Hookups at home

Sounds like you need 30 amps to run your AC which is most likely what you want to do. If not interested in running the AC, then you can get an adapter for your power cord and plug into the wall outlet. A licensed electrician can come out for a free estimate and tell you if you need a permit - as it is their job to know.

Look for a clean-out access cap around the perimeter of your house. Mine is in front behind hedges. I simply use my waste water tote to haul waste water to it. If you can't find it, then call a plumber - same thing as the electrician regarding legality/permitting. No one can really say how much this will cost or advise you on regulations in your area unless they actually live there.

Hook up a water hose from the outside faucet if you want to use the water or hook it up to your fresh water tank inlet. Neither is right or wrong, or makes less sense than the other

Get as fancy as you want or just keep it simple - it's what you fell comfortable with or can afford to do.

Geez, Sound Guy, that all looks way more complicated than I would have thought. Assuming I buy a used camper and expect to use all the options, including A/C, how much power will I need? In the past, with our motorhome, I plugged into 30 amp service at campgrounds and that seemed to be sufficient. Do I need that much at home, given the above?

I have a concrete pad, water, sewer, and 30A pedestal fed through a dedicated electric meter. Prior to doing this work, I had to get a permit from the city and declare that it was for personal use and not as a rental.

This is great when I do maintenance, and in the summer it's a great place to cool off and have a cold one when I've been out doing yard work.

I can connect water, sewer to a cleanout, and a 20 amp outlet. No 30 amp service.

mountainrivers wrote:
Thanks! I usually go with the old saying that it's easier to do something and ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission.

Easy to say but it sure would be silly to waste the $$$ for a full electric, water, and sewer hookup at your home only to discover later that you're in violation of local bylaws. :S No one here on what is an international forum would have any idea or being able to advise you in any way as to whether bylaws in your local community would impact your plans or how strictly these bylaws may be enforced. If you want to do this it would make far more sense to put your $$ into a solution that if found to be in violation can still be used for other purposes.

I doubt any municipality would care about electric service to your RV as long as the installation meets code but I sure wouldn't go to the expense when I can simply dogbone my rig's main service cable and plug into a standard 15 amp drop in the garage which is just steps away. Since 20 amp service is much more common in the US than here in Canada there's no reason you couldn't simply use that and be even that much better off ... after all, there'll be times when you may have to use 20 amp service anyway when camping in a case where 30 or 50 amp service isn't available. Obviously in either case you'd have to manage your power use but is that really so difficult, especially when you're only using the rig to accommodate the occasional guest?

As for fresh water your rig is equipped with a fresh water holding tank for a reason ... so there's no "reason" to not also use it for it's intended purpose when the rig is parked at your home.

Many homes in the US are apparently built with an owner accessible sewer clean out somewhere on the property ... not so here in Canada so I instead T'd into house sewer stack (which in my case happened to be in the laundry room) and ran an ABS input line to the outside of the house where I installed an input ABS stack. I normally leave it capped but when I want to service my trailer's grey & black holding tanks I simply bayonet a FloJet Waste Macerator Pump on to the trailer's sewer outlet, connect a 50' 3/4" hose to the pump output, stick the far end of the hose into the house sewer intake stack, and let 'er rip. It's temporary, takes but minutes, doesn't affect the neighbours in any way, and isn't in violation of any local bylaws. The bonus - I never line up at a campground dump station as I always service my tanks at home using the macerator but because I carry at set of grey/black portable containers in the truck when camping and store the macerator in the trailer I always have the means to off load grey or black anytime, anywhere we may be camping without having to fool with a stinky slinky, heavy tote tank, or even move the trailer itself to the dump station as some apparently do. Pics start here for anyone interested.

Obviously you can choose whatever solution you think best but it's nevertheless true that the K.I.S.S. method is often the simplest and most cost effective solution. ;)

In my case I can get to my washer waste water dump rather easy in the garage. When I use my FLOJET 18555 Waste Water Pump kit (AMAZON) I just run a 3/4-inch water hose and stick it down the washer discharge pipe...

My back yard water hose is long enough to reach the trailers just fine... We have never use our fresh water tanks for drinking or cooking so no need to get special water hose etc... Of course hooking up the water hose and using the water inside the trailer starts filling up your waste water tanks and you eventually will have to deal with that...

My trailers are parked next to a woods area which are on my property and I may have let some gray water drain into the woods a few times hehe... I never see water pool up in the woods. Goes into the ground right away...

I have seen folks that live around me use their washing machine to water their bushes so things are very lax around here I reckon haha...

I guess putting in a permanent line to septic system would have to get approval. They are installed based on the number of bedrooms your house has I think...

Our local rules here is no one can permanently live in a motorhome except at designated trailer courts/camp ground setups. The county does allow parking the RV's at your property however.

I would imagine hooking up permanent water and sewer would qualify this as a permanent trailer house which is not allowed here except in Trailer courts or camp grounds...???

When in doubt go talk with the county folks before investing alot of monies...

This is a good reason for me to have the water hose and portable Macerator setup haha...

We also invite the neighbors over alot around our outside patio hehe... We are really liked when the local power goes out for a week... Patio TV cookout party every evening...

Always have a good PLAN B...
Roy Ken

mountainrivers wrote:
Thanks! I usually go with the old saying that it's easier to do something and ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission.

Depends on your location. I've seen some locations where they make you remove the improvement and return things to where they before. You then have to get the permits and reinstall the improvement. You then have to pay a hefty fine too. Forgiveness can get expensive.

Thanks! I usually go with the old saying that it's easier to do something and ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission.

I had regular 30 amp outdoor outlets on the side of my house. I swapped them out for a 30 amp TT connector. The water faucet is right next to it. Cable/Satellite comes from the connector in the garage or one right outside of the garage. Tanks get dumped in the sewer cleanout as needed. Sometimes it's easier to put a guest in the trailer than shuffling everyone in the house.

If you don't already have one, a cleanout is pretty easy to put in. You just need a cleanout tee, a section of pipe, a cleanout adapter with a cap for the top. Dig down to the sewer pipe, cut out a section for the tee, and join it to the main line. Then attach your section of pipe to that as a riser then the adapter and the cap on top of that. Glue all your fittings and you're done.

While it's true that dumping your tanks into the cleanout may be illegal in some parts of the country, that definitely doesn't apply everywhere. In most areas, using the cleanout on your property for occasionally dumping of RV tanks is perfectly legal. Having a permanently or semi-permanently affixed dump using the cleanout is usually not. Check with your local municipality.

Thanks to everyone who has commented on my post and to any who might. For those who have done this and not done it themselves, what is the approximate cost to install a sewer line clean out and a 50 amp service?