Generator question

[huntdooly]

We saw a 32' class A, Coachmen Pursuit for sale and it has a Onan 4000 generator. Most that we have seen are 5500. Will this be large enough for boondocking in this rig?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[RLS7201]

gemsworld wrote:

Sandia Man wrote:
Onan 4000 gennies are used in 30 amp rigs and the Onan 5500 and above are specked for 50 amp rigs. Our rig is 30 amps and our Onan 4000 delivers 33 amps powering our rig as if plugged into power pedestal. More than likely the RV you are looking at has a single AC unit which the Onan 4000 will have no issue running along with everything else, larger Onan 5500 gennies are for rigs with 2 AC units.

Not necessarily. I owned a 30-amp 33' Class A with 2 roof ACs that came with a 5,500 watt Onan.

And I own a 1995 30 amp RV with 2 ACs that has a 7K Onan, but that's old school. Sandi Man has it right for the newer RVs.

Richard

[Chum_lee]

My 30' Class A has an Onan 4K genny, a single rooftop AC, no slides, and a 30A service pigtail. It works fine for us but we are fair weather sissies and follow moderate weather. We always manage the electrical use. IME, at our size, even if we did have 2 rooftop AC's and/or used 3K watts of electrical resistance heating, while boondocking, we would freeze our tails off if it gets windy and much below freezing. If it gets above about 95 F in the direct sun, we will bake ourselves if we plan to stay inside the RV. Fair weather and protection from harsh elements is the key. Managing the electrical use is just par for the course in RV life.

Chum lee

[10forty2]

Probably good to go with only one A/C unit. If you have two, then you'd probably only be able to run 1 A/C unit at a time. The microwave and electric water heater and coffee pot at the same time MIGHT give a problem, but for the most part you should have enough power. If you have the option, (we don't) run the water heater on LP and that won't need to be figured into the equation.

We run our 50amp rig on a portable 3,500watt, 30amp Dual Fuel Champion Inverter generator when boondocking. I have an on-board 5,500 Onan that is quite capable of running everything at the same time and we use it when going down the road to run both A/Cs, but I am not comfortable with it running when we are sleeping. So we bought the portable one and limit ourselves to 1 A/C at a time. So far, we've had no issues with not having enough power or with lack of comfort.

[Community Alumni]

Sandia Man wrote:
Onan 4000 gennies are used in 30 amp rigs and the Onan 5500 and above are specked for 50 amp rigs. Our rig is 30 amps and our Onan 4000 delivers 33 amps powering our rig as if plugged into power pedestal. More than likely the RV you are looking at has a single AC unit which the Onan 4000 will have no issue running along with everything else, larger Onan 5500 gennies are for rigs with 2 AC units.

Not necessarily. I owned a 30-amp 33' Class A with 2 roof ACs that came with a 5,500 watt Onan.

[Sandia_Man]

Onan 4000 gennies are used in 30 amp rigs and the Onan 5500 and above are specked for 50 amp rigs. Our rig is 30 amps and our Onan 4000 delivers 33 amps powering our rig as if plugged into power pedestal. More than likely the RV you are looking at has a single AC unit which the Onan 4000 will have no issue running along with everything else, larger Onan 5500 gennies are for rigs with 2 AC units.

[RLS7201]

You'll be just fine with that 4K Onan (33 amps). We spend the winter months off grid in our 32" Bounder, with 30 amp service from our generator. You'll be able to run 3 heavy draw item at the same time.

Richard

[wa8yxm]

All depends on how much you run. My 5500 Runs the entire coach. 2 A/C's 1500 watt Water heater. Kitchen stuff and of course all the eletronics and fridge.

AND has enough left over to power 3 100 watt Ham Radio stations, lights and computers for logging on field day.

In short. more than I can eat.

I suspect your 4,000 will do so as well. IF NOT.. Switch water heater to PROPANE or.... When I had to replace the tank I also repalced the new heat element with a different one 1500 watts at 240 volts... At 120 volts that is about 375 watts.. Takes a bit longer to heat things up. but... A whole lot longer to trip a 30 amp park breaker and less load on ye old onan.

[Chris_Bryant]

If it is a 30 amp rig, it's fine, you couldn't use anything bigger. If it's a 50 amp rig, you will be a bit limited, but as long as you can get by on a single air conditioner.

[Community Alumni]

Does this unit come with only one roof AC? It may not be enough for a 32' foot coach during the hot summer months.

[D_E_Bishop]

It's really hard to say without knowing how hot it is where you're camping. We had a 4500 in our Bounder and did okay with both grand kids and watching an hour of old ALF dvd's every night.

Of course we were gone all day and no AC or microwave. Three days was about as good we could do before starting the generator and charging the house batteries, wenever used much 120V ac.

The quality and quantity of house batteries is really important than a big generator.

[romore]

It should be as long as you don't try to run the a/c, coffee maker, hair dryer and microwave at the same time.