50 amp breaker panel

Recently I noticed my breakers in my panel were heating up — they were warm to the touch. The panel has skinny {half size breakers]I very carefuly watch my load.For example I was running both ACs — at 13 amp each thats 26 amps.Then theres the refrigerator at 4amps other small odds and ends addd another 8 amps. So my total load was about 38 to 40 amps.Checking the breakers I noted them to be rather warm.So heres several questions: 1] those that have a Carriage with 50 amp do you have half size breakers ? 2] whem carring a near full size load do your breakers heat up ?Until recently I never gave much attention to the panel — old saying out of sight out of mind.Now that I believe I may have wraming breakers Im concerned? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

First thing I would do is unplug the trailer. Then get a screw driver and make sure all the wires are tight on each breaker. Also check the main wires at the box. On my 2006 a few years ago I had one of those 2 breakers in one would trip on one side every so often. It was the side the convertor was on. Could not find anything wrong. So since their were a couple of blank spots in the breaker box. I went and bought just one breaker that was one breaker instead of two. The spring felt more solid to me when I flipped it then the two in one breaker. So I installed it and moved the wires over to it. Have not had a problem since.

Is your panel on an interior wall? If it’s on an exterior wall, and it’s warm enough to need two a/c’s, that may be part of it.

Do you have a surge supressor? Is this the first time at the park/site you’re in now? Have breakers actually tripped? Physical size of the breaker should not matter is sized correctly for the amp load.

Would expect your a/c’s would not pull full load except at start up of the compressor. There will be others better versed in electricity than I who will likely chime in on this.

Our panel is cool to the touch, on an interior wall. I’m wondering if your voltage is low, which is why I asked about the surge supressor as many have an LED readout and if you’ve camped at your current location before. Certainly if you’re comfortable with it, and have a meter, that’d be something to check.

We’ve run ours loaded up many times before and have never noticed any problem. The loose wire concept is something to check, but seems to me unless several were loose it would be a spot heat verses an broad area issue. Also think if you had a seriously loose wire, you likely visually notice arcing where the wire attaches to the breaker behind the panel cover.

If you think you have a breaker that is getting too hot I would do like handsome51 said and check the connections. If you travel a lot I would check it at least once a year as part of your normal maintenance. To answer you questions, yes and yes but at 40 amps you are only reaching half of your load. With a 50 amp set up you have 50 amps on each leg. Breakers will get warm, not hot with a steady load on them like if your A/C is running all day. Test them with the back side of your finger instead of the finger tip. A little warm is fine.

Chip
Here is a link to a very good explanation of the different services. When you get to the web site click on the 50 amp in the menu on the left side.
http://www.myrv.us/electric/

One follow up thought. Is the 50 amp cord to your rig warmer than usual? Prior to our investment in our surge supressor, we stayed at a park and experienced low voltage and notice the cord seemed warm. The low voltage resulted in a wiring burn at our water heater element, but we found no other damage.

I may not have read your initial note carefully. I thought you meant your panel was warm when it apparently reads that some individual breakers were warm. If you’re checking the breaker connections, and the general panel (not just individual breakers) are warm then suggest you include the feed wire lugs as part of the investigation.

Let us know what you find!

Thanks — great responses. Just pulled panel face plate checked tightens — found one breaker with loose nut. Another item I did not like the wires were striped back too far — several were almost touchng at the bare spot. I corrected that issue.The last placed we stayed had good power , however , I did check the power cord it was ok.Good point. Make the breaker panel an annual to do list. If I had done this I would have noticed one AC and the water heater were on the same circuit.Thats not an issue as I do not operate that AC and the water heater at the same time anyway. Thanks for all that responed.Also I will check myrv web site for more info.

The water heater and the A/C unit should be on separate circuits. If ther is space, you may want to break them into two breakers. Doubling up on breakers violates about every electrical Cade there is.

Arrowhead,

If you meant the same leg but on a different circuit breaker, you aren’t violating code.

I found that many of the high amp draws (main ac, microwave, water heater) were on the same leg, often running 25-29 amps on one leg with nothing on the other. I moved them for more balanced draw. I now have water heater and microwave on the same leg as the bedroom ac (not on the same leg as the main ac).

arrowhead wrote:Thanks — great responses. Just pulled panel face plate checked tightens — found one breaker with loose nut. Another item I did not like the wires were striped back too far — several were almost touchng at the bare spot. I corrected that issue.The last placed we stayed had good power , however , I did check the power cord it was ok.Good point. Make the breaker panel an annual to do list. If I had done this I would have noticed one AC and the water heater were on the same circuit.Thats not an issue as I do not operate that AC and the water heater at the same time anyway. Thanks for all that responed.Also I will check myrv web site for more info.

OK – quick question —- Even though I am wired for 50A, I hardly ever hook up to 50A because I have only 1 AC unit and the entire coach can run on a 30 service. The cord is much easier to handle and it all works. If I would start moving appliances to work on different legs, would those units not work if I am plugged into only a 30A outlet?

To answer you question

If I would start moving appliances to work on different legs, would those units not work if I am plugged into only a 30A outlet?

Every thing would work if you use a dog bone converter like this. It will power both legs. You can easily confirm if your converter will work with an ohm meter. The hot side on the 30 amp plug will power both hots on the 50 amp side but you will only have 30 amps total and not 30 amps on each leg.
Chip

Yes, exactly like Chip said. When you use 30 amp service it does not matter because they are merged into the single 30 amp leg. When i run 50 amp, i don’1 want 35 on one and 10 on the other.

You will get much better amperage consistency and avoid heating the wires if you use your heavy 50 amp cable with adapter to 30 amp at campground outlet rather than a lighter 30 amp cable with adapter to 50 amp at the 5er.

notruffinit wrote:OK – quick question —- Even though I am wired for 50A, I hardly ever hook up to 50A because I have only 1 AC unit and the entire coach can run on a 30 service. The cord is much easier to handle and it all works. If I would start moving appliances to work on different legs, would those units not work if I am plugged into only a 30A outlet?