If you are planning on heading off for a summer adventure in your camper, caravan, or recreational vehicle, you may be wondering how to go about packing light while still maintaining basic comforts. After all, you may want to enjoy a nice cup of coffee in the morning or cook a full-blown meal instead of eating processed foods during the entirety of the trip.
One way of getting around the fact that you can’t pack a full oven into your camper is to use the ever-popular air fryer, a countertop appliance that has gained massive traction over the past few years.
While the air fryer was built and designed to be used in the kitchen as a countertop appliance, many adventurers want to know whether an air fryer can be used in an RV, caravan, or camper?
You can use an air fryer in an RV, caravan, or camper but you need to make sure that the amperage in your circuit breaker is enough to run the air fryer along with other appliances, or you will trip the circuit breaker. An amperage between 30-50 should be enough, depending on how many appliances you run at the same time.
In this article, we will explain how you can use a compact air fryer in your recreational vehicle, what the best air fryers are, and whether you can use it as a replacement for a microwave.
How Many Amps Does an Air Fryer Pull?
While all air fryer advertising will tell you how much wattage the device will need, it never tells you how many amps the air fryer will pull when in use. The number of amps that an air fryer will pull will be dependent on a few factors.
The first is what type of battery system/power system you are running. In a household setting, you would have access to a 120 volt system, whereas, in a camper you are going to be on a 12 volt system or similar since caravans don’t require nearly as much power to power all of the appliances.
Here is a breakdown of the most commonly used air fryer wattage levels and how many amps these pull based off of a 12 volt system
● 900 watts = 75 amps.
● 1000 watts = 83.3 amps.
● 1200 watts = 100 amps.
● 1500 watts = 125 amps.
● 1700 watts = 141.6 amps.
● 1800 watts = 150 amps.
Why Do You Need to Know How Many Amps an Air Fryer Pulls?
You need to know how many amps your air fryer is going to pull because if it pulls too many, while you are running other appliances like your air conditioning and fridge, you are going to kill your battery.
The most common caravan battery setup includes 2 x 120 amp batteries and 2 x 150 watt solar panels with a 40 amp AC caravan battery charger.
With this setup, you are able to run all basic 12 volt appliances off of the battery system while maintaining the ability to re-charge your caravan battery through the main 240 volt power that is connected to your caravan.
If you do not have a 240 volt main power source (every caravan will have one unless you’ve custom-built your camper), you will deplete your batteries throughout the day as your solar panels will not be able to deliver enough power to run your 12 volt appliances while also keeping your caravan battery charged. Now imagine plugging in an air fryer and running it for 30 minutes.
Even with several sunny days in a row, you are going to deplete your recreational vehicle dry of any power it has. This becomes even worse if you have a few cloudy days or cannot connect your system to another charging source.
So, how do you know whether you can run an air fryer or not? You must figure out how many amps your camper needs over the course of a 24 hour period in order to power it through basic necessities.
Understanding Your Caravan’s 240 and 12 Volt Systems
Your caravan, camper, or recreational vehicle is going to have two systems in place, a 240 volt main system and a 12 volt system for low wattage appliances.
- The 240 volt system will power all of your large appliances. Think your fridge, television, hair dryer, microwave, kettle, and air conditioner. The 240 volt system will be your vehicle’s main source of power and is what recharges your batteries and ensures you always have power for driving. When you plug in at a caravan site, you are using your 240 volt system.
- The 12 volt system will power small appliances like your water pump and strip lighting. It comes from an onboard battery and is what allows you to keep the lights on and use the water pump when you lose main power. The 12 volt system batteries are charged either through the main electricity, through a multi-stage charger, or through solar panels.
How to Calculate Your Camper/RV/Caravan’s Power Needs Based on 12 Volt System
Your 12 Volt System:
| LED Lights (0.5 amps/h) |
| Water Pump/Tank Monitoring (0.5amps/h) |
| Refrigeration (1-5amps/h Small-Large) |
| TV/Laptops/Radio/Speakers (0.5 amps/h) |
| Power Outlets (0.5 amps/h) |
| Hairdryers (20-50amps/h) |
| Kettles (20-50 amps/h) |
| Microwaves/Washing Machines (20-50 amps/h) |
| Air Conditioning/Heating (60 amps/h) |
This means that if you want to run a compact air fryer of a 1,000 watts, you are going to need at least 50 amps available to run it without tripping the circuit breaker. Of course, this depends on how many appliances you’ve got running.
If you ask me, I would go with an amperage on the higher end just to be on the safe side.
If you calculate how much amperage your caravan is using and you do not have that amount of power free, you will drain your power sources.
This may mean that you need to turn the air conditioning, heating, or television off when you go to use your air fryer.
What’s the Best Air Fryer for an RV or Camper?
Generally, you are going to want to go for a compact air fryer if you are running on primarily a 12 volt system. This is because these air fryers use less wattage, which means less amperage that you have to worry about when in use.
Here are three awesome picks.
1. Dash Compact Air Fryer 1.2 L.
The Dash Compact Air Fryer is about 1.6-quarts, making it incredibly compact and able to fit on very small countertops. However, despite its small size, it can cook a full meal for one person and is perfect for those who want food in 30-minutes or less. It includes 15 recipes, has non-slip feet, takes 15-minutes to pre-heat, and runs on 1000 watts or 83 amps on a 12 volt system or 8.3 on a 120 volt system.
2. GoWise USA 2.75-Quart.
The GoWise USA 2.75-quart digital air fryer also cooks in 30-minutes or less, comes with easy-to-use button controls and has an automatic standby mode. It comes with a recipe book that has step-by-step instructions for all 50 recipes and runs on 1200 watts or 100 amps on a 12 volt or 12 amps on a 120 volt system.
3. Bella 2.6-Quart Convection Fryer.
The BELLA 2.6-quart convection fryer can cook 2.2 pounds of food, has an analog system and overheating protection. It comes with an indicator light, has cool-touch parts for safe handling and an automatic shutoff feature. It runs on 1500 watts, or 125 amps on a 12 volt or 12.5 amps on a 120 volt system.
Can An Air Fryer Replace a Microwave in a Camper?
If you do not use a microwave very often, you may be able to get away with it, however, for most individuals the answer is no, you cannot.
Why? While an air fryer can replace a regular oven or convection microwave oven, it cannot replace a regular microwave as it cannot duplicate the same type of convenience and speed that is offered by your microwave.
In addition to this, an air fryer should never be used to heat up liquids or used to reheat food, which makes it a non-viable option for replacing the microwave.