# 30 Amp Plug Is Getting Hot



## kevman

We camped both this weekend and last and the temperature was over 100 degrees both times. Last weekend we had a fuse blow for the first time ever. I was outside when I heard the a/c quit working. When I went inside I found that my wife had been running the microwave for several minutes. Not only did it trip the fuse on the campsite box, but my main 30amp fuse tripped as well.

I asked my wife not to run the a/c and the microwave at the same time and the fuse did not trip again. Here is my problem.

When I checked the campground fuse box I touched the plug in and found it overly hot. I think it would be since it just tripped both breakers, but over the past two weekends, I have occasionally felt the plug and it seems to be overly hot. So much so that the two flat prongs appear a little charred. During the heat of the day the a/c compressor never stopped running and this was when the plug felt the hottest. In the evening when the compressor was cycling off and on the plug felt fine.

Any recommendations on what I should do? I don't like electricity but I am pretty handy with fixing things. Is theres something wrong with the a/c that is causing it to generate all of this heat. I never noticed the heat before but I never had a reason to touch the plugin. I do know that the flat prongs were not charred before the trip last weekend.

I appreciate any advice or suggestions you may give me. Could my A/c be going bad? Thanks


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## tdvffjohn

For all the people who recomend to check a campgrounds electric service with a test meter, maybe this is the reason? looking forward to the experts answer, myself.


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## kevman

tdvffjohn said:


> For all the people who recomend to check a campgrounds electric service with a test meter, maybe this is the reason? looking forward to the experts answer, myself.


I thought of this but I did camp at two separate campgrounds. Both were at Texas State Parks. I have never had this problem before. ??????


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## dmbcfd

During the hot days, everyone runs their air conditioners. This higher than normal demand reduces the voltage available to everyone. With the reduced voltage, the compressors need to work harder and they will draw more current than normal. Current (amps) is what causes heat, the more amps flowing, the hotter your wires and breakers get. This is why the breaker at the campground tripped. In order to reduce the load, you can run the water heater and refrigerator on gas, and shut off the A/C before using your microwave, toaster, coffee maker, etc.

The excessive heat and discoloration at the plug are are most likely caused a worn receptacle. Many years of use have probably just worn out the female receptacle where it grips the male prongs. If the prongs are pitted, the connection was making and breaking under load and this caused it to get hot. The campground should replace the receptacle and if your plug is deformed from the heat, or the prongs are pitted, you should replace the male plug.

The low voltage problem is common in RV land, and in the campground's defense, it may be a regional problem, a brown-out. We experienced the same problems at Bissell's two weeks ago, and our Canadian friends told me that the whole province has power trouble.

Sorry this got so long, I hope it helps,

Steve


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## Thor

Steve

Well said. The A/C will trip out if the campground has a voltage problem. A bunch of us experienced this at Bissell's when they had a major storm and the load was high due to temp. and humidity.

If you put a meter on your outlet you can measure the campground voltage coming in.

What a bunch of us did was to switch the fridge and hot water heater to gas.

Thor


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## HootBob

Great explanation Steve
Thanks for the lesson









Don


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## kevman

dmbcfd said:


> During the hot days, everyone runs their air conditioners. This higher than normal demand reduces the voltage available to everyone. With the reduced voltage, the compressors need to work harder and they will draw more current than normal. Current (amps) is what causes heat, the more amps flowing, the hotter your wires and breakers get. This is why the breaker at the campground tripped. In order to reduce the load, you can run the water heater and refrigerator on gas, and shut off the A/C before using your microwave, toaster, coffee maker, etc.
> 
> The excessive heat and discoloration at the plug are are most likely caused a worn receptacle. Many years of use have probably just worn out the female receptacle where it grips the male prongs. If the prongs are pitted, the connection was making and breaking under load and this caused it to get hot. The campground should replace the receptacle and if your plug is deformed from the heat, or the prongs are pitted, you should replace the male plug.
> 
> The low voltage problem is common in RV land, and in the campground's defense, it may be a regional problem, a brown-out. We experienced the same problems at Bissell's two weeks ago, and our Canadian friends told me that the whole province has power trouble.
> 
> Sorry this got so long, I hope it helps,
> 
> Steve


Thanks. For the information. I just wanted to make sure I was not causing any damage to my trailer. The temperature the last two weekends has been topping out at around 102 and believe me everyone was running their a/c. This is the first time we have camped with quite this extreem a temp.


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## hurricaneplumber

By the way the Bissell's power down in "Party Central" was 104 volts with no AC running and 94.8 volts when the AC was on. I checked many times and it didn't vary much.

My plug melted the insulation near the Hot prong. And I was connected 12 inches from the circuit breaker panel. Just bad power service.

The next pole up was where Steve, camping(Mike), Tim and Sharonag (GGGator) were connected and the main circuit panel breaker kept tripping on thermal overload. Thanks to the team of GGGator and the H. Plumber man who kept resetting this breaker, your dogs all had a cool place to lay when you all were at the Falls. (beer payments will gladly be accepted for this overtime job).

I will be replacing my plug end sometime soon as a precautionary measure.

kevin


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## aplvlykat

Kevman, to be on the safe side, if you haven't done it already, you may want to tighten all the connections in the breaker box. Also under the dinette seat there is a j-box where the main power cord comes into the tt. They used wire nuts and they also may have rattled loose. Of couse do this with the TT unpluged and you will be safe. A few min. of time may solve your problem or at least narrow it down to you or them. Kirk


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## hurricaneplumber

Kirk,

I have tightened all connections but I am going to check the junction box inside, ever since I found that most of my wire nuts were installed backwards, I keep looking for others to check, maybe they haven't heard of "Righty-Tighty, Lefty-Loosey"









I will check though.

kevin


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## Insomniak

hurricaneplumber said:


> Kirk,
> 
> I have tightened all connections but I am going to check the junction box inside, ever since I found that most of my wire nuts were installed backwards, I keep looking for others to check, maybe they haven't heard of "Righty-Tighty, Lefty-Loosey"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I will check though.
> 
> kevin


Can wire nuts be installed backwards??


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## dmbcfd

[/quote] Can wire nuts be installed backwards??

Gilligan could do it.

I suppose if stranded wires were twisted counter clockwise, and the wire nut was twisted clockwise, it would untwist the wires and make a loose connection.

Kevin and Greg,
Thanks for resetting that breaker all day. The beer is in the mail.

Steve


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## PDX_Doug

Great explanation, Steve!









I might add that a bigger concern than heat at the plug, is if the cable itself is heating up. That would indicate a load far greater than the wire is rated to carry, and should be addressed immediately. If it is just at the plug, then as Steve said, the heat is probably just coming from the female receptacle and it's connections. That is still a problem... But it is not your problem!









Happy Trails,
Doug


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## hurricaneplumber

The way that you find wire nuts twisted on left-handed is the fact that they all fall off when you grab the wires. So far I have only found this on the 12 volt wiring, about 5 or 6 of them.

If you look at the wires that were in the nuts, it is easy to see that the nut was rotated many times in the wrong direction, hence the left-handed rotation and nut fall off. I did check others and found the nut also rotated left-handed but the wires still stuffed in the nut, although not tight.








Gilligan, working upside down????? who knows why, then again black/grey tank handles.


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