static caravan on a rented site

[william1]

we have a caravan and the outside supply comes in through at 16amp, but inside in the CU we have 2 light circuts 6amp each and 1 ring final 32amp is this right?

problem we keep getting is that when we overload the circut it keeps cutting outside instead of in the CU

any advice would be helpful and appreciated ☺

 

[Englishsparks]

What are you putting on to overload it

 

[TaffyDuck]

Common on a static caravan. The supply is limited to a 16 amp load, usually this is a combination of the capacity of the cable and the capacity of the whole site system.

It is advisable to wherever possible to limit what you use. The internal wiring of the van is to an extent irrelevant, A 2Kw kettle and limiting the use of the immersion heater ( if one is fitted) will help reduce nuisance tripping

 

[william1]

the last time it blew was when we had 2 oil rads at 1500w each and another blower heater at 1000w but they all work fine for about 1-2 hours then the outside trips but the inside doesn't

 

[Engineer54]

Don't static caravans have a higher maximum supply than 16A?? I was under the impression that 16A was the maximum supply for touring caravans, not those caravans that are static on a site year round. Many of these being 2 or 3 times the size of a larger touring caravan...

 

[william1]

i think we are all cut down to 16a because the site cant handle so much damand, december we had a few power cuts from to much damand, people using heaters and christmas lights theres a couple of generators dotted around the site we have been told we cant up the amps on the supply, so should we change the fuse inside?

 

[william1]

Don't static caravans have a higher maximum supply than 16A?? I was under the impression that 16A was the maximum supply for touring caravans, not those caravans that are static on a site year round. Many of these being 2 or 3 times the size of a larger touring caravan...

yeah what i thought if we are static and permanant then we should be entitled to ulimited usage but all caravans here are limited to 16amp we have central heating so its not so bad but our boiler brokedown about 4 weeks back and we had to use electric fires thats when we found this problem you wouldn't want to stick this caravan on the back of a landrover lol ours is 37'x12' i think

 

[captainkev]

work a lot on static caravans and you will find 90% of them are 16Amp external supply, some newly developed sites may have 32Amp. just a case of getting used to what you can and cannot use together and being careful, general guide is that your 16Amp will allow you approx 3700watt or 3.7KW of usage (beware of kettles, toasters, ovens, hairdryers/straightners ie anything that produces heat)

 

[Guest111]

As stated above most vans static or tourer are fed via 16A feed, there are 2 reasons for this and both are financial, A the cost of a larger feed to each van and also the site 2 the fact that the supply to each van is unmetered and by limiting the amount drawn also keeps the bill down.I have seen statics wired to a larger supply but in all cases these were metered so you pay for what you use.

 

[TaffyDuck]

the last time it blew was when we had 2 oil rads at 1500w each and another blower heater at 1000w but they all work fine for about 1-2 hours then the outside trips but the inside doesn't

The inside wont "trip" as it is a ring main wired to a 32 amp mcb like in a standard house. You have a total there of 3500 watts or about 15 amps. Add to that a few lights and you are probably at the times when the oil rads and the blow heater are calling for power running considerably over 16 amps thus the 16 amp mcb, which will probably hold 17-18 amps for a few hours will eventually disconnect. You have to just limit the amount you use as you would in a touring caravan site. You will get used to it.

 

[william1]

The inside wont "trip" as it is a ring main wired to a 32 amp mcb like in a standard house. You have a total there of 3500 watts or about 15 amps. Add to that a few lights and you are probably at the times when the oil rads and the blow heater are calling for power running considerably over 16 amps thus the 16 amp mcb, which will probably hold 17-18 amps for a few hours will eventually disconnect. You have to just limit the amount you use as you would in a touring caravan site. You will get used to it.

can you not put a 16amp in the CU instead of a 32amp?

 

[Martyc]

can you not put a 16amp in the CU instead of a 32amp?

