Electric Fire place issues

[Darrellcamps]

I just bought a 2018 Big Country with two fire places. One is in the living area and the other in the bedroom. When I have to one on in the bedroom on the one in the living area shuts off or will not turn on. Was wondering if this is a normal function to keep from overloading the circuit.

 

[BigHorns]

Don't know if you have resolved your question by now or not. I'm curious- is the RV 30 or 50 amp? Do you control the fireplaces via individual front-panel switches (or a pocket-size remote control), or via some common control panel? How many 120V breakers are labelled for Fireplace (I'm guessing only one)?

 

[Darrellcamps]

I'm on a 50 amp service and it has 1 breaker for both fireplaces. There is a panel on the front of each fireplace and i have 1 remote. It does the same thing weather I use the remote or the panels on front of the fireplace. If I turn on the one in the bedroom the one in the living room will not come on and when I shut off the bedroom the one in the living room will come on. If I have to one on in the living room and turn on the bedroom the one in the living room shuts off.

 

[BigHorns]

Makes sense, then. One breaker/circuit (15 amp?) Could not support both fireplaces each pulling 10+ amps. So they are apparently wired for mutually exclusive operation.

Interesting to know. Wonder if that's typical for all RVs with two fireplaces... (as opposed to separate circuits)

 

[Darrellcamps]

That's the only conclusion I can come up with. It just seems like if you have two fire places they would use 2 breakers like the AC units. What good does it do to have 2 fire places if you can only use one at a time. That's like have 2 AC units and can only use one at a time. Not much good on a 90+ degree day.

 

[BigHorns]

I tend to agree with you. That's why I was curious as I take note of units with dual fireplaces. Never expected they would be on single circuit. But- the alternative would mean additional panel space which may not be available. If your 120V panel is full as mine is in my Bighorn, there wouldn't be many options.

If the washer/dryer prep is in the bedroom as is common it's likely wired into the bedroom circuit (mine isn't, so I'm presuming). If that were not the case, the bedroom fireplace should easily be able to run on that bedroom circuit (not usually a big power burner without washer/dryer). Otherwise, you'd be back to additional panel space.

Oh, well. Good to know.

 

[NYSUPstater]

Our 3560SS BC does the same thing. I agree too that it doesn't make sense that 2 A/C's can run at same time but not the FP's. Really? How much more $$ would it cost HL to wire it up to do so? After all, your already spending 100K on the unit, so a couple bucks more isn't going to break the bank..........HL !

 

[Darrellcamps]

That's the same model I have. It's not a big deal for me since I'm in Florida and don't plan on travelling up north in the winter. But I can see where it could be an issue up north where it gets in the teens and single digits on regular bases.
I bet is cost more to wire it with the safety feature than it would have to add a breaker.

 

[NYSUPstater]

We don't camp in it during the winter (kinda stinks in a way when you pay all this $$ for 6 months/yr...LOL), but what we generally do on chilly nights is run the BR FP and then upon a bathroom trip around 5 or 6, turn off the BR FP and turn on the LR FP. If we know it's really gonna be a chilly night, turn on furnace as a b/u, but that really does come on. All this being said, I want to say tho that I thought we did have both FP's on at same time when we 1st got it/used them and had no issues. But no, no way, so we learn to adapt and overcome (Marine motto?).