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DuneElliot

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About DuneElliot

  • Birthday 06/09/1979

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    http://www.nomadicpawprints.wordpress.com

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  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    Wyoming
  • Interests
    Adventuring, horses, dogs, backpacking, meeting new people, seeing new places, experiencing different cultures

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  1. As a young solo full-timer, but with two dogs) I work part of the year on much less than $2K a month and that includes paying rent and putting aside some for savings. I went the 5W and truck route since I already had the truck, and a 5W/TT made the most sense for my plans (similar to yours in staying in one location for a while). I boondock (my investment in a solar set-up has been invaluable for that) mostly when traveling and find private spots (not RV parks) to rent for cheap when working.
  2. The ironic thing is I don't actually care that much for coffee, but I still have a French Press since my parents had one, it takes up very little room and is light...and other people like coffee so I thought it was worth keeping. I wouldn't have kept a proper coffee pot.
  3. Why not just use a French Press? Efficient and makes for better coffee too
  4. Yeah, I think that's what we determined before when my heater kept doing the same thing on a different property. Tripped after hours and while I was doing other things using power on the same circuit etc. I'm pretty sure everything is safe at this point but it never hurts to check.
  5. The GFCI receptacles (bathroom, kitchen, outside) are on a different circuit breaker and as such different circuit to the regular outlets. I dont have the converter breaker on as I'm using very little 12v power and my solar is more than enough to keep the batteries at 99-100% at all times. I'm going to do some more experimenting today. I did run the heater off my extension cord and GFCI yesterday and it was fine. Plugged it into a verified and tested outlet that hadn't tripped before, turned it on. No trip...for three minutes...then the GFCI tripped in the garage. Also on a separate occasion, had RV plugged into same GFCI receptacle as above...all good, nothing tripping. Plugged the vacuum cleaner into completely different GFCI outlet but ON SAME CIRCUIT using extension cord...tripped the GFCI the RV was plugged into (first in line on the circuit) and not the one the vacuum was plugged into. Checked vacuum on a different circuit, alone, no trip. The experiments continue
  6. So here's the deal: I plugged the RV into one of the garage GFCI outlets. No trip. Turned Main breaker on. No trip Turned outlet breaker on. No trip. Tested all outlets to see if anything tripped. No trip. Turned GFCI outlet breaker on. No trip. Tested all outlets to see if anything trips. No trip. Turned Fridge breaker on. No trip. Tested fridge circuit. No trip. Tested fridge on separate cord and outlet. No trip. Works fine. Turned microwave breaker on. No trip. Tested microwave circuit. No trip. Tested microwave on separate cord and outlet. No trip. Works fine. Didn't touch water heater breaker as I already know that's a problem. Currently just have outlets and GFCI breakers flipped on with lamps, TV and Playstation 3 on while plugged in to garage GFCI outlet. Fridge is currently plugged in to another outlet in case we lose power. Has been like this for 20 minutes.
  7. I have read that and all other articles I can find. I'll have it checked out with everything else....like I said, not tripping until a power surge. Many articles mentioned things like blow dryers, fridges, irons etc tripping GFCIs because they are so sensitive it just overloads them with such a high current draw so fast.
  8. It only trips when too much power is pulled through the circuit. Had RV plugged in to one GFCI receptacle for several hours without any issue, via a short 14gauge extension cord...outlets and GFCI outlets in the RV were on as was the fridge and microwave circuit. All fine for several hours. GFCI in the garage tripped when I plugged the vaccuum cleaner into the other GFCI outlet on the same circuit in the garage and then turned it on. Same thing happened with the microwave. I have read about motors and power surges through GFCI recetacles tripping them. I know the water heater trips is so that stays off until i can get it fixed.
  9. It is a GFCI outlet in the garage that I am plugging the RV into. 20A circuit with 20A breaker but 15A outlets. Two GFCI outlets on each circuit...six in total.
  10. Thanks. Yes, I am aware of the converter issue. I actually had to re-wire a couple of breakers because my outlets had been wired into the same breaker as the converter. It was an easy fix thankfully. I'm currently having some nuisance tripping of the GFCI now...hours after I've plugged in when I use any high-power-draw equipment like the microwave or vaccuum cleaner or the fridge kicks on. I'm guessing the outlet I'm plugged into is 15A. The vaccuum tripped it when plugged into a diffterent outlet in the garage but on the same circuit.
  11. I agree. It doesn't trip the GFCI until I turn what I now assume to be the heater element switch "On". If that switch is "Off" and I flip the WH breaker it doesn't trip the GFCI.
  12. Okay, I can't get to the cover...can remove two screws but not the third. I found that if I turn the "On/Off" switch to off and then flip the breaker thr GFCI doesn't trip. I thought that switch was to supply power to the propane ignition but I tried turning the heater on with propane with that switch off and it still lights. So it looks like I DO have an electric element in there also. I learned something new about my RV today. I will have them fix this when it goes into the shop in September. Also, now I know the source of this issue I can wire my inverter the way I planned...from plug outlet on inverter straight to the shore power plug.
  13. It has water in it...I discovered how that issue works when I first bought the 5W and didn't know about the bypass valve...had me stumped for a while. Propane heat won't stay on either without water in the tank. I'll go pull the cover off and see what is there
  14. No, not lighting it. It lights just fine. Just did some experimenting. The whole camper used to trip a GFCI just by turning on the main breaker...that was the old issue which we determined was cbaused by too long of an old extension cord. Finding a closer plug I manged to plug the 5W directly into the outet....no tripping, until I flip the breaker for the water heater. I did get to looking at the water heater, and hidden at the bottom behind a whole bunch of wires and pipes is a little black rectangle that doesn't look like a heating element or anything important that mentions about not dry-firing an electric heating element...so, without knowing for sure, I may have an electric heating element in there I didnt know about which is causing the GFCI tripping problem. Everything else is running now when directly plugged in to a different outlet with a newer, shorter extension cord. I will have the shop that is fixing my jack next month check the water heater and fix what is necessary.
  15. Well here's the interestinsg thing. I just plugged directly into the inverter, no extension cord, and turned on the main, outlet, GFCI outlet and microwave breakers. The GFCI outlet on the inverter didn't trip and I have power. I've been running a TV, PS3 and lamps off the outlets for a while and no issues. The fridge has been directly plugged into a GFCI outlet for over a week and hasn't tripped that. I have a propane water heater that runs the the electric spark off the 12V/ battery system but apparently it also has a breaker...and that DOES trip the GFCI when flipped. I am now curious about this as I don't have an electric element in the water heater...propane only and the heater doesn't blow a fuse on 12V when switched on or lighting.
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