Generator Question 30Amp to 20Amp issue?

Leeblev wrote:
See my post to 30 amp to 50 amp conversion. You do need 30 amps to run the AC and any other appliance.

Leeblev? Are you absolutly positive? I have repaired air conditioners for 30 years. I lived for 4 years on a ranch, parked 300' from the main electric meter, on a 20 amp circuit breaker, and ran my air conditioner on many 95F days, some reaching well over 100F.

While I did not run the A/C on less than 105 volts, it did run for 4 YEARS on a 20 amp circuit breaker. . .

To the OP, Yes it is better to use the 30 amp receptacle, as it has more brass in the contacts, and will conduct whatever power goes from the generator to the RV with the largest possible cord and contacts within the plug and receptacle.

Don't worry about the generator only putting out 20 amps maximum or whatever it can put out. If the generator is not rated for a 4,000 watt surge and 3,000 watts for more than 20 minutes, and more than 2,500 watts all day long, then the generator is to small to start and run a rooftop air conditioner.

If you are planning on using the 15 amp circuit breaker, then that is only 1,800 watt limit, and in theory, NEC says that we should only load a 15 amp rated circuit with a maximum of 80% of it's 15 amp rating or about 12 amps.

So better to use the 30 amp receptacle and plug. You can buy adapters from the 30 amp twist lock to 30 amp RV receptacle. Or you can build one of your own, like I did. CampingWorld.com sells a 30 amp RV receptacle with a 12" molded cord on it. To this, I installed a 30 amp 120/240 volt twistlock cord plug, so I could plug it into a 4,000 watt contractor generator that came with the class C motorhome that I used to have. It was loud, but because I had a solar system, I did not need to run it often.

Fred.