Breakers

schrowang wrote:Tim,

Need to know some things before I can comment on your question.

How old is your unit? 2008
Have the breakers been used extensively as switches (to turn a circuit on and off)? No
What was the exterior temp at the time? 98-100
Was the park power at the rated capacity (120VAC) at the time? Didn't check
Was anything else on the 120VAC side being used (like a lamp or a coffee pot, etc.)? lights-tv-lap top-A/C-refrig.-DW started microwave

All these things will have an impact on the way power flows through your breakers.

Just this past week we had the A/C unit and the Keurig coffee maker going at dinner time and the DW used the microwave. POP goes the BREAKER! Actually it was the 30A main at the power box outside. I measured the park power and it was at 108VAC. That's low, but not unusual on a very hot summer day. It is usually well within the 118 to 120VAC range.

Breakers will get weak when they are used as switches. We replace our 30A and 50A breakers in the park alot in the summer. You can tell when they're weak by how easily they can be finger tripped. They actually manufacture a breaker that can be used as a switch, but they are prohibitively expensive for a park that has 180+ campsites.

I'd analyze just what was on at the time that the breakers tripped, rather than assume that they're weak.

MountainMan wrote:Sounds like a simple overload to me or perhaps a loose connection. Breakers rarely go bad unless overloaded frequently/often.

One question - Was the 20 amp breaker the lower half of the tandem with your main 30 amp breaker?

If so; Heat from the overloaded main could easily transfer to the tandem 20 amp and cause a trip.

TC wrote:Tim, is this problem happening just at this particular CG? Several here have installed autoformers to prevent over/under current to their units. If this CG has dirty power that's fluctuating, this can be the root cause of your problem. It might not be a problem with your Cat's breakers at all.

TC