Wire for 50A 220V Service - 110' run

I know, a wannabee's opininn don't mean squat, but I know what works !!
Most of the outside of my place, "I" wired w/ aluminum, including my whole shop and RV port.
I used the correct anti cor paste on all the aluminum connections, which was not even mentioned here, and I used next larger wire size so the connection don't expand and get loose. Its all 8 yrs old, and I did retighten most connections after 3-4 yrs, which did loosen a touch, but do the same thing on copper, they will tighten also.
My main service coming into my house looks to be all aluminum, done by professionals. I did have a connection in the main box fail, but the allen screw had never been tightened,.....believe it or not.

Thanks for all the replies. I am now convinced that I am going to use only candles for everything in the barn. ;-)

GM

wnjj wrote:

SolidAxleDurango wrote:

LittleBill wrote:

PaulJ2 wrote:

SolidAxleDurango wrote:

hughesjm21 wrote:
I hope you are not thinking that you need 220v for an rv. They use 120 v , 50a.

Please refrain from offering electrical advice.

Well--yes and no. 50 amp rv service is two lines of 120V each, 180 degrees out of phase with each other. 220V across them, however the rv's use each line of 120V separately for about half the things inside the rv.
Only things that might use 220V would be a clothes dryer, water heater, or electric furnace. My experience.

well i guess my house is 400 amp 120v?????


this is stupid if the circuit can provide 220-240. its a 220-240 circuit. rv 50amp is 50a/240v. no matter how you look at. regardless of what is used in reality on the circuit

^ this is the correct answer.

By NEC definition, RV 50 amp is a 120/240 60 hz 50 ampere supply. It doesn't matter what is used or wired within the RV, the supply is what it is.

I wish there was a competency test for posting answers to questions of certain subject matter.

The answer you quoted as "correct" and your NEC definition above don't even match. A 240V circuit is 240V but a "240V" circuit doesn't need a neutral. When you include the neutral, it is now a 120/240V supply.

Overactive boldification.

Can't we all just get along?
bumpy

SolidAxleDurango wrote:

LittleBill wrote:

PaulJ2 wrote:

SolidAxleDurango wrote:

hughesjm21 wrote:
I hope you are not thinking that you need 220v for an rv. They use 120 v , 50a.

Please refrain from offering electrical advice.

Well--yes and no. 50 amp rv service is two lines of 120V each, 180 degrees out of phase with each other. 220V across them, however the rv's use each line of 120V separately for about half the things inside the rv.
Only things that might use 220V would be a clothes dryer, water heater, or electric furnace. My experience.

well i guess my house is 400 amp 120v?????


this is stupid if the circuit can provide 220-240. its a 220-240 circuit. rv 50amp is 50a/240v. no matter how you look at. regardless of what is used in reality on the circuit

^ this is the correct answer.

By NEC definition, RV 50 amp is a 120/240 60 hz 50 ampere supply. It doesn't matter what is used or wired within the RV, the supply is what it is.

I wish there was a competency test for posting answers to questions of certain subject matter.

The answer you quoted as "correct" and your NEC definition above don't even match. A 240V circuit is 240V but a "240V" circuit doesn't need a neutral. When you include the neutral, it is now a 120/240V supply.

LittleBill wrote:

PaulJ2 wrote:

SolidAxleDurango wrote:

hughesjm21 wrote:
I hope you are not thinking that you need 220v for an rv. They use 120 v , 50a.

Please refrain from offering electrical advice.

Well--yes and no. 50 amp rv service is two lines of 120V each, 180 degrees out of phase with each other. 220V across them, however the rv's use each line of 120V separately for about half the things inside the rv.
Only things that might use 220V would be a clothes dryer, water heater, or electric furnace. My experience.

well i guess my house is 400 amp 120v?????


this is stupid if the circuit can provide 220-240. its a 220-240 circuit. rv 50amp is 50a/240v. no matter how you look at. regardless of what is used in reality on the circuit

^ this is the correct answer.

By NEC definition, RV 50 amp is a 120/240 60 hz 50 ampere supply. It doesn't matter what is used or wired within the RV, the supply is what it is.

I wish there was a competency test for posting answers to questions of certain subject matter.

My apologies to smkettner, I missed the part where the existing feed was 4-wire, and I thought you were suggesting re-purposing a hot-neutral-ground to a hot-hot-ground. I missed that in OP's subsequent post and misunderstood what you were saying.

In that case, that wire is probably feeding a subpanel in the barn, so while OP could easily grab 2 30-amp circuits, also need to ask what else he powers out in the barn besides the RV.

FWIW, with a length of 120', 240' there and back, using copper wire at a current of 50A, #6 AWG will have a voltage drop of 9.48v and #4 5.96v, so your 120v would be 110.52v and 114.04v at the RV.

john&bet wrote:

westend wrote:

john&bet wrote:
Well, just do as you want as you are on the hook if it is wrong as no one here has given you a clear concise engineered answer as to why it is very wrong or very right to do. I bet 99% of those who answered to not use AL do not know what is feeding thier house thru underground service. Just my opinion is that most of the answers make me sick. JMHO.

Well that's pretty gol durn judgemental, a few guys have shared their opinions on it and the reasons why. Besides the connectivity/splicing issues, #6 AWG UF/TW aluminum is not rated for 50 amp service.

Call it what you want. The truth may hurt. I wire my stuff according to the rules and have been for over 50 years. I don't ask here how to do it, to many wrong opinions. JMHO.

So why not recommend something positive and helpful to the OP or just let it go.

LittleBill wrote:

westend wrote:

john&bet wrote:
Well, just do as you want as you are on the hook if it is wrong as no one here has given you a clear concise engineered answer as to why it is very wrong or very right to do. I bet 99% of those who answered to not use AL do not know what is feeding thier house thru underground service. Just my opinion is that most of the answers make me sick. JMHO.

Well that's pretty gol durn judgemental, a few guys have shared their opinions on it and the reasons why. Besides the connectivity/splicing issues, #6 AWG UF/TW aluminum is not rated for 50 amp service.

not really judgemental, just a true statement. you are right about the undersized wire for the AL.

that being said, every single service entrance wire both above ground and underground i have ever seen is AL for residential. so i don't understand the hatred either. its very rare to see people use copper over 6 guage in any long distance run. my dryer is on AL,with no issues.

when i went to a 100 amp subpanel, guess what i used. HD doesn't even sell copper for that size, at least not in ROMEX, i believe they had THHN

Thanks Littlebill, some jurisdictions will not allow AL use in a residence for branch circuits. You are lucky. My county will, but I will not use it. The county just north of will not allow it period for branch circuits. Just for argument I remember one job where we had to run a #2 THHN copper for a 30amp 3 phase 208vY circuit 350' just to keep voltage drop within limits. Have a good day SIR