AC Unit - Travel Trailer

[Skins44]

Happy New Year! I am learning a lot approaching my first year of owning a travel trailer. A few headaches and a few "oh S#$%" moments. Overall, its been awesome and i am always planning my next getaway.

One thing that is bothering me though...i had a friend in town last august. After i went to bed, he decided to crash in my travel trailer. He also decided to turn on the AC in the trailer. It was connected to my 20amp garage outlet. The AC unit is 13500 btu. the next morning, he told me he had ran the AC all night. However, in the morning, the breaker tripped. Probably because my 10 gauge, 30 amp plug was connected to a 16 guage extension cord in my garage. It got hot (lucky no fire i know!)

About a month after the incident, we took the camper out for Labor Day. We ran the AC unit all weekend and it was fine. However, i am still worried about any damage that could have been done to either my AC unit (compressor maybe) and/or my circuit board while my AC ran on my 20 amp garage receptacle with crappy extension cord.

Is there anything i need to check? Worried my AC unit could make its way to early retirement.

[shiggs68]

The crappy extension cord created low voltage which would have strained the compressor

[travelin texans]

With exception of the fan & a capacitor or 2 there's nothing serviceable on a rv air conditioner, just replace when it quits & call your buddy for a few bucks when it does. Next time he crashes there trip the breaker on the AC so he can't turn it on.

[Skins44]

thanks texans. when he told me he ran the AC the next morning i was shocked it actually ran. I didnt know any better at the time to give him grief!

I assume that since it ran for an entire weekend while connected to 30amp, a few weekends after that incident, there was no significant damage. fingers crossed...

[Canonman]

I don't think you have anything to worry about. The crappy extension cord didn't matter as long as the ambient temps were cool. As soon as the August morning sun started to warm up the cord plus the heat created by the A/C unit pulling around 12 to 13 amps (which is about the limit for 16ga) the house breaker tripped as it should have. The A/C unit wouldn't have seen anything different than if you just shut off the shore power under normal circumstances.
IMHO you should be just fine

[sourdough]

I agree with the above. It still functions so instant, permanent damage was not done. If components were stressed during the incident you won't know it until they quit then you just get a new AC. Until then, I would just use it and not worry - just make sure you have cords that are adequate for the load you will be pulling.

[JRTJH]

^^^ I agree. If it's still running, then damage hasn't reached a "critical level" and there's not a lot you can check (or verify it's not damaged) on the fan motor/compressor system. What's done is done, when it quits there's no maintenance, just replace the entire top unit (a great time to upgrade to a 15K BTU system) and move forward.

Did his actions shorten the life of your air conditioner? Who knows, maybe it did, maybe it didn't. I wouldn't look back and I wouldn't worry about it. What's done is done and it worked after he used it, so I'd keep using it and now worry about it.

[Skins44]

Thanks for the feedback sourdough and John. Lesson learned for sure. I'll let go of the panic button lol! like you said, it is what it is....

Happy motorin!

[flybouy]

Most likely you'll be o.k. I would urge you to consider investing in an EMS for electric supply in your camper. An EMS would have shut down the power with the low voltage condition that was caused.