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alaska_av8r's avatar
alaska_av8r
Explorer
Sep 17, 2017

Dometic Brisk Air Mod 57915-541 Tripped breaker

Still figuring out this "new to me" camper (2008 Keystone Passport 285RL) and learning as I go. We currently have the camper in the driveway and hooked up to shorepower on my home's breaker box. It is on a 30 amp breaker protected circuit.

We decided to stay in it last night since the air conditioner for our house went out (bad fan). We like it cold, 68 deg cold or more. So we set the thermostat and it cooled off pretty well, however we did set a small fan on the table to blow the cool air back toward the bedroom since there doesn't seem to be much airflow from the air cond coming through the ducts, blows like crazy from bottom of the unit.

Everything worked great up until about 3am when everything went dark, it tripped the 30 amp breaker at the panel. So I reset the breaker and tried again, after about 10 min it tripped it again. So I turned the small fan off and adjusted the temp on thermostat up a bit and it stayed on. Wasn't in the mood for much troubleshooting at 3 am.

Like I mentioned still figuring this camper out but when I got up this morning I tried portable fan and turning temp down again and it tripped the breaker.

I noticed on my panel by the door that the water heater (electric and gas (Atwood GC6AA-10E) was selected to electric, also my fridge (Dometic Americana DM2652) was set on Auto.

I have tried digging all over the net to determine amp draws of various appliances and not sure but I found fridge at 2.7amps, water heater element 13amps, and air conditioner 14amps which is essentially 30 amps.

I'm not sure what other various amp demands were going on at the time.

So my question is do those amp numbers sound right and if so, then I guess I am going to have to become a power manager when using the Air conditioner.

How do you guys handle situations like this, or do I have an underlying issue?

thanks
tim
  • prichardson's avatar
    prichardson
    Explorer
    Sep 18, 2017
    Temperature setting has no bearing on amp draw. As pianotuner mentioned low voltage will increase amp draw and published amp information is normally based on 120 volts at the A/C unit.. Wire size and length and condition of connections can affect the voltage at the appliance being run.
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Sep 18, 2017
    Hi,

    Air conditioners can draw a LOT of power. Mine starts out at about 1200 watts @ 115 volts (~10.5 amps) and can go up to 1900 watts @ 113 volts (18.5 amps).

    I suspect there is low voltage where you are. That may be corrected by using an autoformer. All an energy management system will do is cut off the power.

    alaska_av8r wrote:


    The air cond ran for quite a while 30 min, and then tripped the breaker again. That doesn't sound right to me, seems like it should have kept running with no problem, and this is with the thermostat set higher at about 74 deg with ambient at 82 deg.
  • DownTheAvenue's avatar
    DownTheAvenue
    Explorer
    Sep 17, 2017
    alaska_av8r wrote:

    I have tried digging all over the net to determine amp draws of various appliances and not sure but I found fridge at 2.7amps, water heater element 13amps, and air conditioner 14amps which is essentially 30 amps.

    I'm not sure what other various amp demands were going on at the time.

    So my question is do those amp numbers sound right and if so, then I guess I am going to have to become a power manager when using the Air conditioner.

    How do you guys handle situations like this, or do I have an underlying issue?

    thanks
    tim


    You have correctly figured out your own problem. Good job! Keeping the water heater on gas when using the A/C will solve your problem. Turn off the A/C when using the microwave, or a hair dryer.

    That 30 amp breaker was just doing its job correctly.
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Sep 17, 2017
    pianotuna wrote:
    Hi,

    Circuits are not intended to be run "flat out" so a 30 amp breaker can provide 24 amps on a continuous basis. There are (expensive) ways around this and some less expensive solutions.

    I "broke out" the electric water heater and have male and female plugs so I can run the heater on a separate circuit.

    The expensive solution is to use a hybrid inverter charger which will draw energy from the battery bank if the load exceeds a certain level (I keep mine at 24 amps). This is called "load support". Of course you can't do that forever--but the water heater cycles on for 15 minutes every four hours once it has reached full temperature.

    Be aware that load support is NOT voltage support.

    It may well be that with the fridge, water heater and roof air cycled on, that voltage became too low. That would cause the roof air to draw more amps. Then the breaker pops.


    This is your answer.
    You cannot run a 30A breaker at 30A continuously. It will take time but it will eventually trip.
    In your case I would kill the WH and run it on propane when needed.
  • Lynnmor's avatar
    Lynnmor
    Explorer
    Sep 17, 2017
    You need to have a digital voltmeter that displays the voltage at all times. Without knowing what the voltage is when the breaker trips, all we can do is guess. I run all the appliances you mentioned with a 30 amp breaker. Are you using an extension cord of a long length or smaller wire size?
  • alaska_av8r's avatar
    alaska_av8r
    Explorer
    Sep 17, 2017
    Thank you for the info, I set the fridge to gas, then decided for now to just turn it off while testing. On my panel beside the door I turned off gas and electric for the hot water heater.

    The air cond ran for quite a while 30 min, and then tripped the breaker again. That doesn't sound right to me, seems like it should have kept running with no problem, and this is with the thermostat set higher at about 74 deg with ambient at 82 deg.
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Sep 17, 2017
    Hi,

    Circuits are not intended to be run "flat out" so a 30 amp breaker can provide 24 amps on a continuous basis. There are (expensive) ways around this and some less expensive solutions.

    I "broke out" the electric water heater and have male and female plugs so I can run the heater on a separate circuit.

    The expensive solution is to use a hybrid inverter charger which will draw energy from the battery bank if the load exceeds a certain level (I keep mine at 24 amps). This is called "load support". Of course you can't do that forever--but the water heater cycles on for 15 minutes every four hours once it has reached full temperature.

    Be aware that load support is NOT voltage support.

    It may well be that with the fridge, water heater and roof air cycled on, that voltage became too low. That would cause the roof air to draw more amps. Then the breaker pops.
  • newman_fulltime's avatar
    newman_fulltime
    Explorer II
    Sep 17, 2017
    on 30 amps the ac and water heater on electric will trip the breaker.
    As well as if using the quickcool the ac will freeze up.

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