I’m learning as I go and don’t everything about how our Airstream travel trailer works.
Every time I speak to someone who owns at travel trailer or visit a forum or blog, I learn something new about an appliance or a system that I have on my trailer.
Despite my novice knowledge about the appliances and systems, I figured I’d share my beginner observations.
First, we have most of the typical appliances and systems of a house, such as an oven, microwave, and refrigerator, and we also have some of the same power systems, such as electrical and gas.
The two big differences from a typical house are that our appliances are much smaller and we have options to run off different power sources.
The four power sources of our trailer include…
Electrical (shore power).
A 30 amp plug comes out of the back of an RV. It is attached to a breaker box inside the RV similar to the one you would see in a home. When we plug into an electrical hookup, we can run our electric appliances, lights, and our outlets work.
The 30 amp plug hangs off the back bumper. It’s stored inside the bumper with the plumbing pieces and parts.
Electrical (battery).
Our campsites don’t always have an electric outlet, so our travel trailer also has a battery system which power our lights, fan, and water pump, all of which are designed to run off a battery. This battery will supposedly last us a couple weeks if we consume conservatively.
We charge the battery through the alternator in the truck when towing the trailer. We don’t have solar panels to charge up our battery, though they are increasingly popular.
The bad news about the battery system is that it won’t power our bigger electric devices, like our air conditioner, microwave, or toaster oven.
A single battery, charged by the truck’s alternator, that powers the lights, fan, and water pump in the travel trailer. That converter on the right does something too, but I don’t understand it (yet).
Electrical (generator)
Since we want the convenience of air conditioning, an oven, and a microwave even when we can’t plug in, we invested in a generator. The generator burns gas and creates electricity.
The generator doesn’t burn all the time. We only start it to power our big appliances as needed. The battery system mentioned above is still needed with a generator, as it gives us instant power for lights, fans, and water without the need to go outside and pull start the generator.
Liquid Propane (LP) Gas
On the front of our trailer, we have two propane gas cans, just like the ones you would find on your gas grill at home.
The propane gas powers our two gas burners, our refrigerator, and hot water tank. Both the refrigerator and the hot water tank have the option to run on electricity, when we’re plugged in, or on gas, when we are not plugged in.
When we run out of propane gas, we haul that tanks to a store where we can have then refilled.
A couple of propane tanks mounted on the tongue of the Airstream travel trailer.
Which appliances run on which power?
So these are our power sources, and here is a breakdown of our appliances and the systems on which they run or can run.
- Oven, Electrical (shore power), Electrical (generator)
- Stove top, Gas
- Microwave, Electrical (shore power), Electrical (generator)
- Refrigerator, Gas, Electrical (shore power), Electrical (generator)
- Hot water heater, Gas, Electrical (shore power), Electrical (generator)
- Air conditioner, Electrical (shore power), Electrical (generator)
- Water pump, Electrical (battery), Electrical (shore power), Electrical (generator)
- Lights, Electrical (battery), Electrical (shore power), Electrical (generator)
Sometimes one or two of the electrical options aren’t available to us. For example, some parks don’t have electrical hookups and don’t allow generators, so in those parks we are not able to use our oven, microwave, or air conditioner, but we can still use our lights, fans, and water pump to move water through the faucets and toilet. We can run our refrigerator off the propane gas.
I’m still learning a lot about these appliances, but these are the basics as I understand them after a week on the road with the trailer.
In another article, I’ll be hitting the highlights of the water and plumbing system in our old Airstream.
Got a question about how our trailer works?
Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about how our trailer works.
I had no idea what it took to run the power. I am curious to what food you are cooking for your family? Hope you little one if is feeling better.
Hi Richard, thanks for the good wishes for the little one. We’ll be posting some articles on food soon.
We also followed your suggestion and went to Robert Is Here. Well worth the trip.
This is such a great break down for how everything works. Sounds like my Winnebago ERA sprinter van. I do have solar panels though and they are great for keeping the battery charged. I have a tighter space and room is minimal. I’ve never ran my generator much because it usually doesn’t work (ugg…Never by a new RV) I wish there was a way to power the a/c and microwave without the generator. I recently found a solar powered generator Goal Zero makes and it works pretty good for small appliances. The one I bought it a 400 watt but they make larger ones. You can recharge them off of solar and they even have lithium batteries as well. Great to see your set up! Thanks for sharing all the details 🙂