Underground 250ft run
I need to put a 30 amp 125 volt outlet 250 feet away from main panel I need to know what size wires to get or romex and material needed, outlet is going to be for travel trailer and will be occupied.
Forum Discussion
rk911 wrote:rhagfo wrote:valhalla360 wrote:
Consider running it in a PVC conduit so you can easily run new or different cables in the future
This^^^^
Make sure the conduit is large enough to carry wires large enough for a 50 amp service.
We did the same thing in the late 80's. We installed a PVC pipe larger than needed for a 30-amp hookup (I tend to think ahead. Not clairvoyant so had no idea that a 50-amp hookup would be coming down the pipe but I used a larger PVC than was needed just in case I might need the room...someday)
Years later we had a 50-amp RV so I wanted to add or change the 30-amp post to 50-amps. But I neglected to account for the weight of the gravel driveway. The pipe had collapsed under the weight and while the 30-amp hookup was working there was no way to add any wire to it. So we had to run a new pipe for the 50-amp hookup and now have two hookup posts next to the drive.
The moral of the story: Run whatever cables you think you need now, tomorrow and in a few years. If I was doing this today I'd do a uo-to-date RV post....15/20 amps, 30-amps and 50-amps.
The bulk of cost/effort is in digging the trench. Very little extra to put it in a conduit.
Of course, this assumes you put it deep enough. 4-6inches below a gravel surface is likely to fail if you are driving heavy trucks over the top. I do a lot of this for work and the failures are usually when the contractor skimped on depth.
