Heater issues

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Sun_valley208

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Apr 8, 2018
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OK guys 1st off new here 2nd thank you for your time  So I have a pop up Coleman trailer 1991 and when I hooked the trailer up to a generator and turned on the heater the heater blows cold it is an all electric heater. now here's the kicker when I convert the trailer power to A 120 Volt to plug into my house I can get hot air coming even when I hooked up a 10000 want generator I still couldn't get hot air is this a grounding issue? Any advice would help
 
Hello.
So I have an issue with my heater. On a generator my heater turns on but blows cold.  It is an all electric heater so there's no pilot or gas to it.  I have tried two different gens. A 4k and a 10kand still no heat. I know it works because when I put an adapter on and plug it into the the 120v plug in the house i get heat instantly with no waiting for warm up. Any advise? Thanks Fam
 
John From Detroit said:
I doubt it is a grounding issue.. if it is somebody messed you up royally.

Alas. I'd have to be hands on to diagnose.
Click to expand...
I think I'll have to disagree with John.  I suspect it IS a grounding or 'return' problem.  Generators usually do not have earth ground and neutral connected while shore power sources do.  If the furnace heating element is wired across 'hot' and earth ground instead of hot and neutral, I believe this problem would occur.  When connected to shore power, the heating element would be connect to neutral via the earth to neutral connection.  But, when powered by a generator, there would be no complete circuit.


However, I do agree with John that hands on diagnosis would be much more accurate.
 
What make & model of heater? And what sort of adapter does it need to use household 120v power but not needed in the rv?  It sounds to me as though the adapter is the key - it works with it but not without it.
 
I have a 1990 Coleman pop up with a 12v heater I think 12k btu. It's just weird to me since I hooked it up to two different generators.
 
This is the plug I used . https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000BUU5YA/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1523421188&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=rv+plug+adapter&dpPl=1&dpID=31FM-tp%2Bt-L&ref=plSrch
 
A thought.. Is that trailer 30 or 50 amps????

If is 30 we are still scratching our heads

If it is a 50 amp.. Then post the information on the heater's ID plate as well but I'll bet many are seeing light just reading this post.
 
A 12v heater?  That seems unlikely, since you have nowhere near enough 12vdc power to produce 12k btu or even close to that. Most such heaters have 12v powered fans but LP gas burners for the actual heat.  But whatever it is, if it works ok on shore power, it ought to work on the genset with that adapter.  Do you use the same adapter to plug into a 120v outlet at the house? And it works?

Grounding is a safety thing that helps reduce the danger of human life inf there is a short, but does not affect operation. However, if you have a power monitor, aka surge protector, device, it may have circuitry designed to detect a open ground and refuse to pass power if the outlet does not provide grounding. Portable gensets do not have earth grounds built in, so if you are using one of those, that could be the problem. The heater fan still runs as long as battery power is present, but it may not be able to light off the burner because of low voltage..
 
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