Heater and A/C at the Same Time

fusedlight

As I get ready for our first trip in our (new to us, as folks are wont to say) 2018 320S I'm testing out the various system and reading (!!!) the manual(s).  With the AC on while I work through things (hey, it's hot up here in MN under the sun) I saw that the hot water heater has a shore-power option.  Hit the button on the sexy control pad and the AC motor dropped in pitch.  That told me "Hmm... something going on here."  Can I/should I run BOTH the AC and the electric hot water heater at the same time, or is that too much of a load for the Wee Beastie to handle?

BTW... working on all this equipment after 11 years in a 1998 Scamp(tm) trailer is like moving from a kind of run down student dorm room to a fancy Ikea-looking compact Swedish apartment.  I'm giddy!

AnOldUR

Probably voltage drop. Are you plugged into a 30amp receptacle or using a 15/20amp home circuit?

Horigan

Also, are you using a 30 amp cord?  A regular 20 amp orange extension cord will create a voltage drop and the sound change that you heard.

qhumberd

From my reading of your question, you should be able to use the Alde 1 or 2 kW setting for hot water, as well as the AC. The rub comes with how you are connected to power. If at a campground pedestal with the 3 prong 30 amp service, should be no problem as the 2kW Alde draws around 18 amps when heating (which is not all the time). The AC draws (if it is the stated 5000 BTU mode) 4-8 amps when running but when first starting might draw briefly 18 amps. During this brief startup the amps may exceed the 30 amp limit and ? trip the breaker. This would be too much for most house circuits as well. When we driveway camp in our 400, which has a 10,000 BTU unit, I can run it and the 1 kW hot water on a 20 amp house circuit with no tripping of the breaker.

if you are on a 15 amp circuit at your house, the drop in pitch may be the motor experiencing a voltage drop, which would not be good for the unit. That could be wire gauge of your cords.

we have some excellent electrical gurus on this forum, who may clarify my explanation, as when I started I knew very little.

welcome and you are in the right place!

Grumpy_G

Hardly anybody has a RV 30A outlet at home so I assume it's connected with a "dog bone". In 2018 the 320 still had the window style AC unit which draws about 500W, a single electric heating element draws close to 1000W. On a regular household outlet that's pushing it.

Mickerly

I'm not sure we answered your question. When the Alde is on the boiler is heated. The Alde boiler is concentric tanks for glycol and water. Cabin heat is the glycol moved through radiators with a circulation pump. The thermostat temperature controls the pump. Set the temp below the current temperature and the pump doesn't run; therefore, no cabin heat. You have controls that govern water mostly: three different heating methods (2 electric elements and propane) and two different temperatures which very a little based on heating elements. The Alde web site has a lot of great materials for using the system.

As stated above, the air conditioning and hot water on a normal extension cord is too much load. Alde recommends not using more than "1kw" electric heat on an extension cord.

Binghi

If you use a standard 30amp hookup you can run the a/c and the Alde 1kW electric-powered water heater at the same time. Don’t know about a/c + 2 kW Alde.

pthomas745

The Air 8 in the newer trailers uses 9 amps (a bit more on startup).  The Alde has two electrical "elements".  Each of the "elements" uses 7.9 amps. So, the 1kw setting uses 7.9 amps, and the 2kw setting uses 15.8.  Alde says in the manual the system requires a "16 amp circuit".  Some owners say they can run on a 15 amp circuit with the 2KW setting.

On a 30 amp circuit, there would be plenty of room to run the Alde on 2kw and an AC.  Even using the larger amperage of the Air 8, the total would come out to about 24 amps.  

 

Binghi

Good to know. We’ve found we cannot run our Coolcat a/c simultaneously with either our microwave or my wife’s hairdryer.

fusedlight

Thanks all...  pretty much in line with what I was thinking.  So.... whilst (I do love that word!) on a 220V campground tower I'm ok... wire gauge is good.  At home, not so much.  But then... I'm not going to be running it at home, eh?

Grumpy_G

"220V campground tower" - Maybe that was just a typo but the 30A RV connection is 120V. A 30A dryer outlet at home is 220/240V. Occasionally people either try to use the dryer outlet, or have a 30A outlet installed and it is wired for a dryer not RV. Predictably the converter and 120V appliances don't like that.