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86CoachmanR's avatar
86CoachmanR
Explorer
Jan 20, 2017

Can I hook up to a house from a 30A plug to a 15A circuit

I have an 1986 30A class A and am a full time RV'er and have been on campgrounds regularly but recently have been "Driveway mooching" with family.

My question is this, with the 30A male dogtail connected to a 30A female to 15A male adapter, can I safely plug into a 15A outlet with this setup?

I'm only looking to run a small LED LCD Monitor, a 120v Electric space heater PlayStation 4, Desktop computer, and the interior lights. Not all at the SE time of course. At most the monitor will be operating with either the computer on or the game system and maybe one lightbulb on.

I've had the motorhome plugged into aunt's house on a 15A garage circuit with the space heater, monitor, game system, and 1 light on at the same time for about 3 weeks. She is moving so I'm hopping over to another family members driveway. However they are concerned with running the 30A to 15A adapter plug through their circuit saying that it will cause a fire.

If I've done this at one house already, with no issues, no trips or anything, is it safe to say that I will not run into any issues here? By the way this scenario is running off of a split circuit board not the main one.

Thanks in advance, sorry for the lengthy post!
Class A
  • rgatijnet1's avatar
    rgatijnet1
    Explorer III
    Jan 20, 2017
    I have a 50 amp coach and when visiting some friends I have to plug in to their 15/20 amp circuit. This allows us to run one AC unit/or electric heater and our lights and TV. If we need to run the microwave, I turn off the AC for a few minutes. I also put the water heater on propane as well as the refrigerator and make sure that my inverter/charger is set to low charge.
    Since you are just using an adapter the draw of a heater will not cause your 30 amp power cord to overheat, as you found out with three weeks at your other location.
  • garyemunson's avatar
    garyemunson
    Explorer II
    Jan 20, 2017
    TV and lights are OK, the space heater is a no-no. You can cook the extension cord and running the heater with anything else can possibly damage things. Most space heaters are 1500 watts (12 amps). Remember, you have a converter and battery charger (and assorted other control circuits) quietly running in the background all the time adding to the current load. A 15 amp supply is only safe for keeping the batteries up when the RV is in the driveway. Offer to buy the relative a 30 amp power post that they can use once you are gone....
  • crcr's avatar
    crcr
    Explorer
    Jan 20, 2017
    We've safely done it many times in our RV driveway next to the house when cleaning up or loading up our TT. The 15/20 amp circuit has no problem running the AC, though once DW started running the vacuum cleaner while the AC was on and tripped the circuit breaker. I asked her not to run anything else when the AC is on.

    Just be smart, as someone said, don't use an electric space heater, use your built in propane heater for heat. And if running the AC, don't run anything else extra at the same time.

    Also, do NOT use a household or even a construction type extension cord. Go from the RV power cord to the dogleg adapter to the 120V outlet. If you need an extension cord to reach power, buy an RV extension cord. I always carry one of those in the RV anyway.
  • K_Charles's avatar
    K_Charles
    Explorer
    Jan 20, 2017
    That's why they have breakers. Make sure it's a good receptacle so it makes good contact.
  • artman's avatar
    artman
    Explorer
    Jan 20, 2017
    crcr wrote:
    We've safely done it many times in our RV driveway next to the house when cleaning up or loading up our TT. The 15/20 amp circuit has no problem running the AC, though once DW started running the vacuum cleaner while the AC was on and tripped the circuit breaker. I asked her not to run anything else when the AC is on.

    Just be smart, as someone said, don't use an electric space heater, use your built in propane heater for heat. And if running the AC, don't run anything else extra at the same time.

    Also, do NOT use a household or even a construction type extension cord. Go from the RV power cord to the dogleg adapter to the 120V outlet. If you need an extension cord to reach power, buy an RV extension cord. I always carry one of those in the RV anyway.


    This
  • 86CoachmanR's avatar
    86CoachmanR
    Explorer
    Jan 20, 2017
    The heater is rated for 1500W at full power and I only keep it at about half that to take the chill out of the air using about 6.5A, the power never tripped and the cords and wiring never got hot or warm even, could this have been a Fluke? Did I get lucky? I've totaled my wattage to be at 9.783A total draw with these settings (heater at 65/70°F, monitor and game system and one overhead bulb on). From my knowledge as long as one stays underneath the 75% max usage draw of that breaker and circuit (in the case of the 15A which at 75% would be 11.25) shouldn't everything be OK? Just really curious on the details at hand.
  • 86CoachmanR's avatar
    86CoachmanR
    Explorer
    Jan 20, 2017
    rgatijnet1 wrote:
    I have a 50 amp coach and when visiting some friends I have to plug in to their 15/20 amp circuit. This allows us to run one AC unit/or electric heater and our lights and TV. If we need to run the microwave, I turn off the AC for a few minutes. I also put the water heater on propane as well as the refrigerator and make sure that my inverter/charger is set to low charge.
    Since you are just using an adapter the draw of a heater will not cause your 30 amp power cord to overheat, as you found out with three weeks at your other location.


    Thanks, this is what i figured, owning an RV necessitates that one understands basic and intermediate electrical theory and math, and the relative at hand is an Electrician, and I am sure that his professional knowledge is making him paranoid to the worst case scenario.
  • 86CoachmanR's avatar
    86CoachmanR
    Explorer
    Jan 20, 2017
    crcr wrote:
    We've safely done it many times in our RV driveway next to the house when cleaning up or loading up our TT. The 15/20 amp circuit has no problem running the AC, though once DW started running the vacuum cleaner while the AC was on and tripped the circuit breaker. I asked her not to run anything else when the AC is on.

    Just be smart, as someone said, don't use an electric space heater, use your built in propane heater for heat. And if running the AC, don't run anything else extra at the same time.

    Also, do NOT use a household or even a construction type extension cord. Go from the RV power cord to the dogleg adapter to the 120V outlet. If you need an extension cord to reach power, buy an RV extension cord. I always carry one of those in the RV anyway.


    Everything ive read so far says that a 10G extension cord is more than sufficient, ive never read anything about an RV Specific cord. Im just curious as to the difference, I can google it but would rather get your personal experience on the matter. Also, If the space heater i running at half of max 1500W power, is that really an issue? Im just trying to wrap my head around the details as the wiring diagrams included with the RV are a bit out of my league of understanding. Thanks again for the fast replies!!
  • artman's avatar
    artman
    Explorer
    Jan 20, 2017
    What else in the house is on the same breaker ?

    Depending on how the heater is designed it could pull full power just not as often so being at half makes no difference.

    Did you measure the AMP draw our assume it was half max power ?
  • artman's avatar
    artman
    Explorer
    Jan 20, 2017
    If he is an Electrician then I don't think anything good we say will change his (assuming) mind.

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