Melting extension cord
I will be taking our first big trip soon and we will need the air conditioner. We usually boondock and never use the AC. I have only used it at home a couple of times and when I did the extension cord...
Forum Discussion
MrWizard wrote:
The A/C by itself did not melt your cord
To use local 20 amp power from a duplex outlet at a residence
You 'MUST' put the fridge on LP and the water heater on LP not automatic not electric
Then use only (1) appliance at a time
MW , coffee maker, hair dryer, air conditioning, vacuum cleaner,
Do not use any of these 'two at the same time'
It's power management, you can't run the whole RV from one duplex outlet
But In most cases
you can run Individual items, one at a time..
Get quality 12ga or better yet 10 GA cords
You can't do this with 75 ft Chinese 14 ga cord
Not enough wire to carry more than 10 amps without heating up
Don't leave you RV shore cord curled up in the RV compartment
Stretch it out as far as it will go, use only as much extension cord as is absolutely needed
Get several 25 ft cords, not one 75 ft cord, use only what is needed
Better yet buy RV extension cords, and string them together
Yes they are heavier, yes they cost more$$ , but they are not going to get as hot, and the voltage in the RV will be higher, a lot better for the A/C unit and everything else
Great advice! I was using a 12 gauge cord from the RV to the house. I just took the whole cord out from the compartment and have about 25'. I would like to get another 75 feet, but 3 RV 25' cords are pretty expensive. What should I do here? Just bite the bullet and order them or can I get away with a 50' and a 25' cord to get to 75'? Or, do I really need that much length? Looking for advice on how people usually plug into a home on a trip??? I will make sure we only run one thing at a time when plugged in from now on but need to figure out how to plug into a house while we are on the road. Thanks!!!
