# Ac Keeps Tripping



## lilloveschad (May 22, 2009)

We went camping a few weeks ago and the inside of the camper was hot and we turned the ac on and it tripped the breaker. This happened a few more times and my husband's friend said it could be dirty coils. He washed them out and by the next night, the air worked without tripping. We were getting ready tonight for a Memorial Day trip and while loading the camper, we had the air on and it tripped again. It was pretty hot in there when we turned the air on. Do you think the a/c keeps tripping the breaker because it is trying to cool off the camper when it is very hot inside?
It is a carrier V unit. Any ideas?


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## MO7Bs (Apr 11, 2009)

jamisonTN said:


> We went camping a few weeks ago and the inside of the camper was hot and we turned the ac on and it tripped the breaker. This happened a few more times and my husband's friend said it could be dirty coils. He washed them out and by the next night, the air worked without tripping. We were getting ready tonight for a Memorial Day trip and while loading the camper, we had the air on and it tripped again. It was pretty hot in there when we turned the air on. Do you think the a/c keeps tripping the breaker because it is trying to cool off the camper when it is very hot inside?
> It is a carrier V unit. Any ideas?


Would you mind providing more information about your trailer, i.e. year, etc.


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

What breaker, camper or house ?


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

The AC does not care hot hot the trailer is. Sounds like low voltage, are you on a extension cord?? What is the voltage in the trailer when the AC is running?


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## Ray C (Apr 4, 2007)

In my trailer the factory switched the breakers on me and put the ac on a 15 amp breaker instead of the 20 amp it calls for when it was hot out side and the compressor was running it would trip the ac breaker. Yes it does matter what the inside temp and the outside temps are if they are hot the ac unit will draw close to full load amps when it is cooler it will draw less. I assume the coil your friend cleaned was the outside coil if this is true that will help the unit draw less amps by lowering the head pressure of the compressor.


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## 'Ohana (May 20, 2007)

Welcome to *Outbackers*

As mentioned before more information would be helpful, for instance when you have the TT plugged in @ home are you using a regular 110 outlet using an adapter or a dedicated 3 prong 30 amp circuit









Ed


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Ray C said:


> In my trailer the factory switched the breakers on me and put the ac on a 15 amp breaker instead of the 20 amp it calls for when it was hot out side and the compressor was running it would trip the ac breaker. Yes it does matter what the inside temp and the outside temps are if they are hot the ac unit will draw close to full load amps when it is cooler it will draw less. I assume the coil your friend cleaned was the outside coil if this is true that will help the unit draw less amps by lowering the head pressure of the compressor.


The wrong breaker can be an issue and it would be made worse with an extension cord if they use one as it drops the supply voltage and increases the amp draw but you will have to explain how the compressor knows it is hot or not outside. It is a pump and it does not matter what the temperature is it just pumps. Head pressure is not affected by a dirty coil but heat exchange is.


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

In other words, make sure that you are on a 30 amp service, not a 15 amp with an adapter or using a long extention cord. Check the braker inside the camper to see if it's a 15 or a 20 amp. And make sure that you're not running Microwave, Refridge & electric hotwater heater at the sametime. I ran into a couple of 30 amp plugins that were corroided enough to drop the voltage and increase the draw enough to trip me out both outside and inside the camper. Ended up having to run everything else on Gas that I could so I could have Air. Good luck.


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

CamperAndy said:


> In my trailer the factory switched the breakers on me and put the ac on a 15 amp breaker instead of the 20 amp it calls for when it was hot out side and the compressor was running it would trip the ac breaker. Yes it does matter what the inside temp and the outside temps are if they are hot the ac unit will draw close to full load amps when it is cooler it will draw less. I assume the coil your friend cleaned was the outside coil if this is true that will help the unit draw less amps by lowering the head pressure of the compressor.


The wrong breaker can be an issue and it would be made worse with an extension cord if they use one as it drops the supply voltage and increases the amp draw but you will have to explain how the compressor knows it is hot or not outside. It is a pump and it does not matter what the temperature is it just pumps. Head pressure is not affected by a dirty coil but heat exchange is.
[/quote]

A dirty condenser coil will make your head pressure go up and the current will go up with it, hotter temps make it go up too. A dirty Evaporator coil is equally bad, can allow the refridgerent to enter the comperssor as a liquid and this is hard on the valves and can wash out the oil and lock the rotor. Both coils need to be kept clean.


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