30 amp service pedestal

[vcbutton]

I would like to install a 30 amp pedestal to keep my rig plugged in at home. This made me curious about what the difference might be between 20 and 30 amps besides wire gage and the three pronged plug. It's just a normal 110 V hook up, right?

[Mich_F]

Kit Carson wrote:
Yessir, this happened to me. The electrician installed a breaker in the box, run the wire, wired up the plug in the box on the pedestal. Then, plugged the RV cord into the 30 amp plug and heard a terrible noise. He wired 220V to the plug. Fried a television and an inverter. Lucky that was all the damage. His response "man, I thought by the looks of the plug it was 220V".

I wouldn't consider that guy an electrician. :E

I thought by the looks of the plug it was 220V".

:S

[Dakzuki]

vcbutton wrote:
I would like to install a 30 amp pedestal to keep my rig plugged in at home. This made me curious about what the difference might be between 20 and 30 amps besides wire gage and the three pronged plug. It's just a normal 110 V hook up, right?

You might want to determine whether you really need 30 amps. I have run my AC on a 20 amp outlet without problems when visiting family in warm climates. A 20 amp outlet can have a conventional 15 amp style socket.

[Johno02]

When I installed an outlet for our Motor Home parking, even though it is set up for a 50A service, I went with a 30A service and outlet, and use an adapter. This was because with the distance I had to run, and the cost of wire for 50A as opposed to the cost for 30A. As we do not need 50A when parked at home, the 30A service was less that half the cost of what a 50A would have been. Abou all we need is just to keep the batteries charged, and the TV sometimes. If necessary, I can run one of the ACs on 30A just fine. An, like it said, it cost half as much. And no worry about it being wired wrong.

[time2roll]

vcbutton wrote:
I would like to install a 30 amp pedestal to keep my rig plugged in at home. This made me curious about what the difference might be between 20 and 30 amps besides wire gage and the three pronged plug. It's just a normal 110 V hook up, right?

You have it covered. Larger wire, larger outlet, single 30a breaker, 120 volts.

[Kit_Carson]

tenbear wrote:
If you have an electrician install the 30 Amp outlet make sure he understands it is 120v. There have been many stories on the forum of electricians thinking the socket is a 240v socket and the resulting damage to the camper.

Yessir, this happened to me. The electrician installed a breaker in the box, run the wire, wired up the plug in the box on the pedestal. Then, plugged the RV cord into the 30 amp plug and heard a terrible noise. He wired 220V to the plug. Fried a television and an inverter. Lucky that was all the damage. His response "man, I thought by the looks of the plug it was 220V".

[wolfe10]

Make it simple:

30 amp RV=

ONE hot
one neutral
one ground

[tenbear]

If you have an electrician install the 30 Amp outlet make sure he understands it is 120v. There have been many stories on the forum of electricians thinking the socket is a 240v socket and the resulting damage to the camper.

[gbopp]

There are several sites explaining How to Install a 30 AMP Outlet..

[RoyB]

here is nifty wiring diagram showing the 50AMP and 30AMP RV wiring for a typical camp ground pedestal...





This is also a useful chart showing how to properly read the 50AMP and 30A/20A/15A RV receptacles using a multimeter

50AMP


30A/20A/15A


Roy Ken

[ronfisherman]

You are correct on it being 110 volts AC. I purchased RV outlet box off EBAY for my 50/30/20 amp hookup. It has a circuit breaker for each receptacle.