barefootonthefarm
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Post by barefootonthefarm on Aug 2, 2017 5:17:35 GMT -8
I was camping at a state park last week. The day I arrived I plugged my window ac via heavy duty extension cord into the 110 post plug at the site. It tripped the breaker on my ac cord. I tried it using the 30 amp plug in and a reducing adapter, same thing. Carried it across the street to my sisters site, same thing. Figured the ac unit had gone bad so had my sister stop and buy me a new one since we were expecting close to 100 degree temps.
The new one appeared to kind of work. It blew cool, but not cold. It was really hot though so it was getting me by. That is until the third day when the breaker on that cord through also! By then the weather cooled off and I packed them both into the car.
When I got home we plugged the old ac in that I thought was toast and it works!
So now I'm trying to figure out what went wrong. I'm wondering if I didn't wait long enough for something to reset when I tried it at a different post? And there was something wrong with the power at my site, but what? My camper was plugged in and worked fine, but I only ran a fan and one light.
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Post by bigbill on Aug 2, 2017 9:13:08 GMT -8
If the campground was full and temperatures was hot the campground system might have had low voltage causing the starter windings of the AC unit to blow the breaker due to not having the power to start the compressor rapidly as it should.
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Post by bigbill on Aug 2, 2017 9:26:59 GMT -8
At home did you have it in camper as before with the exact same cords. If not do that let it run and see what happens. If everything OK probably as above if starts doing the same thing at home then start checking for a problem in your extension cord or trailer
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barefootonthefarm
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Post by barefootonthefarm on Aug 2, 2017 14:07:07 GMT -8
Thanks bigbill. That makes perfect sense as the campground was pretty full and it was very hot on Sunday when I was having trouble. I will check the ac with my extension cord to eliminate that as a source of the problem.
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nccamper
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Post by nccamper on Aug 2, 2017 14:08:22 GMT -8
"campground system might have had low voltage causing the starter windings of the AC unit to blow the breaker due to not having the power to start the compressor rapidly as it should"
This sounds right to me if the same cord and AC worked at home.
The only other thing that comes to mind is the wiring in the camper is loose/not making a good connection someplace. Like at a breaker or wire nut.
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Post by vikx on Aug 2, 2017 21:16:49 GMT -8
A few more thoughts:
I agree the Campground was probably overloaded and their service couldn't keep up.
The A/C should be plugged into the campground power supply with no smaller than a 12 gauge 25 foot extension cord. Any smaller gauge or longer will blow at least one of the breakers. The same applies if you plug into the 30 amp campground supply and adapt it down.
A/Cs should also not be run thru the trailer 110 system and sounds like yours wasn't. Good move! They should always be plugged in separately.
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barefootonthefarm
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Post by barefootonthefarm on Aug 3, 2017 17:02:04 GMT -8
A few more thoughts: I agree the Campground was probably overloaded and their service couldn't keep up. The A/C should be plugged into the campground power supply with no smaller than a 12 gauge 25 foot extension cord. Any smaller gauge or longer will blow at least one of the breakers. The same applies if you plug into the 30 amp campground supply and adapt it down. A/Cs should also not be run thru the trailer 110 system and sounds like yours wasn't. Good move! They should always be plugged in separately. Yes. Plugged into 12 gauge cord and then into campground power supply always. It just threw me that it happened after so many times being at the same campground with this set up over the past four years. I was in a different campsite than I am usually in and I don't think the electrical in the site has been upgraded yet. |
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