Furnace Electric heater warning

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Dan sloan

Junior Ranger
Just an FYI regarding using the 1500watt heaters
At 120v 1500 watts requires a 12.5 amp fuse.
But
Also on that same circuit is the battery charger and the ac. Now I doubt anyone is using the ac with a heater but the battery charger will kick off and on as needed. If youre using 12.5 amps for the heater and the charger wants another 10 or 15 you could be overloading . Im not sure what the wires themselves are rated for ( cary?) Or the outlet itself. I've seen some rv outlets that dont look like they could handle that much. My cheapo heater has 2 settings 750watts and 1500 so I tried the 750 and seemed to keep it warm without worrying about melting wires or outlets.
 
Dan sloan said:
Just an FYI regarding using the 1500watt heaters
At 120v 1500 watts requires a 12.5 amp fuse.
But
Also on that same circuit is the battery charger and the ac. Now I doubt anyone is using the ac with a heater but the battery charger will kick off and on as needed. If youre using 12.5 amps for the heater and the charger wants another 10 or 15 you could be overloading . Im not sure what the wires themselves are rated for ( cary?) Or the outlet itself. I've seen some rv outlets that dont look like they could handle that much. My cheapo heater has 2 settings 750watts and 1500 so I tried the 750 and seemed to keep it warm without worrying about melting wires or outlets.
Click to expand...
I have found a 200 watt heater more than enough to meet our needs when electricity is available.
 
JohnC said:
I have a cheap Vornado electric heater I use with shore power. It has two settings. One at 175W the other at 350W. I find 350W way too hot. The 175 can be a bit too much depending on how you aim it in the cabin. But as infrequently as I use it, I find the 175W perfect.
Click to expand...
I have the same Vornado and the low setting has kept us warm down to 23 deg. with 2 people and 2 dogs.
 
Its funny, even with 'big' 30 amp rigs I get these calls frequently. 120 volts at 20 amps = 2400 watts the reset is just physics. Thats 3600 watts at 30 amp. Especially in the summer people ask why they can't run the microwave, AC, and hair dryer at the same time? 3600 watts is all you got!

It only gets worse when there are 500 AC's around you all trying to cool of a camper, and that line voltage starts to dip...I've seen 103 volts -- that is where you unplug and turn everything off...damage is about to happen! Most campgrounds that were built 40 year ago had no concept of 50amp rigs with 2 (or more!) AC's and the amount of appliances and toys we have today. Then the Tesla pulls up and plugs in :)
 
Wow. "Tesla plugged in ..." on one of the typical cheesy corroded 30A posts in most campgrounds?

I get nervous walking around those outlets mounted on metal posts in a rainstorm...

I thought the above by @Sweeney was a joke.

How much does one pull on a 120v 30a line? The max, or?
 
TheSongDogHouse said:
Wow. "Tesla plugged in ..." on one of the typical cheesy corroded 30A posts in most campgrounds?

I get nervous walking around those outlets mounted on metal posts in a rainstorm...

I thought the above by @Sweeney was a joke.

How much does one pull on a 120v 30a line? The max, or?
Click to expand...

Sadly it isn't - I've seen it a couple times. probably using the 50amp connector, but still. I can't imagine plugging one into the dirty power at camp sites...Anyplace here basically you are required to use a power line monitor to clean up spikes and detect low voltage and detect mis-wired outlets. On a personal note, I've been to resorts where I met these people. I'm not plugging in my car that costs as much as my house did 10 years ago.
 
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