Dual 30 Amp Service

Most S&B's have 200amp service. Why not 250 or 300 or lets go wild 500amp service. Same logic applies. The next owner may have a need for heavy usage. Or why don't you buy a MTD for your 5er because that is what the next person needs wants. I can put in any size circuit I want/need and I could care less what the next user/owner needs/wants. I need to replace my furnace/air conditioner and I will do it without a worry as to the next owner. I almost bet nobody has tripped a 5oamp pedestal c/b or the one in their trailer. I may even go out a limb and say most have not even pulled 35amps per leg on their 50 amp rigs. JMHO.

meganjoe wrote:

Lantley wrote:
Wow Frankenstein has really got everyone's attention. I agree an RV may not need a full 50 amp circuit but that is no reason to install/wire an incorrect 50 amp circuit. Should CG's employ this technique after all they could save a few pennies too.
The fact is this circuit will eventually be discovered by someone other than the OP. Hopefully they won't actually want to use it. In my job we come across this quirky stuff and it causes nothing but problems vs. just doing it right in the first place.
The wheel has already been invented there is no need to re wire it other than to cause issues. There is no savings only heartache for the person that eventually discovers the misgivings of this circuit.
Why stop with this RV circuit why not wire underfed circuits wherever possible if a penny can be saved. Maybe we can get the penny saved rule into the code books. By the way you could possibly save a nickle if you used two 20 amp breakers instead of two 30's.
I should not complain at some point this creates job security, additional work will eventually be required as a result of this savings.
False economy always cost more in the end.
Many think this is OK because it serves the OP's purposes right now. But unless the OP eliminates the circuit when he is done with it someone else is going to come across this abnormal wiring and pay the price in some form.
Why not just do it right? Because of cost? Because the OP simply doesn't want to? You guys are correct I don't get it?
The real reason I don't get it is because there is no savings in doing it wrong So why not do it right? I imagine someone is going to have to make this right one day. May not be the OP but someone will eventually pay to make it right. Hopefully nothing is damaged in the process.
False economy is alive and well.
I'm done. Going to hang out with Dracula and the Wolf Man maybe they can enlighten me to the true merits of Frankensteining a few circuits.

FWIW ..I agree...

So do I.

Is the op going to give full disclosure to the new buyer of his house? If not the future owner can come back on him to make it right.

I worked as a Carpenter/Project Superintendent for over 30 years and it was sad to see how people did so many things almost right!

enblethen wrote:
Let us think about the installation in a different way.
Let us say that you install a 20 amp receptacle in your living to feed an AC unit that came equipped with a 120 amp cord body on #14 wire fed by a 15 ampere breaker.
Are you going to change it out when you move? No!
Are you going to rewire the whole house? No!

If the air conditioner had a 5-20 plug I would upgrade with a dedicated 20 amp circuit.
Assuming I was pulling wire I might even go #10 because the marginal cost is low.
Just put a 5-20 outlet on a 15a string... NO.

enblethen wrote:
Let us think about the installation in a different way.
Let us say that you install a 20 amp receptacle in your living to feed an AC unit that came equipped with a 120 amp cord body on #14 wire fed by a 15 ampere breaker.
Are you going to change it out when you move? No!
Are you going to rewire the whole house? No!

What is a "120 amp cord body" ??

Let us think about the installation in a different way.
Let us say that you install a 20 amp receptacle in your living to feed an AC unit that came equipped with a 20 amp cord body on #14 wire fed by a 15 ampere breaker.
Are you going to change it out when you move? No!
Are you going to rewire the whole house? No!
Edit 20 AMP NOT 120

Lantley wrote:
Wow Frankenstein has really got everyone's attention. I agree an RV may not need a full 50 amp circuit but that is no reason to install/wire an incorrect 50 amp circuit. Should CG's employ this technique after all they could save a few pennies too.
The fact is this circuit will eventually be discovered by someone other than the OP. Hopefully they won't actually want to use it. In my job we come across this quirky stuff and it causes nothing but problems vs. just doing it right in the first place.
The wheel has already been invented there is no need to re wire it other than to cause issues. There is no savings only heartache for the person that eventually discovers the misgivings of this circuit.
Why stop with this RV circuit why not wire underfed circuits wherever possible if a penny can be saved. Maybe we can get the penny saved rule into the code books. By the way you could possibly save a nickle if you used two 20 amp breakers instead of two 30's.
I should not complain at some point this creates job security, additional work will eventually be required as a result of this savings.
False economy always cost more in the end.
Many think this is OK because it serves the OP's purposes right now. But unless the OP eliminates the circuit when he is done with it someone else is going to come across this abnormal wiring and pay the price in some form.
Why not just do it right? Because of cost? Because the OP simply doesn't want to? You guys are correct I don't get it?
The real reason I don't get it is because there is no savings in doing it wrong So why not do it right? I imagine someone is going to have to make this right one day. May not be the OP but someone will eventually pay to make it right. Hopefully nothing is damaged in the process.
False economy is alive and well.
I'm done. Going to hang out with Dracula and the Wolf Man maybe they can enlighten me to the true merits of Frankensteining a few circuits.

