RV to power home temp

way2roll wrote:
Why don't you just move your food and perishables into the RV and live there while the power is out? That way you don't have to do anything other than ride it our in your RV. Simple. I mean if you are going to run your RV anyway, forget supplying power to the house, move into where the power is.

Most everything in the RV is "Compact" like the Fridge holds about half what the Sticks and Bricks. THe freezer .. perhaps 10-20 percent.

Does that answer the question?

Now... Even if you have a residential fridge in the RV it will be smaller than the big one in the Sticks and Bricks.

And I have an AUX freezer which is why I can hit 20%.

Way easier to drop a line to the INLET and flip transfer switches. PLUS when I sell the house (Sold the house) it is "Value added" because the realtor can point to it and say "Already set up if power fails just connect generator here"

way2roll wrote:
I guess some variables are needed here,

What is the demand - what needs to be run?

And what size is the Genset in the rv?

My point was, there are so many variables that a blanket answer won't do. Because as power demand goes up, configuration changes. Running a fridge only requires a decent extension cord,but running a furnace in 20 degree temps in resistance heat mode is an entirely different matter.

And as others have stated - do NOT backfeed the panel. I had a friend who was a lineman explain to me the risk associated with that. If you are going to wire to the panel then use a decent transfer switch at a minimum and a sub panel wouldn't be a bad idea.

Like all things, if you throw enough money at it you can solve any problem.

Personally I would just move into the RV until power is restored. Simple and cheap. Provided you mitigate the risk of pipes freezing.

True - it was a wide open-ended question. Lots of variables, and lots of options (some safe, others not so much).

The achilles heel in most cases is access to gasoline for the generator and propane for the RV furnaces. I found this out the hard way during Super Storm Sandy. After that experience - no power for weeks and no access to fuel - I converted my generator to natural gas/propane. NG is default and if for some reason that gets interrupted I have a 1,000 gallon propane tank (which is currently near empty, but the plan looks good on paper).

No, I use a Champion 9000 watt generator for the stick home.

way2roll wrote:

Is an RV genset big enough to run a home furnace? When we lived in MD I needed a 16kw house generator and 8k of that was to run the furnace - in extreme cold as you mention - below 20 degrees a heat pump won't do it, you need resistance heat and that's a huge amp draw. I doubt an RV genset would run that and even if it could no way you could do it without hard wiring romex. Also I doubt you could run anything else. But hey, at least the food won't spoil. I would guess that if you are in a climate that cold with outages longer than 48 hours, you would invest in a real whole house generator instead of trying to limp along on your RV's power supply. To the op - sure you can run an extension cord to run small items and a fridge.

It depends on the kind of heating system. An electric furnace (or electric heating in general) needs far more power than a gas, oil, or wood pellet furnace or boiler. The latter generally could be powered by an RV generator without much trouble provided the appropriate connections and transfer switching arrangements and so forth have been made, unless the blower motor or something is 240V and the RV generator (like most) only puts out 120V power. Many furnaces are wired for 120V power, though.

In my case, I believe my oil furnace is powered with a single 120V 15A or 20A circuit...and, of course, heating oil from the big tank in the basement. I can't double-check right at the moment.

For long power outages, I currently rely on a non-electric kerosene heater to keep things above freezing. "Above freezing" and "comfortable" are two quite different things! Luckily extended power outages are quite rare for me, though fairly brief ones are not too uncommon.

I guess some variables are needed here,

What is the demand - what needs to be run?

And what size is the Genset in the rv?

My point was, there are so many variables that a blanket answer won't do. Because as power demand goes up, configuration changes. Running a fridge only requires a decent extension cord,but running an electric furnace in 20 degree temps in resistance heat mode is an entirely different matter.

And as others have stated - do NOT backfeed the panel. I had a friend who was a lineman explain to me the risk associated with that. If you are going to wire to the panel then use a decent transfer switch at a minimum and a sub panel wouldn't be a bad idea.

Like all things, if you throw enough money at it you can solve any problem.

Personally I would just move into the RV until power is restored. Simple and cheap. Provided you mitigate the risk of pipes freezing.

way2roll wrote:
Is an RV genset big enough to run a home furnace? When we lived in MD I needed a 16kw house generator and 8k of that was to run the furnace - in extreme cold as you mention - below 20 degrees a heat pump won't do it, you need resistance heat and that's a huge amp draw. I doubt an RV genset would run that and even if it could no way you could do it without hard wiring romex. Also I doubt you could run anything else. But hey, at least the food won't spoil. I would guess that if you are in a climate that cold with outages longer than 48 hours, you would invest in a real whole house generator instead of trying to limp along on your RV's power supply. To the op - sure you can run an extension cord to run small items and a fridge.

I have 2 natural gas, forced-air furnaces and they'll run simultaneously off of my 10,000 watt generator (8k running watts) with plenty of headroom. The 6,500 watt generator in my motorhome could run them both easily, too.

I've never tried it, but I'd bet I can run at least one furnace off of the exterior outlet on the RV. It's a 15A circuit so it would be fine as long as the extension cord isn't too long. And like you said, probably the fridge and some other stuff (but not all at once).

It depends on how "temporary" temp is. Installing a transfer switch is a lot of work for something I only use once or twice a year but it's great to have at those times. Previously I was snaking extension cords throughout the house and had the downstairs furnace rigged up with a suicide cord.

DrewE wrote:

way2roll wrote:
Why don't you just move your food and perishables into the RV and live there while the power is out? That way you don't have to do anything other than ride it our in your RV. Simple. I mean if you are going to run your RV anyway, forget supplying power to the house, move into where the power is.

If you're in a freezing climate, you need some way to run the furnace or otherwise keep the house above freezing lest the pipes freeze and you have a big plumbing problem. In quite a few cases the RV furnace might also struggle to keep the RV temperature at a reasonably livable level as well.

For relatively brief power outages (maybe less than a day), this is less of a concern since it takes some time for a house to cool below freezing if it's halfway well insulated, but given enough time it's a very real concern, and it's rarely known at the onset how long a power outage will last.

Is an RV genset big enough to run a home furnace? When we lived in MD I needed a 16kw house generator and 8k of that was to run the furnace - in extreme cold as you mention - below 20 degrees a heat pump won't do it, you need resistance heat and that's a huge amp draw. I doubt an RV genset would run that and even if it could no way you could do it without hard wiring romex. Also I doubt you could run anything else. But hey, at least the food won't spoil. I would guess that if you are in a climate that cold with outages longer than 48 hours, you would invest in a real whole house generator instead of trying to limp along on your RV's power supply. To the op - sure you can run an extension cord to run small items and a fridge.

I'm sure there is that one person trying to figure out how they can plug an extension cord into an outlet in their travel trailer to run appliances in their house after reading the title of this thread.

way2roll wrote:
Why don't you just move your food and perishables into the RV and live there while the power is out? That way you don't have to do anything other than ride it our in your RV. Simple. I mean if you are going to run your RV anyway, forget supplying power to the house, move into where the power is.

If you're in a freezing climate, you need some way to run the furnace or otherwise keep the house above freezing lest the pipes freeze and you have a big plumbing problem. In quite a few cases the RV furnace might also struggle to keep the RV temperature at a reasonably livable level as well.

For relatively brief power outages (maybe less than a day), this is less of a concern since it takes some time for a house to cool below freezing if it's halfway well insulated, but given enough time it's a very real concern, and it's rarely known at the onset how long a power outage will last.

Why don't you just move your food and perishables into the RV and live there while the power is out? That way you don't have to do anything other than ride it our in your RV. Simple. I mean if you are going to run your RV anyway, forget supplying power to the house, move into where the power is.