I have a Cardinal 2006 36TS. It has two air conditioners. I am hooked up to 50amp service. Whenever i attempt to run both air conditioners, it trips a breaker. Is this normal, or should i be able to run both at the same time?
Thanks
Al Viscardi

You should be able to run both air conditioners without problem. I bleieve they draw about 15 amps each. You might have a problem if you are using other high amperage items at the same time, like hair dryers, microwave, toaster, washer or dryer. Good luck, Fred

Can you run both air conditioners individually without tripping the breaker? Just troubleshooting that the second air conditioner has a problem. In a normally wired 50AMP RV there are two 50AMP 110volt power legs and each leg has an air conditioner. Normally one leg has the fridge, electric hot water heater, washer/dryer (if included) and the "primary" air conditioner wired to it and the second leg is the plugs, microwave and "secondary" air conditioner.
Also does this happen at multiple campgrounds or only one? Sometimes you are dealing with a campground problem and not your own problem. Maybe it is really not 50AMP service but just looks like it is.
We run both air conditioners all the time on 50AMP. As Fred says they take about 15 amps each.
On 30AMP we normally run the front one but if we just want to run the rear one only we have to set the front one to some high number like 99 degrees since they share a thermostat and the thermostat won't let the rear one run without the front one turned on.

-- Edited by bjoyce at 20:18, 2007-05-27

Hi Al:

Everything stated so far is correct.  There should be no problem running both air conditioners with a 50 amp feed.  Many things could be affecting this.  There could be a problem with one or both air conditioners, but if you have used them successfully other palces I suspect the problem is with the 50 amp breaker itself or the plug is worn or burned.  Breakers get old and sometimes cannot carry their rated current any longer.  If the receptacle is old, worn or broken there is a possibility that the contact with you plug is poor causing arcing between the plugs terminals and the receptacle.  If there is arcing you can easily tell by pulling your plug and looking to see if the pins are burned.  A third possibility is that the transformer and/or wiring to the outlet in the park is not capable of supplying the amperage stated on the breakers without a serious voltage drop.  This condition is dangerous to your air conditioners and other electrical appliances in your RV.  You would be well served to get a volt meter and watch the voltage as the air conditioners start up.  If the voltage drops below 90 to 95 volts damage could very well result.  I personally will not use my air conditioners if the voltage drops below 110 for very long.  It puts a real strain on starting capacitors in your air conditioners.

I hope this helps. 

Bill mentioned something that we all forget sometimes. Hot Water Heater. It is the hidden force that we over look. Sometimes if your in a park that is marginal on the Ampers you might have to go over to gas to get by with the two airs. This has happened to us. Joe and Sherri