Air Cond issues at Campground

[jayhardy]

We arrived last nite for our second journey in our 2013 Mountaineer. The first trip I had no air conditioning issues. This trip I plugged in the power to fire up the air. It popped after 10 seconds. I'm in a 30 amp sight. breaker didnt pop and nore did the fuse. One thing, I still had the power plugged into the truck if that could be a issue. Its 90 degrees and this campground (Potholes State Park) has issues on occasions with extreme heat but my neighbours air is working. I've try unhooking and everything I can imagine. I thought that maybe the 110 was working but the 30amp popped in my site. I tried the micro which thought requires 30amp and it works fine. Its going to be 90 plus. I'm going to call the dealer soon. Any ideas??

[TucsonJim]

One hidden source of power draw it took me a while to figure out was my electric coffee pot. I'd forgot to turn off the heating element when I was done with it. My AC kept kicking the pedestal breaker until I discovered that the coffee pot was on. Turned it off, and everything was okay.

[KSadler1]

If you have a generator, fire it up and see if that will run your AC. At the very least you will eliminate your AC as being the problem.....

[Veebyes]

At this very moment I am sitting at a place, a boatyard, with very old & unreliable power. It is supposedly 30amp. Not!

Assuming your AC unit is OK, the trick is to turn everything 110 that you can off at the circuit breaker.
The easy ones are the fridge & water heater. Leave them on propane. Only turn the waterheater on 15 min before you want a shower. Shut the battery charger off too.

The CG voltage must be very low & the demand very high with the heat. A simple little voltmeter plugged into one of your outlets will tell the story, at least on one leg of power.

[sele]

put your ac on low and let it cool slowly instead of a high demand set thermostat at 78 and readjust it every hour or so to bring the temp down. As others have stated put hot water heater and frig on propane and keep elec use to a miniuim leaving all available power for ac. if you have vents that allow for recirculation use them it is easier to cool air that has already been cooled and have the humidity removed

[jayhardy]

No breakers ever broke. I heard something real quick but don't no where. Campground said there having serious issues with 100 degree heat. I'll try turning off water heater breaker next. It's hot at happy hour to put it lightly. Dealer was no help. They said bring it in. Huge hassle to put it lightly

[Swamp_Man]

I am assuming that the breaker to the A/C unit tripped. If you have a 50 amp service (I am guessing that you do since you posted you have two A/C units) and are using an adaptor to run the trailer from a 30 amp plug then it is likely that the plug or breaker isn't getting enough power. This results in all kinds of strange behavior and can damage the A/C units. I suggest you obtain a digital volt meter and check with the voltage at the power pole is. Campgrounds are bad about low voltage during high use peroids (hot days). We have had to run the generator at times due to low voltage.

[wmgeorge]

What he is saying, if the water heater is electric then on a 30 amp service in a busy campground your AC will have problems starting and running. If your water heater is propane never mind.

[RockyMt]

My Montana will try to bring both AC units on-you have to turn off one of them at the thermistat(sp).It always de-faults to two AC's.

[Old-Biscuit]

110V AC supplies you with power from park pedestal.
Your 50A rig with a 30A adapter allows you to have AC power and run AC equipment up to a draw of 30 amps.
That AC power supplies....
converter (which supplies 12V DC power and charges batteries)
A/C Unit
Microwave
Heating elements for fridge & water heater
outlets
TV

On 30A you can run A/C unit, fridge, TV, outlets but will probably trip breaker if you try to run water heater, microwave when using A/C unit.

When overloaded the 30A breaker at pedestal may trip, Main AC breaker inside rig power panel may trip OR the breaker for A/C unit may trip.

Your truck/trailer cord supplies 12V DC power to lights/trailer brakes
Your trailer battery (and converter when on shore power) supply the trailer with 12V DC power for furnace, control circuits for water heater, fridge, thermostat, inside lights, slides etc.

"This trip I plugged in the power to fire up the air. It popped after 10 seconds"
WHAT popped after 10 seconds??

Check circuit breakers in trailer power panel.
Does A/C Fan turn ON (from t-stat....manually)?

[dan-nickie]

jayhardy wrote:
Its a 2013 38' Montana. I have a 30 amp converter on the plug. One air con unit. Not sure about the water heater

Well, check the water heater.

[Weldon]

Hot Water and frig. should be on propane and try only one a/c. Do other electrical items work?

[Rmcgrath53]

we have a surge protector that shuts off if the voltage drops or rises to much that we hook to the pedestal.it has shut off about 5 times this year when overloaded.dirty power or to many on the circuit

[Francesca_Knowl]

Oops- question answered...

[Francesca_Knowl]

Sorry...