rv hook up at home

Hurley24, I stick by what I told you before. Hire a COMPENTANT electrician and be sure he is licensed in your state. I am sure there are some cases where an outlet is wired incorrectly, however, most of the time the wiring was done by someone that was not qualified to begin with. An electrical contractor will have insurance, in case of the remote possibility that something is damaged during the job. The reason that electricians are required to be tested and licensed is electricity is dangerous and they must prove that they know what they are doing.

Also the advice about only installing a 50 amp service and using the adapter is not the best thing to do. Operating a 30a system off of a 50 service is not entirely safe, and should only be done as a temporary solution if you run into a situation traveling that would warrant such a connection where there are no other options available.

The bottom line is, find a reputable, licensed electrician and get him to install specifically what you need. You can even get a box with all of the outlets that you would find in a campground, and it would only cost a little more. (Someone already mentioned this). Just be sure you use the appropriate outlet.

Weldon wrote:
Not arguing the point but why is it wrong to bury romex even if it is in conduit. Trying to learn something here.

Because the code says so. :)
Romex (NM) cable is not suitable for use in wet locations, according to the NEC, because of the bare ground wire inside the sheath. The inside of any conduit is considered a wet location. UF cable is similar to NM cable, but is rated for in-ground and damp-area installation. In fact, UF stands for underground feeder. From the outside UF cable looks like NM-B cable, but the wires are embedded as a group in solid thermoplastic insulation (rather than individually encased in flexible thermoplastic).

On those 50-to-30 amp adapters... when you draw 120v from only one side of a circuit served by a double pole (ganged) 240v breaker, the breaker may not function correctly in an overload situation. This is in fact not allowed by the NEC. So are parks using non-ganged breakers? If you do this at home, are you using a circuit with a separate breaker for each 120v leg?

Not arguing the point but why is it wrong to bury romex even if it is in conduit. Trying to learn something here.

Thanks!

I always liked these two 50AMP and 30AMP voltage test pictorials...

50 AMP RV test



15/20/30 AMP RV test


Roy Ken

Mcamper wrote:
Hurley24, if you want to run your RV at home hire an electrician to install a 30amp RV outlet for you. It is not safe to run all systems in your trailer on a 20a household set up. If you do not want to do this, then use a 12 gauge extension cord, and do not run your A/C or anything else that uses a lot of current.

I would never hire an electrician to install a 30 amp outlet nor would I recommend anyone else do it.. Here is why.

FAR too many threads on this forum where the original poster did exactly that.. The electrician glanced (he did not look) at the TT-30 outlet and said to himself "Oh, that is a 24 volt outlet for a Welder, Dryer or Air compressor" and promptly wired it up WRONG.. The proud new RV owner then plugs in and does over a thousand dollars in damage to his RV. Lawyers get fatter, and hard working folks poorer.

Better to have the electrician install a 50 amp outlet (What I recommend) These really ARE 240 volt (Actually 120/240 volt).

Then use a dogbone adapter (which only picks 120 volt off the 50 amp outlet) to connect the RV.

Electricians almost never mess this up, PLUS when (not if) you upgrade your RV.. Well, the outlet is already upgraded.

And.. IN ALL cases.. Before you plug in that first time measure the voltage.

On a 30 amp outlet (The dogbone's if doing as I suggest) the voltage between the two flat pins should be in the 120 volt range.

On a 50 Side to center flat 120, side to side 240. (now you know how the dog does it).

I would suggest that anyone wishing to power 30 amp RV service at their residence to weigh the additional costs and benefits of installing a 50 amp/30 amp/20 amp common power pedestal instead of a single 30 amp 120v receptacle. In my area, the combined power load centers are sold at the Big Box lumber stores so are readily available.
Cost increase of the combined load center over a single 30 amp service revolves around the larger wire used, the pedestal box, and, possibly, larger conduit (although that increase is small). The benefit is that no upgrading is needed in the future should 50 amp service be a future need, there is little voltage drop with the larger wire, and additional 120v is available at the same location.

Hurley24, if you want to run your RV at home hire an electrician to install a 30amp RV outlet for you. It is not safe to run all systems in your trailer on a 20a household set up. If you do not want to do this, then use a 12 gauge extension cord, and do not run your A/C or anything else that uses a lot of current.

Go to your rooms!

K3WE wrote:

bsbeedub wrote:
I only have a 15 amp outlet at home. I use a 25 foot, 10 gauge extension cord to a 15 to 30 amp dog bone, then to my TT power cord. I can run JUST my a/c fine with that set up. I have my multimeter plugged in and when the a/c is running my volts are at 114.

Two problems with your post.

No problems at all. You just mis-read and mis-interpreted my post. Let me explain in red:



1) Becuase it works for YOU does not mean it will work for everyone. I was responding to someone that said "15A source is NOT enough for water heater, microwave or A/C ." I also quoted them in my reply. I was indicating that yes indeed, 15 amps are enough for an A/C. MY A/C. I never said the OP should do what I do.
There's different sized of AC's, there's different lengths of wire from the panel to the 15A outlet, and there's different voltages in electrical systems (varies with location and the time of day). And who knows what the other electrical loads are on YOUR camper None, Just the A/C, as I indicated.- that can vary too.

2) The words "just fine". I never said "just fine" about anything. I said, "I can run JUST my a/c fine", meaning ONLY my A/C and nothing else. Two entirely different statements. I thought that was pretty clear. It's a fact that a runnining AC commonly uses less than 15 A and you have your voltiage meter, and that you are using a great extension cord, but at the moment of start up, I failed to mention at start-up my volts are at 110 which is still in the safe zone. your AC might be a bit short on electricity and you never know when there might be some transistor thing that gets a bit frazzled.

Maybe if you said that you have a smaller air conditioner and make an effort to limit other loads Again, I said JUST my A/C, thus limiting the load to JUST the A/C.- but the overly bold bragging is giving bad advice.There was no bragging whatsoever and no advice given. Just indicating what works on MY TT. Again, I was responding to another post and I never told the OP to do what I do.

Now, can we still be friends?