regular extension cord to run some appliances

A 10 or 12 ga extension cill work fine unless it get hot, Just check the connections every once in a while. Most of your house is wired on 12 ga, and works fine, I would limit to 25 feet if possible, but I have run on 200 feet of 10 ga contractor cords. Don't recommend, but it can be done.

Why not run your generator for the first hour as part of your shake out? Check the oil and altitude setting (if not injected). On the genny, run the ac's and vacuum. That will run the genny , do the initial charge on the batteries, run the ac's (even if not necessary). Shut off the ac's, then switch to shore power for the battery top off and fridge for hours.

In the long run you may want to have a 50 amp receptacle installed and 50 amp cord long enough to use.

The vacuum is a lot of amp draw, and your charger can draw a lot of power as well.

This is just me but the only way I would use one of those orange WALMART extension cords would be to run thru the open door of the trailer and plug in one item at a time...

You may want to purchase a good 12-gauge (12-3) or even better yet a contractor grade 10-gauge (10-3) 50-foot extension cord... Then you can use your adapters and plug in the RV UNIT using its shore power cable...

I found a couple of the 50-foot 10 Gauge extension cords at a yard sale...

The RV places use them to hook up all of their RV units on display... You might be able to make a good deal with them. Especially from the RV DEALER where you got your RV from... I had them throw in a couple of their used 25-foot long HD extension cords when I purchased my unit.... That was sort of a funny thing - After I had made the point I would like to have a couple of them the sales lady said I'll be right back and pointed at a couple of the cords laying on the ground not hooked up... I didn't catch on what she was meaning so she came back and noticed I didn't load them into the trailer so she said it all over again and left for a few minutes... I loaded them puppies right up haha....

Another thing I will not do is use one of the small round RV ADAPTERS... All of mine are the long DOGBONE type RV Adapters.

What will happen using the smaller low amp type extension cords is you will burn up the adapters or even worse burn up your Shore Power Cable connector... Not worth it for me to short change myself...

You could also burn up some important items like the Air Conditioner or high wattage microwave by trying to use them from a weak extension cord and have alot of voltage drop...

Roy Ken

elhajj33 wrote:
I need to run a vacuum, the fridge, and the fans while the RV is at home tomorrow. Basically, we're just having it home to prep before we go on our shakeout trip. The coach has a 50 amp plug and i have all the adapters to get it down to a 15 amp 2 prong plug.

Thing is, i just have a regular orange utility extension cord. Is it safe to plug the RV into our home using this cord or am I going to be pulling too much power? It seems like the fans, fridge and vacuum wouldn't pull that much power, but i could be wrong

Also be aware that if your batteries are not fully charged or even if they are, your battery charger in your Converter or Inverter will draw 15 -20 amps or more at times. That will pretty much suck up what your cord can handle. Turn off the converter/inverter if you can.

I've done it before, HOWEVER: The vacuum can draw quite a bit, so I would use a separate extension for temporary items, like the vacuum, certainly for a heater, or a hair dryer. Use the 15amp cord only for the frig. If you draw too much the cord could get hot. I'm NOT an electrician, not even close. I'm only telling you what I did.
When traveling and visiting friends we have parked by the barn and plugged into the 15am lamp circuit for the evening. We would run the Norcold on electric, the 12v lights, perhaps a fan, and otherwise keep things functioning without a problem.
Happy Trails.