50 amp pedastal/extension

[Grey_Mountain]

What size wire should be used for a 50amp RV plug? I have an ample supply of 4AWG, 6AWG and 10AWG but no 8AWG. Is the 4 and 6 overkill?
I will be visiting friends later and plan to park in their driveway. I want to intall a 50amp breaker in their main breaker box, run a short extension, maybe 10 feet, then hook to that.
Suggestions?

GM

[Bobbo]

map40 wrote:
I installed a 50 amp outlet with 30 amp wire and 30 amp breakers. I have 7 RVs, and none of the 50 amp units use more than 30 per leg, so this configuration worked great. Just keep in mind that the maximun output per leg will be only 30 amps, any more will trip the breakers.
For all the ones that tell me that what I did is wrong, here is a kicker; I normally end up plugging a 50 amp coach in each one of the legs of the 50 amp plug (with a 50 amp Y adapter), all AC units running (in Florida summer) and never tripped a breaker or heat up the cables,

I am not going to tell you that you are wrong. However, it seems silly to me to go to all of the trouble if burying cable and not going to that little bit of extra expense to go all the way to 50 amp wire. If the need for true 50 amp power ever arises, you will have to re-do it. I only needed a 30 amp feed at my house, but I still used 6/3 wG and installed a 50/30/20 pedestal off of a 50 amp breaker. No matter what the future brings, RV wise, I am ready without having to re-do that job. Of course, I have always had the idea that I don't want just enough for now, I want enough for future uses too.

[BFL13]

LarryJM wrote:

BFL13 wrote:
Be very careful to stick to 120v and not get mixed up with household 240v like with a stove or dryer. Get lots of sad reports of people hooking up "RV" plug-ins at stick houses that turn out to be 240 and they fry everything in their RVs.

ISTR the 30 amp cord in a 30a RV is made up of #10 wires, but no idea what a 50 amp cord has.

Your post is not only very misleading, but INCORRECT. This thread is about 50A service which is in fact exactly the same as a 240V home service like an electric range uses.

The real confusion comes from the 30A service where a typical 30A home is 240 whereas the 30A RV is 120.

Larry

I edited my posts. Hope I got rid of any wrong info.

[hypoxia]

I carry a 50 amp recepticle with a length of 3/6 & 1/8 with me and use it to connect to friends homes.

[wa8yxm]

Would the heavier wire be overkill? Well. depends on how long the run but When it comes to electriity.. OVERKILL is often a good thing.

When one of the wires underground in one campground I frequent fried.. The manager (in fact this happned in two campgrounds,, in one it was the MAIN power feed to teh park that fried)

The manager burried new cables.. I took a look at 'em and noticed the "Weight" very heavy copper to replace not a big aluminum (at the 2nd) I said "Don't want to have to dig 'em up again do you" and the manager said NO. Alas he had to on one. but that is a funny story.

(Hint: DO not drive REBAR down in the spot where the wire was clearly just buried)

The other park he used the same size but again copper replaced aluminum. and the undersize power transformer (power company's problem) promptly fried.

[map40]

I installed a 50 amp outlet with 30 amp wire and 30 amp breakers. I have 7 RVs, and none of the 50 amp units use more than 30 per leg, so this configuration worked great. Just keep in mind that the maximun output per leg will be only 30 amps, any more will trip the breakers.
For all the ones that tell me that what I did is wrong, here is a kicker; I normally end up plugging a 50 amp coach in each one of the legs of the 50 amp plug (with a 50 amp Y adapter), all AC units running (in Florida summer) and never tripped a breaker or heat up the cables,

[joebedford]

How big wire will a 50A breaker accept?

[LarryJM]

BFL13 wrote:
Be very careful to stick to 120v and not get mixed up with household 240v like with a stove or dryer. Get lots of sad reports of people hooking up "RV" plug-ins at stick houses that turn out to be 240 and they fry everything in their RVs.

ISTR the 30 amp cord in a 30a RV is made up of #10 wires, but no idea what a 50 amp cord has.

Your post is not only very misleading, but INCORRECT. This thread is about 50A service which is in fact exactly the same as a 240V home service like an electric range uses.

The real confusion comes from the 30A service where a typical 30A home is 240 whereas the 30A RV is 120.

Larry

[MrWizard]

i wired many "electric range" plugs, and they were #6 wire

lots fun drilling holes and pulling #6 metallic flex cable, and wiring up range receptacles

[sayoung]

I like a little overkill. On mine, I have 11ft total of conduit from panel to my pedestal. I used #6 on hots & neutral & #8 for gnd. That short a run not that much cost difference IMHO.
That global warming thing might require 2 ac's running 24/7 🙂

[Bobbo]

The rule of thumb is 6g wire (L1, L2, NEUTRAL) with 10g GROUND for 50 amp runs of moderate length. If going far, upgrade wire to 4g (can stay with 10g GROUND). The NEUTRAL needs to be the same size as the two hot wires because if only one hot wire is pulling current, all of the current is returning on the NEUTRAL.

[Grey_Mountain]

Artum Snowbird wrote:
Of course much of this depends on what you plan to use while visiting those friends. The idea that you would need a full 50 amp circuit while you stay is excessive, but if you need to have two air conditioners running and more at the same time, well you might need it.

And Hi from Campbell River. Will you be taking the country by force again this year?

Yep. Surprise daybreak raid will occur about 2pm on Wednesday, May 30th. Plundering and pillaging will continue apace until Saturday, July 14th or all the wagons are burned, whichever comes first. OUr secret location at Salmon Point is site 129 on the waterfront. Stop by.

[Grey_Mountain]

I am well aware of the dangers involved when working with electricity, and I take all necessary precautions. The residence is on the Olymic Peninsula in Bremerton and it will be in late May. Probably won't need both ACs; however, it will be just as easy to wire 50amp as 30. Just double checking on wire size. I'll check the references provided here. Not looking to have curly hair.

GM

[BFL13]

Lots of info on- line but confusing. It seems that dryers now are supposed to be 24a but used to be 28a depending on model, so 30a breakers would pop or cause fires, so they allowed (sort of) 40a breakers but still good at #10, so it depends on how old your house is and what dryer you have for the breaker but it is still #10 per code.

Meanwhile, stoves now need #6 al or #8 cu, but have various breaker sizes 40 or 50 "depending"( on what?) --but in our older house, eg, the stove is on a double 15 same as the dryer, WH, and the electric baseboard heaters, and AFAIK uses #10 wire. Whatever. 🙂 It is the oven that is the big draw not the stove top (range) AFAIK.

Anyway, not my problem. Let the electricians sort out which will go to heaven. 🙂

The OP still needs to be careful getting in amongst the household wiring of whatever age the house is and whatever wiring it has, so he does not fry his RV.

[Old-Biscuit]

Hard to mess up a 50A circuit...........unlike a 30A which CAN be mis-wired


#8 is minimum size wire for ANY 50A service