AC Wiring ?: 6,000 BTU AC, one outside outlet, three inside.

[qwerty11]

My plans are to have the following:

~6,000 BTU AC, three inside outlets, & one outside outlet.

Interior outlets will have at times a space heater, blow dryer, and microwave plugged in.

Would it be best to have a 15A circuit breakers for the AC and two 30A circuit breakers a pair of outlets each?

Also in regards to GFCI: What is the general consensus of circuit breakers with integrated GFCI vs outlets?


Thx!

[eamarquardt]

My plans are to have the following:
~6,000 BTU AC, three inside outlets, & one outside outlet.
Interior outlets will have at times a space heater, blow dryer, and microwave plugged in.
Would it be best to have a 15A circuit breakers for the AC and two 30A circuit breakers a pair of outlets each?
Also in regards to GFCI: What is the general consensus of circuit breakers with integrated GFCI vs outlets?
Thx!

I'm confused. I've never seen anything but a 15 amp plug on a 120 volt appliance. I've also never seen anything bigger than a twenty amp circuit breaker on a 120 volt branch circuit. The only time I've seen 30 amp 120 volt service is on an RV input.

A 6000 BTU Air Conditioner will draw about ten amps. A space 1500 watt space heater or blow dryer about 13 amps. A microwave, depending upon its size will draw between 5 and 13 amps. Bottom line yer not gonna run em all at once off of a 30 amp RV hook up. I think I'd, to do what you want to do, run one branch circuit to the outside duplex outlet with a twenty amp breaker and #12 wire. Then perhaps two more branch circuits to two duplex out inside with twenty amp breakers each and #12 wire. In theory you could run 60 amps on the three branch circuits' wiring but your main breaker is gonna be limited to 30 amps so it will trip above any combined load above 30 amps.

With all of those appliances I'm not sure you're going "camping".

Cheers,

Gus

[Shadow Catcher]

One thing Gus did not cover is that one GFI will protect all of the outlets on that circuit. We have a lot of outlets both AC and DC and all of them have been used. put in more than you think you need. as an example as an example outlets to charge cell phones, air cleaner 12V DC two, outlet to charge laptop, camera, MAHA battery charger, TV/DVD 120V AC. All this is powered by the solar panels.

[bobhenry]

A duplex GFI outlet is allowed only two more standard duplex outlets down stream.

I have beat in into my camping gal pals heads that one and only one heat ( and cooling) appliance can be used at a time.

[qwerty11]

Reason why I was just going to run everything off a 30a was the my generators are only going to supply 3200 watts. Figured the one 30a breaker would match that capacity pretty well.

This is all new to me though.

[bobhenry]

I just finished wiring my tiny house and the right side is all on a 20 amp breaker and the left side is on a seperate 20 amp breaker. The right side has a space saver fridge and freezer and the left has the air conditioner and microwave and toaster oven and other small appliances.

In your case you need to peek in your breaker box at home. You have a 100 amp or 200 amp main breaker but these are protected down stream by mostly 15 and 20 amp breakers. Since standard duplexs are rated for 15 amps and the heavy duty duplexes are 20 they should be protected by the appropriate size breaker. Most lighting circuits are 15 amp and are encouraged to be seperate from the outlet circuit. This way if you do blow a plug in circuit you are not standing in a dark room therefore allowing you to enjoy the smoke as it slowly floats away.

[George Taylor]

G

[George Taylor]

Not sure what you mean by a gfi can only protect down steam? A gfi outlet will protect itself and if wired for it as many outlets as you want. You can use a gfi breaker, but they are more expensive and may not fit in some of the smaller breaker smaller or in my case the ac/dc converter. Outlets even the ones that say 15 amp rated still have a 20 amp feed throu, why...who knows. You should be able to run 2 small heaters as long as they do not use more amps than they are rated for and the total, as you mentioned, do not exceed 30amps.

[eamarquardt]

Not sure what you mean by a gfi can only protect down steam? A GFI will protect only things wired after it (downstream) not things wired before it. A gfi outlet will protect itself protect itself from what? and if wired for it as many outlets as you want yes you can multiple several outlets off of one GFI. You can use a gfi breaker, but they are more expensive and may not fit in some of the smaller breaker smaller or in my case the ac/dc converter. Outlets even the ones that say 15 amp rated still have a 20 amp feed throu, why...who knows. Even though the current drawn from one outlet should not exceed 15 amps the total amperage of all the outlets on the circuit may be equal to the 20 amp rating of the circuit breaker and the 12 gauge wire used to wire the entire branch circuit. You should be able to run 2 small heaters as long as they do not use more amps than they are rated for and the total, as you mentioned, do not exceed 30amps. I doubt that you can run two small heaters (or similar devices) off of one 20 amp circuit w/o tripping a twenty amp circuit breaker. That's why two two separate circuits were suggested.

Cheers, Gus

[Bogo]

Outlets even the ones that say 15 amp rated still have a 20 amp feed throu, why...who knows.

Houses used to be wired with 15 Amp plugin circuits, but more appliances, etc. caused many newer houses to be wired with 20 Amp circuits, but the legacy 15 Amp plug was so common they kept the plug, but made the electrical hardware in the wall robust for carrying a 20 Amp load so one circuit could service more appliances, etc..

Ever look at the physical differences between a 15 Amp plug and a 20 Amp one? One blade is turned sideways. That's it. Chances are the 20 Amp plug and plugin will be built a little more robust mechanically and electrically than a 15 Amp ones will, but the contact area and size of the contacts in the plugin are the same. You will also notice that all 15 Amp plugins that have a 20 Amp feed through also have 20 Amp rated contacts even though they don't have a T slot hole on one side to allow 20 Amp plugs as well as 15 Amp plugs to be inserted. Cost wise it''s pennies more to make the plugin 20 Amp feed through with 20 Amp contacts.

[George Taylor]

I know what you are saying. I have been an electrician to almost 20 years. We have to overkill things for safety. In actuality a 12 any wire can carry 25 amps, but legacy and for safety can only put 20 amp max.

[GerryS]

George, I am not an electrical guru, but length is a factor as well...correct? Your loss on a thin wire is substantial if you are going any distance....

[Lgboro]

I don't think you will ever need to run 2 heaters at the same time in any teardrop I have seen. I carry a 200 watt small personal heater and have only plugged it in to see if it worked and have camped in temps down to 30 degrees. I did insulate and buy efficient appliances though.

[George Taylor]

DC current is more susceptible to voltage drop than AC. If I can find it I will post the formula to calculate what the voltage drop is on a specific wire/legnth. I know either someone on here has it or you can find it online. However the lengths of wire we are running, unless you decide to wrap the entire trailer with it, are so short the drop is so minute it won't affect anything. 110v is nominal. I have seen it vary from about 104 to 126v.

[eamarquardt]

DC current is more susceptible to voltage drop than AC. If I can find it I will post the formula to calculate what the voltage drop is on a specific wire/legnth. I know either someone on here has it or you can find it online. However the lengths of wire we are running, unless you decide to wrap the entire trailer with it, are so short the drop is so minute it won't affect anything. 110v is nominal. I have seen it vary from about 104 to 126v.

Technically AC and DC drop exactly the same amount of voltage under similar circumstances (run length and current). Because AC is 120 volts and DC is 12 volts (both nominal voltages) in a 12 volt circuit the percentage of voltage drop is ten times more than in an AC circuit so it's a lot more significant.

Yeah I know: PENDANTIC.

Cheers,

Gus