Wouldn't really solve anything, could still be the mcb outside tripping as the ratings would be equal and there'd be no discrimination (unless someone can correct me as I'm still learning!). Happens all the time where I work, I just have to tell people to watch what they use at any one time and try educate them of the pitfalls of static 'vans, especially as a permanent dwelling.

 

[Engineer54]

i think we are all cut down to 16a because the site cant handle so much damand, december we had a few power cuts from to much damand, people using heaters and christmas lights theres a couple of generators dotted around the site we have been told we cant up the amps on the supply, so should we change the fuse inside?

Move to a site that has a sensible supply to these bigger static caravans. If it's metered supply, so be it!! 16A for a static 37' X 12' caravan is nonsense!!

 

[william1]

Move to a site that has a sensible supply to these bigger static caravans. If it's metered supply, so be it!! 16A for a static 37' X 12' caravan is nonsense!!

10 amps is the next MCB down so we would loose 6amp but is that a big loss in terms of electric, i'd rather go in the bedroom and switch it on from there than going out in the cold unscrewing the cover off the box and switching the 16amp back on, its easy to say move but we payed 30,000 for this caravan its not cheap to move them to other sites, we are metered aswell we pay per unit of electric used

 

[Engineer54]

Then get a partition up of all the static owners, to increase the plot supplies. As you and the other owners have already found, a 16A supply is totally inadequate for such all year round occupancy!!

 

[captainkev]

having to unscrew the cover off your supply box is dangerous and contrary to regs, you are not a competent person to be accessing area of live cables. your park owner needs to fit windows to your box so you only need to lift the flap to reset the switch

 

[lauriehurman]

William, you already understand what's going on; Your 16 amp MCB is always going to trip before your 32 amp one. You know that.
In the long term your solution is to fix your boiler because heating by daytime electricity is very expensive - as I sure you have found out.
In the short term you could put a 16 amp MCB in place of the indoor 32. It may trip before the outside one because it's in a warmer environment and this is thermal tripping not magnetic.

If it's going to be a long time before you can fix the boiler then buy a couple of cheap electric storage heaters. You wont be able to access cheap electricity because you don't have the right meter but you will be able to run them at night when everything else is off so your peak current will remain under 16 amps.

Hope that's of some help.
Laurie

 

[ifindoubtdont]

I have 5 static vans on a site on the coast in Mid Wales. When the site first started in the 60's the only things electric on a caravan were the tail lights. Since then caravans have got bigger, you can get 28' x 40' lodges now. These are bungalows on wheels, the only things gas in them is the hob and central heating, the rest is electric. When the original site infrastructure was installed it wasn't envisaged what caravans would become. When the site reopens in March most of the owners will be there to open up their caravans, as it's still cold we will all turn on our 2Kw electric fires and lights and TV's and our kettles and phutt. Last year we took out the whole village. This year the site has invested in some generators so we shouldn't have that problem again. To upgrade the infrastructure would cost a fortune and it would be the owners that pay for it in their site fees. So juggling what you switch on and when is a cost affective option, it's sometimes a pain in the butt, but C'est la vie.

 

[Engineer54]

I have 5 static vans on a site on the coast in Mid Wales. When the site first started in the 60's the only things electric on a caravan were the tail lights. Since then caravans have got bigger, you can get 28' x 40' lodges now. These are bungalows on wheels, the only things gas in them is the hob and central heating, the rest is electric. When the original site infrastructure was installed it wasn't envisaged what caravans would become. When the site reopens in March most of the owners will be there to open up their caravans, as it's still cold we will all turn on our 2Kw electric fires and lights and TV's and our kettles and phutt. Last year we took out the whole village. This year the site has invested in some generators so we shouldn't have that problem again. To upgrade the infrastructure would cost a fortune and it would be the owners that pay for it in their site fees. So juggling what you switch on and when is a cost affective option, it's sometimes a pain in the butt, but C'est la vie.

In the long run, the money the site paid for these generators, the fuel running costs and the maintenance of these generators, it would have been better spent on the power infrastructure. Running a 40' X 20' on a 16A supply all year round is just ludicrous in the UK!!