Copied from the singing daughter post .

Might be an opportunity here to talk about tripping your elec on eg French campsites/aires.. ie you are on a site which states 6amps max , on 220 volts ,what appliances can you use . the formula for this would be Watts divided by Volts = Amps , but that can be too complicated to work out in your head so I just multiply the watts by 4 ( divide by 1000) and add a half amp for good measure.

So eg the kettle is 600watts , the microwave is 800 watts , together they are 1400 watts , what amps ?

1400 x 4 = 5.6 and add half an amp so 6.1 amps So no for a 6 amp site but ok for a 10amp.

Also some appliances use more elec when starting up that when running so leave a margin for this as well ( things with elec motors mainly)

Well that's my way , I stand to be corrected.

Basically yes Alan.
If you think for each kw it's 5 amps you will be on the safe side. 13a was created to handle 3kw appliances. So there is a margin of error or known in the trade as 'Coefficient of Utilisation'.

Ray.

Just keep plugging stuff in until something trips. Then you will know. I generally find on a 6amp connection you will get away with boiling a kettle but not having an electric heater going at the same time. I tell Michelle to knock off the heater if she is boiling a kettle but of course she will forget so I have to go out and sort it

Pull the fuses on all but one 13A socket then she has to unplug one appliance to use the other - simples.

Being a Physics teacher means that I have no problem working out the current drawn by different appliances.

UNFORTUNATELY, one very cold and wet night at Les Anderleys campsite I switched the electric heater up to 2kW at the same time as my wife decided to make a "good night" cup of hot chocolate: poof!

It was an embarrassing discussion with the site manager next morning but thank goodness that no-one else was on the same circuit.

Gordon

They must get used to it Gordon.
We found plugging in our RVs was a hit and miss affair due to the quite heavy surge of the transformer. It would trip out a 10a supply even though it was only powering a charger.

Ray.

I printed and laminated copies of a reminder card I created, showing the values of typical site supplies and for our van appliances. I stuck those up by the sockets in the van, makes it easy to quickly tot up when more than one appliance is in use and also acts as a reminder when one needs unplugging before turning on another one.

Attached Images

File Type: jpg

Screenshot 2020-12-16 224807.jpg (69.1 KB, 10 views)

Wow , rogerblack , it was the lots of advice from him and others like him that made me join MHF in the first place . Good to see he is still around.

Agreed, Welcome back Roger.


Excuses for abscence?


Geoff

Thanks for that Roger (and nice to see you again).

Is the Water heater the one integrated into the Truma boiler? And are the figures for the Truma heater 3 different settings? I know mine has Eco and....

I don't know - I'm that mean I never look beyond Eco!