good luck with the power issues.
RoyB
Explorer II
Jan 11, 2014
What we do when running portable electric heaters is to plug them into the camp ground 20AMP service using a HD extension cord run into our trailer.

This gives us a separate 120VAC circuit to plug our portable heaters into which has their own circuit breaker.

This frees up more capacity we use from our 30AMP source coming from the camp ground...

Maybe you have this additional capability where you are. Most camp ground pedestals have the extra 20AMP service as well as the 30Amp service...

Something to think about maybe...

Roy Ken

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Travel trailer circuit breakers keep popping

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