Main Circuit Breaker Switch

KD4UPL wrote:
The answer to the question is: Yes.
In your case you're pulling more than 30 amps. You just can't turn everything one at once.
WH - about 10 amps
Refer - around 2 amps
TV - probably 1 amp
AC - Mine pulls about 7 amps running
Microwave - usually around 10 amps
Toaster, coffer maker, iron - anywhere from 7 to 12 amps each.
As you can see, that adds up to way more than 30.

I see this answer is pretty well informed. However a couple of answers are a bit mis-leading, and I wonder why they continue to provide information if they have only a slight clue about what they are talking about.

A 30 amp circuit breaker is designed to trip when it gets hot, and that is "Around" 30 amps - give or take about 1 amp. So you should be able to load it to 30 amps without it tripping, unless you have 29.9 amps on it for several hours, it might trip. You can run 30.5 amps for about 5 minutes before it will trip, yet it should trip really fast at 32 amps (about 30 seconds).

Normally code requires going to a larger circuit breaker if your plan is to plug in more than 80% of it's rated current capacity, or in other words if your plan is to use 23 amps, code is fine with a 30 amp circuit breaker, but over 24.1 amps, they would require sizing the wiring and circuit breaker for 40 amps. This is so that after 30 years with 24.1 amps on the wiring, it will not have ever been overheated, and will not deteriorate inside the wall, requiring expensive replacement of the wires during the lifetime of the house it is installed in.

Yes the manufactures should be installing a 50 amp service in all RV's. However even the 30' power cord cost is about $150 more for the 50 amp service, so you still see a lot of 30 amp RV's being made. They really should have used a 30 amp 120/240 volt system, the cost would have been much less, but now campgrounds are used to the 30 amp and 50 amp systems, so that is what we are stuck with.

THe amperage listed above is a great guide. I have never tripped my 30 amp RV main breaker, despite living in the RV for several years, and camping in conditions as low as 95 volts into the RV. Low voltage can cause the air conditioner to draw more power, however the water heater, portable heater, refrigerator, and toaster will all draw less power on lower input voltage, so will work fine at 100 volts input. Just try to keep total amperage below about 25 amps, and you will be fine.

I found that my air conditioner is about 10 amps when running on a cooler day, but can go as high as 14 amps on a 105F day. Your battery charger can use between 0.5 and 2 amps, depending on the number of lights you have on at the time.

Fred.