electric for a electric heater

I have a heated basement in my 97 Bounder. Under the passenger side nightstand, there is a factory installed vent from the basement to the bedroom, so that air blown into the basement has a return path.

You might consider a opening from a storage compartment (preferably the electrical compartment to the inside) that is only about 3" diameter. Have you seen the brass looking covers used in desktops to cover a hole cut for computer cables? You can buy those at Office Depot and other places. Basically you cut a 2" or 3" hole in the desk, then run the wiring through it. This cover has a small U shape cut out about 3/4" or 1" across, so it will hide the hole and wires are still going through a small section of that opening.

Anyway I ran my #12 extension cord through my air vent to the basement, then across that compartment to where the factory 30 amp cord goes out, and then to the 20 amp receptacle in the campground. I also had my 30 amp cord to run the other things in the RV, including 2 more electric heaters normally set on low heat output. This gave me a total of about 4 KW of electric heat, without overloading my 30 amp service.

When I spent the winter in Portland OR, the coldest nights only dropped to about 26F, so that was plenty of heat. By running electric heaters at 10 cents per KW, I got 80,000 Btu's of heat for about $2.20. Running the furnace would take a gallon of propane, or about $2.50 at the time. If I had a heat pump, the same 80,000 Btu's would only require $0.80.

Fred.

IF I was afraid to use the RV outlets then I would rip them all out and rewire.

BUT not being afraid I have used space heaters every winter for supplemental heating .

No tripped breakers, no overloaded wiring, no hot outlets, no issues and the space heater ran for hours cause we were living in the 5vr

rb71 wrote:
Thanks for all the replies.

A 1500w heater requires 13.63 amps to run so if the tv or anything else is on its over loaded.

I like the idea of the generator box. But, I was hoping there was something where theres a male plug on the outside and receptacle on the inside.

Thanks Everyone

Here is the 'box' I put on mine, then pull the cord out... I got it on Amazon.

JR Products 541-2-A Polar White Deluxe Round Electric Cable Hatch with Back

Hi,

I've replaced all but one of my outlets with standard home receptacles.

I also added two additional shore power cords. They come in via the regular shore power cord box. So I have the OEM 30 amp, a 20 amp and 15 amp shore power cords.

The 'extra' shore power cords power dedicated outlets which I can use for additional electric heat.

I have a 'break out box' which converts a 50 amp to a 30 amp on one leg and two 20 amp outlets on the other leg. Each outlet has its own breaker.

In the dead of winter I draw a peak load of 7000 watts which allows me to heat 100% electrically at -37 C.

rb71 wrote:
Thanks for all the replies.
I like the idea of the generator box. But, I was hoping there was something where theres a male plug on the outside and receptacle on the inside.
Thanks Everyone

The generator inlet box is a male plug. The female end of the extension cord connects to the generator inlet.
You run the wire from the inlet box to an (dedicated) interior receptacle.

Generator Inlet Box

Thanks for all the replies.

A 1500w heater requires 13.63 amps to run so if the tv or anything else is on its over loaded.

I like the idea of the generator box. But, I was hoping there was something where theres a male plug on the outside and receptacle on the inside.

Thanks Everyone

We installed two outlets, one by bathroom sink and one by Kit counter. Wired them to another outlet in basement storage. Hardwired extension cord and plug it in to power stand.

We do this all the time at the campground pedestal using this 20AMP Service which does not take away from the other 30AMP SERVICE connection.

I never wired up an outside connection on the trailer but just ran an proper sized extension cord into the trailer. The basement door might be is a good spot which has a weather seal strip around the door edge. You can pass the extension cord into the trailer here and fish it up inside the trailer through the dirty laundry door located in floor of the bedroom wash-up cabinet.

We carry two of the 1500WATT OIL-FILLED Electric Heaters just for this reason...
For us the OIL-FILLED heaters with no visible flames or open red hot cores are the safest to use unattended in the trailer.

My trailer which is used most often used is a OFF-ROAD POPUP unit which has the velcro window flaps etc and running the extension cord into this trailer is not an issue.

I also use the 20AMP SERVICE connections at the camp grounds pedestals for all of my outdoor 120VAC connections for lights-fans-etc... Sometimes you have to guard this connection pretty good as other campers especially the close-by TENT CAMP SETUPS will run an extension cord to your pedestal for their use... ALot of places we go to has both Electric sites and NON-Electric sites in the same vicinity of each other. Westmoreland State park in VA is setup this way... Kinda easy to figure out who is doing it - just unplug it and listen for the loud yelling haha... Of course I have no problem with sharing if I have been asked.

I got caught one time plugging into 120VAC on an outside wash-up sink area at the rest room bldg at Loft Mtn VA on one tent camping trip. There stands a Ranger waving his finger at me holding my extension cord trekking across the woods going straight to my tent site haha... He said cover it up with leaves better next time. So when he left I ran it again and covered it up better with leaves hehe...

Every tent setup should have a TV SETUP to watch.

Roy Ken

rb71 wrote:
Hello Everyone,

I'm looking for a idea to run electric from campground electric straight to the heater. I don't trust the wiring in the camper and most breakers are only 15 amp.

I don't know if they make a plug to come up through the floor in the garage.

Why would you not trust the wiring in a new RV? Plus. Any 110 heater you will get will not pull more than 15 amps. And it will only use 1500 watts.

lawnspecialties wrote:
No idea here outside of running an extension cord from the box and somehow into the camper.

But on a side note, why no trusting of the camper wiring? We run electric heaters all the time when we're at campgrounds in the winter. Saves on LP gas. Ours are almost always rated 1500 watts and it'll run the entire time we're there with no problems. Plus, we've done this with all four of our past campers.

Pull out one of the trailers plug in from the wall. Very cheap plug nothing like a home. I don't trust mine over 750 watts for a heater.

TH have air vents for gas fumes. You could run the cord through one of those.