Tab extension cord & step down from 30Amp to House questions

DigitalSorceress

I would recommend just getting a 30 amp dedicated RV outlet installed at your house...

So long as your breaker box has sufficient capacity and if you're lucky enough that the box is really close to where the outlet needs to go, this could be quite reasonably priced to have an electrician do.


That being said, I've done quite a bit of "driveway camping" .. stayed at a friends house where they have no dedicated RV plugs..

What I do is try and reach a 20A 110v outlet with my T@Bs cable and/or with it and a 25' extension 30A cable and my Surge suppressor and 110v dogbone.

If that is not enough, I have a heavy duty outdoor 110v (20A) extension cord I will plug into that end to get it to the house. If I am running on that setup I try to find a 20a outlet to use instead of a 15.. and I avoid running the Alde from electricity (use propane if I have to use the Alde at all).. will use the A/C sparingly, and will check the temperature of the outlet/extension cord to ensure I'm not overloading it.

WilliamA

"I would recommend just getting a 30 amp dedicated RV outlet installed at your house... 

So long as your breaker box has sufficient capacity and if you're lucky enough that the box is really close to where the outlet needs to go, this could be quite reasonably priced to have an electrician do.


That being said, I've done quite a bit of "driveway camping" .. stayed at a friends house where they have no dedicated RV plugs.. "

Most electrical system (household, that is) happen not in the wire but in the plug. Overload from amperage draw can destroy a receptacle in seconds. A/C overloading happens in the first few seconds of engagement. 

WilliamA 

Sharon_is_SAM

Thanks for clarifying that Scott.  That is why I deleted my lame brain comment!

ScottG

This does raise an interesting point that is specific to RVs...

Appliances or devices with a standard 15A plug will not draw more than 15A when operating.

However, your T@B is actually a 30A rated device, and it could draw close to that if all the electric are turned on at the same time. Therefore, the typical 15-30A adapters could allow you to draw more power through a single outlet than that single outlet is rated for. In practice, the receptacle--even one technically rated at 15A--has a safety margin that will allow a bit of increased current without issue. Push that too far and you will likely trip the 15 or 20A house breaker, anyway.

Ultimately, I agree with @WilliamA that if you know the components of your circuit and you keep your power demands within them, you will not have an issue.

However, if you are a belt-and-suspenders type, are unsure of your own house wiring, or are not interested in electrical calculations (and that's all perfectly fine), then I yield the point that having a qualified electrician properly install a dedicated 120V/30A RV receptacle is the safest, most fool-proof approach.

As I've said before, residential wiring is not particularly difficult, but there are a lot of not-necessarily-obvious details that cannot be ignored if you don't want to burn your house down or electrocute yourself!  

ScottG

Sharon_is_SAM said:

Thanks for clarifying that Scott.  That is why I deleted my lame brain comment!

I knew what you meant, but the devil is in the details when it comes to electrical wiring.

I hope we haven't completely scared off the OP. If there is anything I love rambling on about more than plumbing, it's wiring!  :-)

davel4wa

To clarify my use of an electric dryer receptacle for my RV power, the receptacle in question was a 4 pole connector. There are also 3 pole dryer receptacles and you may find them in older homes. Electrical code in most, if not all, areas in the U.S. require the 4 pole receptacle in new construction. This connector has a neutral and a ground connection in addition to the 120V 2 phase power. You would not be able to do what I did if the receptacle is of the 3 pole variety. A neutral connection is required to achieve a single phase 120V circuit.

Fergie

This past winter I added a 30amp RV outlet to the side of the house we bought last year after moving to Alaska. While not a licensed electrician, I have done a lot of wiring projects in the past and try to stay up-to-date on local and state codes.

However, if the project involves hooking anything up to a distribution or breaker panel, I always engage a licensed electrician as I did in this case. As some have said here already, making mistakes with electrical wiring can be dangerous and can put you at risk for starting fires, not to mention shocks. In addition the Marine/RV standards and wiring practices are different from those used in your house and you have to know what those are.

 If you have any doubts, please engage a professional! Many will let you do the routing and the "grunt" work, and just charge you for the hook up and setting up the inspection if required in your town.

Fergie

northwestinatab

thanks again everyone!  so glad i had this forum, and all of you for guidance!

klenger

If you do have a 40 amp RV receptacle installed at your house, by yourself, a friend, or most importantly a professional electrician, verify that the outlet is supplying 120 VAC and NOT 240 VAC before you plug into it.  Many people, including professional electricians (unfortunately), see the odd 30 amp RV outlet and assume it is supposed to be wired to 240 VAC.  

Fergie

Klenger:

You are right on! Show your electrical professional the attached to make sure this doesn't happen:

Fergie

ScottG

Oh come on, I can't understand why anybody would be confused by a three-prong 30A receptacle.  :-)

Despite appearances, the bottom two are in fact not the same--one is intended for 125V, the other for 250V.

Though you'll need to get your cheaters out to read it, the intended application is molded into the fine print on the face of each outlet. While this information can guide the installer to the proper wiring configuration, it more importantly tells any future user what to expect when they plug in. This is a good argument for not altering electrical connections, even if it works properly and you know what you did.

An electrical professional who overlooked this detail would very likely be sans license very quickly. I'd like to think that wouldn't happen, but I know better. I'll post Fergie's instruction sheet in the Resources library.

DigitalSorceress

 The first one  - top left should be correct for 10V 30A service for an RV

ScottG

DigitalSorceress said:

 The first one  - top left should be correct for 10V 30A service for an RV

Yes. And that is often (though not always) stated specifically on the outlet.

ScottG

120V 30A service, actually...  ;-)

Sharon_is_SAM

Yes!

davel4wa

Don't kid yourself. Electricians that do household electrical installations and repairs and not commercial installations often times do not have familiarity with some of these connectors or their implementation. I have had to research and explain to them how things need to be installed. Not to mention that campground electrical installations and repairs are often done by non professionals.

Fergie

For the average "DYI" person who has occasionally extended an outlet line to add another one, the complexities of local and state code, phases, grounding systems, selecting and adding breakers, etc. at the distribution box are either unknown or at best confusing. They are not for any decent licensed electrician. However, as ScottG mentioned above, they may not be familiar with the standards of the Marine/RV world. Thus for those "DYI" people it is still a good idea to deal with a certified electrician, but show him the attachment I posted above (and here) before he/she starts work with you to be sure.

There! That's my last comment on this subject!

Good Luck in your project!

Fergie

ScottG

Other than run-of-the-mill differences in receptacles, wire size, and circuit breaker capacity, there is absolutely nothing different about wiring up an RV receptacle compared to any other standard household circuit. The electricity works the same way in all cases--while I can understand how an average DIYer might get confused, a licensed electrician who makes these kinds of mistakes is simply not paying attention to mundane details. I hope these instances are far less frequent than comments here imply!