Power issues, breaker trips always now?

Hi all.

So I've been living full time in a 1999 Coachmen Catalina since about mid-October. I've never had a TT before so it's all been an experience and learning experience so far.

Anyways, I haven't had the money to pay an electrician $750+ to hook up a proper 30amp spot for me where I'm parked, so I've been running off an extension cord. The trailer is 50amp, so it's got an adapter to 30, which I bought a little adapter at Walmart to make the 30 to 15 to use the extension cord. It worked GREAT until about just over a week ago. I barely ever tripped the breaker. With just me in here it was very easy to not use things at the same time.

But now, I can be laying in bed with only my electric blanket and a small space heater going, and randomly it will all just switch off. Earlier I was microwaving my food, 4 minutes in and then it switched off. Nothing else had been turned on or started.

I don't know why this is happening. It's unpredictable and it's very cold here so having to run all the way to the breaker box at night is not fun.

A few things to mention:
- other people live on the property in the main house, last weekend, one of them replaced an outside outlet at the front of the property (I am all the way at the back, it was like complete opposite side and corner from where I am), anyways, when he out the new outlet box on it didn't work, I don't know what he did to get it to work in the end, he called an electrician friend and got it to work. But basically since then my trailer trips it's breaker all the **** time. Multiple times a day.

- My fridge is running off electric, everything is as I don't know how to replace the gas & tanks. But I noticed recently that the CHECK light is also on next to AUTO on top of the fridge. I don't know how long it has been on. I noticed today that things are being dropped on inside my fridge. Looks like some ice or something is melting inside the fridge. I also can't even tell if it's actually cold in there, because inside the trailer itself is cold. I could just leave my food out on the counter and it'd stay cold enough!

- It's cold. I don't know if that's making things act up. I'm still trying to finish covering the rest of my water hose.

- Came home a few weeks ago to see plastic scattered all over the yard. The wind was so bad that my AC on top had broken and pieces flew everywhere. It looks to be just the outside plastic casing of it, not the actual AC.

I'm a total newbie to this, with no one around knowledged on TT's to help.

Anything is appreciated.

Thanks!

donn0128
Explorer II
Dec 28, 2015
The trailer is 50A, but your adapting down to 15A? You cannot run the refer any anything else while in 15A. Force the refer to gas, water heater to gas and start again.
larry_cad
Explorer II
Dec 28, 2015
If the breaker that is tripping is rated at 15 amps, you are probably overloading it, even with the devices you described. A microwave is a full load by itself. A small space heater is also.

Why is it more frequent now? I would suspect that the breaker is going bad or already has. If it is a 15 amp, do NOT replace with a larger breaker as that could cause a fire. Just get a new 15 amp and see if it helps but you have to keep loads at a minimum.

There is also a possibility that with a long extension cord, you are not getting the full 120 volts to the camper and a lower voltage could be making your problem worse.

Good luck
tobydog927
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
I have no gas.

Everything has worked just fine in 15 for almost 2 months. I was told it would be fine to use the extension cord at 15amp until I could afford the 30amp spot set up. I don't run everything at once. Haven't touched AC, too cold.
tobydog927
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
larry cad wrote:
If the breaker that is tripping is rated at 15 amps, you are probably overloading it, even with the devices you described. A microwave is a full load by itself. A small space heater is also.

Why is it more frequent now? I would suspect that the breaker is going bad or already has. If it is a 15 amp, do NOT replace with a larger breaker as that could cause a fire. Just get a new 15 amp and see if it helps but you have to keep loads at a minimum.

There is also a possibility that with a long extension cord, you are not getting the full 120 volts to the camper and a lower voltage could be making your problem worse.

Good luck

The breaker it's on is a 20amp. The electrician said he's only able to put in a 30 not a 50 when I finally have the funds for that set up. I don't run the heater when using electric stove top or microwave, those things I know to use only one at a time.
STBRetired
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
Find out what else is on that circuit. Most houses do not have an outside outlet that is on a dedicated circuit. See what else doesn't work when the breaker trips. As Larry said, breakers will go bad. The more they trip the easier it becomes to trip them. Replace with the same size breaker, do not go bigger.
MWJones
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
deleted
tobydog927
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
STBRetired wrote:
Find out what else is on that circuit. Most houses do not have an outside outlet that is on a dedicated circuit. See what else doesn't work when the breaker trips. As Larry said, breakers will go bad. The more they trip the easier it becomes to trip them. Replace with the same size breaker, do not go bigger.

It's a ranch property, old, everything is quite strange on this property.

On the breaker box I'm hooked to, it has 3 x 20amp breakers. It's on a horse shed, appears other than my trailer that only lights on the horse shed are on the entire breaker box. There's lights nearby that I thought were on the same box but turned all breakers off and the lights stayed on. I'm not sure if this breaker box is a sub box from main house or part of garage's breaker box. Is it hard or safe enough to replace the 20amp breaker myself and see if that helps?
tobydog927
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
MWJones wrote:
All I can say that might help is to replace the breaker with a 20amp if it is a 15amp. Make sure you extension cord is heavy enough - like 10 gauge. Ofcourse you really need 30 amp service.

I would really like the 30 amp supply before summer hits, gonna need that A/C to work! But given my distance from the breaker box, it's costing me double what I had set aside for. So I need to keep saving before I can get the guy to come do it.
hohenwald48
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
How long and what gauge is your extension cord?

With a good 20A circuit, good breaker, large enough extension cord that is not very long you should be able to just barely get by. If you run the heat probably just about everything else needs to be off. You'll have right at 2400 watts if you have 120VAC. However, that will be reduced by the size of the cord and the length of the cord. Then you should only load it at 80% if you don't want to trip the breaker on a regular basis.

Don't forget your charger is on probably all the time. What could have changed is that others in the house are also running some high wattage stuff that is causing the voltage to dip feeding the entire house. Just some things to look at.

You also need to see if you can find out what size wire is connected to the breaker. If it's not at least 12ga you shouldn't have more than a 15amp breaker on that circuit.
STBRetired
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
How long is the extension cord? and what gauge? 10? 12? 14? If it is more than about 10 feet long, it should be a 10 gauge cord. Try turning you fridge off and back on. When the power goes out, it tries to switch to gas which could be why you are getting a check light.

Is the breaker panel protected from the weather? If moisture gets in there it can ruin the breaker.