FWIW ..I agree...

Lantley wrote:
The savings does not justify creating a phoney 50 amp circuit.
In the end there is no such thing as a 30/30 or 60 amp RV circuit. What is the proper terminology to describe this circuit?

It is a 30 amp 120v/240v circuit.

Lantley wrote:
Many think this is OK because it serves the OP's purposes right now. But unless the OP eliminates the circuit when he is done with it someone else is going to come across this abnormal wiring and pay the price in some form.

Actually, you make a point here that you didn't intend to make. The problem is the fault of the original builder of the home. If he had installed an RV circuit to that location while he was installing all of the home's other wiring, he would have saved the current owner all the time/trouble/expense of having to retrofit the house now. He caused someone else a lot of trouble by not doing it right at first.

Wow Frankenstein has really got everyone's attention. I agree an RV may not need a full 50 amp circuit but that is no reason to install/wire an incorrect 50 amp circuit. Should CG's employ this technique after all they could save a few pennies too.
The fact is this circuit will eventually be discovered by someone other than the OP. Hopefully they won't actually want to use it. In my job we come across this quirky stuff and it causes nothing but problems vs. just doing it right in the first place.
The wheel has already been invented there is no need to re wire it other than to cause issues. There is no savings only heartache for the person that eventually discovers the misgivings of this circuit.
Why stop with this RV circuit why not wire underfed circuits wherever possible if a penny can be saved. Maybe we can get the penny saved rule into the code books. By the way you could possibly save a nickle if you used two 20 amp breakers instead of two 30's.
I should not complain at some point this creates job security, additional work will eventually be required as a result of this savings.
False economy always cost more in the end.
Many think this is OK because it serves the OP's purposes right now. But unless the OP eliminates the circuit when he is done with it someone else is going to come across this abnormal wiring and pay the price in some form.
Why not just do it right? Because of cost? Because the OP simply doesn't want to? You guys are correct I don't get it?
The real reason I don't get it is because there is no savings in doing it wrong So why not do it right? I imagine someone is going to have to make this right one day. May not be the OP but someone will eventually pay to make it right. Hopefully nothing is damaged in the process.
False economy is alive and well.
I'm done. Going to hang out with Dracula and the Wolf Man maybe they can enlighten me to the true merits of Frankensteining a few circuits.

Leaving all they Frankenstein references and cost savings of one wire size over another I think it makes sense to install what you want/need. For our trailer at home I ran 12/3 from a 20A breaker in our home panel to a 30A RV outlet alongside our house. That 20A runs everything I would need while the trailer is there. Likewise because of cost and convenience (mainly due to the unweildly size of 50A cords) I installed a second completely separate 30A circuit in our trailer and make a 50A to dual 30A dogbone so now my trailer has basically a 60A service. Doing it that way vs. actually converting the trailer to a normal 50A service left all the original wiring in the trailer there and simply added the additional wiring and outlets along with a 30A service panel for the second 30A service. Doing this also allowed me to use my original 30A detachable cordset and the regular 30A extension cord to feed the 30A lines into the trailer so I didn't have to buy any extra or new cordsets.

Larry

Lantley wrote:
I'm not sure what playing the Frankenstein card means, But my point in calling the circuit a Frankenstein circuit is to point out that it is abnormal.
The savings does not justify creating a phoney 50 amp circuit.
In the end there is no such thing as a 30/30 or 60 amp RV circuit. What is the proper terminology to describe this circuit? Why reinvent the wheel to save 10%?
Sorry I'm stuck on doing it right vs.cheaply,abnormally or something other than what is considered standard in the RV industry.

The issue is that you are stuck on it and making it out to be some sort of crime against logic and humanity.

Saying that there's relatively little savings is valid.

But your other comments are just a bunch of "because that's what we call it" and does not address how much current the OP actually needs.