Travel trailer shore power

[92xj]

How do I keep from tripping a breaker in my house when I have the travel trailer plugged in and running the travel trailers AC unit? It runs for a few minutes, then off and I have to go to the garage and flip the breaker back on. The only things in the house on that breaker are lights in the kitchen and the porch light. No appliances.

[gramps]

Most circuits for lights in a home are 15 amp.  Depending on the size of your A/C, you will need a 30 or 50 amp circuit.

[92xj]

For someone electrical stupid, would any plug in my house power that?

[gramps]

Not an electrician, but the only thing I can think of would be an electric stove/oven....would be 30 or 50

[92xj]

OK, scratch that thought. The TT is not 240, duh.  So the big plug for the old electric range won't work.

Anyway to power this thing ?

[JKEEN33]

We just went to a gas range, so the old electric range 240 plug is sitting empty behind the new gas range. Can I run some sort of adaptor from the 240 electric range plug to my normal extension cord that goes into an adaptor that plugs into the TT cord?

That should run your ac really fast for a short period of time.

[92xj]

We just went to a gas range, so the old electric range 240 plug is sitting empty behind the new gas range. Can I run some sort of adaptor from the 240 electric range plug to my normal extension cord that goes into an adaptor that plugs into the TT cord?

That should run your ac really fast for a short period of time.

Got it, scratch that!

[Stein]

240 is simply two 120 circuits together - think of it as + 120 and -120 which give you a total of 240 V.  Your house is fed with 240 at the main service panel and all the breakers either pull the full 240 or one side of that - roughly half are on one 120 V side and the other half are on the 120 V side.

You are tripping your breaker because the load (trailer) is more than the circuit you are plugging it into.  As mentioned, it is most likely 15 A, but could be 20.  The breaker you are flipping will have a number on it to tell you, but for a lighting circuit they are almost always 15 A.

The solution is to plug it into a circuit rated higher.  If you don't have one of those at your house, the best option would be to install a 20 A or higher circuit to feed the trailer (assuming it is a 15 A now).  Depending on where your trailer is and where the service panel is, this could cost $50 in parts or several hundred.

You could also look through your breaker box to see if you have a 20 A circuit somewhere, it is possible there could be one in the garage if the original house builder was a nice guy.

It is possible to feed it from the range circuit by pulling one side of the 120 off and assuming it is at least 40 A, but that is pretty janky and best left to professionals who would tell you not to do it.

[gramps]

 

I forgot the range would be 240V

[baldopepper]

Are you using a 30 amp cord plugged into an adaptor for regular household circuits?

[92xj]

My kitchen disposal is 20amps, just ran my extension cord to it and have the AC running. It's been in for 45 seconds and still running....

[92xj]

8 minutes running so far, sweet!!

[Stein]

Two points for creativity, get er done.


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[92xj]

3 points. The extension cord runs out the dog door I installed in the patio door, no need for the house door to be open.
Out in the TT now, temp is 70 degrees. It was 99. I think this is going to work just fine.

[Mudman]

Keep in mind the length and wire (14awg) of ext cord.  Ya don't want long or small wire.  It will be hard on your AC and could cause premature failures.  I do same thing you are doing on occasion but I plug into my well house which is 240v split 40-50 amps I think.  Putting 20amp breakers in place of 15a can be a risk I think if house is wired with wire for 15amp circuits?  Risk of pulling to much load through small wire?  I am not great with electrical so just trying help.