We're at a RV park near Jekyll Island, GA and as usual, for our 30 amp travel trailer, we were plugged into the 30 amp outlet with our Progressive Industries PT30C in use. The breaker tripped and we were in the dark. I went out to the power post and could not get the 30 amp breaker to reset, so I got out my 50 amp adapter and that solved the problem. At the time of the breaker tripping, the AC was running and the electric hot water heater was on and heating after I took a shower. The following morning, I went to the office and ended up speaking with the owner. He came over, and was able to reset the breaker...I wasn't using enough pressure to force the breaker to reset. But, here is where my question evolves. He said that the newer 30 amp breakers that he is required to use by law tend to trip much more easily than the older breakers and he said that because of that, it is better to always use the 50 amp adapter. Does anyone have any experience or comments about this advice?? I know the adapter simply draws power on only one of the spades, so I don't see any reason not to use the adapter, but just wondering if anyone else has received this advice or uses the 50 amp adpater rather than plugging into the 30 amp service.:@

I'm an electrical contractor. I don't know of any "federal laws" about breakers. Electrical installations are generally governed by the local city or county building department. Usually they inspect according to the National Electric Code. This is not a federal code but just the name of the code. Adopting it is voluntary and usually done on the state level.At any rate, there have been no changes to make breakers trip "easier". A 30 amp breaker is supposed to trip when more than 30 amps flows thru it. Time will always be a factor here. 31 amps might not trip it for several hours while 100 amps should trip it really quick. This is more a function of the breaker's design and varies among manufacturers a bit.I suppose it's possible he might have had Federal Pacific breakers before and now has something else installed. Federal Pacific breakers were very popular in the 70's and 80's until it was discovered they were faking the UL listing and printing their own labels. They got sued and went bankrupt. Their breakers sometimes didn't trip at all. If he used to have those and now has good breakers that might explain his comment.

The campground owner is blowing smoke.You need to run less loads to prevent the breaker from tripping. Turn off heavy loads before resetting a breaker.The only issue in using the 50A is that the wiring from the plug all the way to the trailers 30A breaker is not properly protected.

I always look at the campground pedestal connectors for burn marks or badly corroded/burned sockets. The 30-Amp connectors really get used more than the 50 Amp ones. I will plug into the cleanest one I see...Plugging into a socket that shows burned arcing marks may destroy your 30A RV Cable plug requiring replacement.The 50-Amp service actually has 50 Amps on both hot leads and true your 50A-30A Adapter only uses one of the 50-Amp legs. Your Trailer 30A MAIN breaker will keep you from using more than the 30Amps.50A to 30A RV Dogbone Adapter (DMBRUSS)Roy Ken

Your trailer still has a main breaker to protect your cables, when we had. 30amp unit we preferred to dog bone the 50 in hopes of not being a victim of park overload.Nice story about his requirements.. As mentioned, just smoke.

As RoyB pointed out, the 30 amp circuit gets used much more and often is worn and/or corroded causing the arcing pointed out in his post. The 50 amp outlet is more robust and used less often, almost always a better choice.

Use a 50 amp adapter instead of 30 amp service?

lbrjet
Explorer
Mar 27, 2016
When running the A/C put the WH on propane. Regardless of whether using the 30 or 50 amp receptacle.
GaryWT
Explorer
Mar 27, 2016
Whenever 50 amp is available I use the dog bone and use the 50 amp. If only 30 amp is available I sometimes have no issues but sometimes it will trip. If it trips I put the water heater on gas.
hohenwald48
Explorer
Mar 27, 2016
What do you do in campgrounds where they have an additional charge for 50A service? Do you pay the charge or just use the 50 without paying or do you ask first?
Walaby
Explorer II
Mar 27, 2016
hohenwald48 wrote:
What do you do in campgrounds where they have an additional charge for 50A service? Do you pay the charge or just use the 50 without paying or do you ask first?

If you use it without paying, wouldn't that be akin to stealing?

I never ran into a camptground that has both on the same spot, but has an upcharge for 50a. Having said that, a state park I was recently at had two different types of spots, one with 50a, and others with 30a. It was cheaper for the 30a spots but those didn't have 50a as an option.

Mike
3oaks
Explorer
Mar 27, 2016
hohenwald48 wrote:
What do you do in campgrounds where they have an additional charge for 50A service? Do you pay the charge or just use the 50 without paying or do you ask first?

The few campgrounds that I have stayed at that charged extra for 50A service charged more for the site with 50A service. So you paid the additional fee up front whether you used the 50A service or not.

Just what Mike posted while I was typing.
dodge_guy
Explorer II
Mar 27, 2016
hohenwald48 wrote:
What do you do in campgrounds where they have an additional charge for 50A service? Do you pay the charge or just use the 50 without paying or do you ask first?

My trailer is not a 50A trailer. So I don't worry about it.
GaryWT
Explorer
Mar 27, 2016
If you pay for a 50 amp site then you can use it. If you do not pay for a 50 amp site then you don't have it available at the site.
hohenwald48
Explorer
Mar 27, 2016
Most of the campgrounds I go to usually have both available on the pedestal. The pedestal looks like the picture posted on page one of this thread.
hohenwald48
Explorer
Mar 27, 2016
dodge guy wrote:
hohenwald48 wrote:
What do you do in campgrounds where they have an additional charge for 50A service? Do you pay the charge or just use the 50 without paying or do you ask first?

My trailer is not a 50A trailer. So I don't worry about it.

Isn't the upcharge for the use of the 50A service? I didn't think it had anything to do with what your trailer uses. Depending on the time of the year I my trailer might only use 10 amps.
scbwr
Explorer II
Mar 27, 2016
Again, thanks for all the responses.

Just a couple of points:
1. Local codes can dictate the type of breaker used.
2. I've been plugged into 30 amp service many times and have had the electric HWH running along with the AC and haven't tripped circuits. Now, if the breaker had reset, I would have flipped the water heater to propane.
3. I tried resetting the breaker without any load at all, i.e. I disconnected the PI EMS. The owner had to press very firmly at the off position of the breaker, and then it did reset. Is the breaker faulty....I don't know.

Now, if I'm plugged in with the 50amp adapter, and the PG EMS is plugged into the power post (it's the portable model), I would think that if there was a short and 50 amps was sent to the PI EMS, the EMS would do it's job. That being the case, I don't see any danger in using the adapter! Any comments??

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Use a 50 amp adapter instead of 30 amp service?

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