Running a 30 amp rv plug for the house?

Trackrig wrote:
When I put mine in, I put in a standard RV park box with a 50A, 30A and two 20A outlets - but it wasn't on the front of the house. Also ran heavier wire at very minimal cost so both the 50A and 30A could be used at the same time. Guests do drop in.......

Bill

This is what I did, only I stayed with 6g wire (I really didn't want to fool with 3g wire). We are limited to 50 amps total (on each leg). That is the size of the breaker in the house breaker panel.

So you put the plug under the eve, and then you plug in. Now you have a black electric cord hanging down from the eve to the ground, which is MORE noticeable and more ugly than just putting a box low on the wall.

If you do it right, it will not look out of place on the wall of the house. We have 2 - 30 amp RV hook ups at our house. I ran the wiring and had an electioneer hook up the final connection on the first one, which is beside the garage, between the small door and the front. The plug under the window was my first attempt at putting a 20 amp outside plug, which we used for a couple years for the camper. But then decided to do it right so we could run the air conditioner all the time.



Fast forward about 4 years later and we decided to park the trailer on the other side of the drive way. But that meant driving over the cord all the time. So I installed a second RV box which is attached to our power station which splits the lines between the house and the garage. The new 30 amp is actually a 3rd leg coming off, all by itself. You don't even notice it there. I also added a 20 amp plug. This original line ran to a basket ball goal flood light, that we took down. I used the same wire from the box and just ran a new plug right there. You don't even notice it either, unless something is plugged into it:









Here's a photo showing both of them:



My suggestion, put it on the side of the house. Under the eve, you've got to climb up on a ladder to get to it, and you'll see the wire hanging down all the time when you plug in. I wouldn't do it that way.

DutchmenSport wrote:
We have 2 - 30 amp RV hook ups at our house. I ran the wiring and had an electioneer hook up the final connection on the first one ...

Interesting approach. :W I would have either wired it myself or had a qualified electrician who knew what he was doing wire the installation. :p

SoundGuy wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
We have 2 - 30 amp RV hook ups at our house. I ran the wiring and had an electioneer hook up the final connection on the first one ...

Interesting approach. :W I would have either wired it myself or had a qualified electrician who knew what he was doing wire the installation. :p

:S

I just had the guy install a regular 30A box on the side of the house. It's fairly small, so looks should not be a concern. It sure is nice to be able to run the AC if I'm working inside or just to pre-chill the fridge before a trip.

rockhillmanor wrote:
You stated that you only want to plug in at home to unload and load up the RV? You do NOT have to hand make an extension cord plug set up.

All you need to do is buy a 30 amp to 15 amp adapter plug.

Plug it into your RV power cord and than into the extension cord.

And then just plug extension cord into any outlet on the outside of your house and/or garage. That will run your a/c while you are unloading.

I had my MH hooked up that way for years when it was parked at home.
And used it many times at CG's! :C

Maybe it will work and maybe it won't. Personally, I wouldn't run an air conditioner off a 15A circuit. At my house, it doesn't work. We stayed at a fairgrounds once and ran air all day off a 20A. Not worth the risk of damage to me.

DinTulsa wrote:
It's a little more complicated for sure. I'll probably just run a regular rv drop.

I'm going to need a 50ft extension cord to reach the outlet either way. I have to park the rv in the street and my 50 amp cord is short.

You would be running the cord on public property out to the street? I would doubt that is legal and could be a big liability issue.

Voltage drop is a major consideration for longer runs. Running an AC unit would be the biggest concern because if the voltage gets too low you will cause damage to it. Do you have one or two ACs? For just one typical AC unit, you a min. of #10 wire for over 50' and depending on how long the overall run is all the way back to the panel, you may need #8 or #6 ga. wire (or even larger in some cases). Going to a larger wire size can add a lot of expense depending on how long the wire run is. Just because an AC unit(s) *seems* to start and run okay doesn't mean you don't have low voltage that is causing damage every time you run it.

Also, the voltage at the house panel matters and should normally be close to 120 volts but can be less sometimes such as in the summer with you and the neighbors all running AC units in their homes. An electrician can calculate the voltage drop for you.

You want a straight-blade plug on the end of the shore power/extension cord not a twist-lock. You should always turn the power off before plugging in. Easy at a CG pedestal but at home a disconnect device at the receptacle is a good idea. A "motor-rated" toggle switch works well and can be mounted in a standard outlet box along with a weatherproof cover. (That's what I did at home.) Get a permanent LED voltmeter for inside your camper, either a plug-in or wall-mount type to monitor voltage. If you don't have one, get an EMS unit to cut power off automatically for low voltage (and other conditions).

Please don't come back one day to report that your RV got fried because it got wired wrong at 240 volts. Don't blindly trust an electrician to get it right - as mentioned, check with a voltmeter first.

The startup of the AC is the issue, and if it decides to re-start at high head pressure then it can be a fatal flaw both to the A/C and to under-size feeder circuit. Fatal means burnout or in the case of the cord or connector, fire.

AC voltage is one area where I demand an analog (scale with needle) meter. Means I can see oscillations and fast droop that can outpace any digital meter's ability to display updated values.