RV Electric at Home

[hduring]

UPDATE on bottom. We’ll be modifying our home electricity to increase the amps and to allow for plugging in our RV into a 50 amp (or 30 amp) outlet at the house. Some questions.
1. Our 337 uses 50 amp, and we read about the differences in watts for a 30 amp versus 50 amp. We don’t have really hot temps here, but we would like to run one of the AC’s as needed (we have Soft Start on both). We won’t be living in there, but we could spend afternoons in it. Would a 30 amp home outlet suffice or can you think of any reason to go to 50 amp? Or should we get a 50 amp and then get a dogbone to hookup 30 amp? More (more amps) sounds better but we are stringing a cable from RV to house at maybe 40 to 50 feet, and have to think about cable weight and cable circumference.
2. Would this be a good description to tell an electrician if we choose a 50 amp circuit? A 50-amp circuit actually has two legs of 50 amps each. That means that it can provide a total of 100 amps of current at 120 volts (as long as you don’t go over 50 amps on either leg). The 50-amp RV power plug has four prongs, two of which carry 120V AC power, each with 50 amps of power, plus one neutral wire and one ground wire. (quote from RV geeks). Is there a better way to state this?
3. In a perfect world, it would be nice to park our RV in our driveway, but we cannot do this. We will park in the street, as we’ve always done. Thinking that we have to string a 50 amp or 30 amp power cable across a public sidewalk to get to the house, has anyone found a good 50 amp cable safety protector to help avoid a tripping hazard?
UPDATE: appreciate the answers. With regards to string power cables across sidewalks - currently, we just use a normal outdoor cord with adapters taking from 50 to 15 amp. It is run across the sidewalk but of course that is a lot thinner than a 50/30 amp cord. We are not the only ones doing this on our street, and we are not saying it is right to do this, but we have no covenants. We gather from the comments that no one is using any RV power cable safety protectors?
Attached is what we are talking about.
Thanks,
Heinz

[rtrainer]

Not sure where you live but putting a cord across a public sidewalk is a no-no in most places.

[Country Campers]

I have to agree with rtrainer above, check you local people and see if this is even an option. As far as the 50 amp or 30 amp debate, it is the same as camping, if you can do it on 30 amp go with that. When talking to an electrician mention RV plug for power if he asks a bunch of questions on how or why you might need to find a new electrician.

Brian

[Jlawles2]

You might consider running a dedicated underground line to something like a mailbox (if it's not one of the cast ones) with a plug on the back and either a plug inside somewhere or just kill the breaker when not in use.

Tell the electrician that you need to size the neutral up one size since you will be running an RV. I have enough cable for a 50 amp at the house, but for now I just have it on a 2 pole 30 amp. Never had an issue with running both AC at the same time so I could chill the unit faster.

[rtrainer]

One question, I didn't think the pedestal delivered 2 50AMP circuits. I thought it was 2 25AMP circuits for a total of 50AMP.

[Crespro]

We installed a 30 amp and 20 amp box with two circuit breakers when we built the RV pad in 1994. It was about 60 feet from my pool subpanel for the electrician to connect. It works fine, but we usually only run one AC at a time,

Charles

[Country Campers]

One question, I didn't think the pedestal delivered 2 50AMP circuits. I thought it was 2 25AMP circuits for a total of 50AMP.

A 50 amp RV plug is actually 2 50 amp lines, out of phase is the important thing. This would come from a 50 amp 2 pole breaker in your main or sub breaker panel. The 2 pole breaker insures that the 2 lines are on seperate phases. All or most houses are wired with 2 seperate phases, your home electric water heater generally uses a 2 pole 30 or 50 amp breaker.

Boy I hope I got that right or the EE's will crucify me......

Brian

[Cate&Rob]

Hi Heinz,

30A will certainly power one AC plus the converter for battery charging. I would leave the electric water heater off and use propane if you want hot water. I would also put the fridge on propane if you have that choice. Since you will be temporarily running a power cord out to the RV, the 30A cord will be half the weight and half the cost of a 50A cord. Much easier to manage.

Rob

[IDRVr]

A 50 amp RV plug is actually 2 50 amp lines, out of phase is the important thing. This would come from a 50 amp 2 pole breaker in your main or sub breaker panel. The 2 pole breaker insures that the 2 lines are on seperate phases. All or most houses are wired with 2 seperate phases, your home electric water heater generally uses a 2 pole 30 or 50 amp breaker.

Boy I hope I got that right or the EE's will crucify me......

Brian

You got it right! Another way to say it is that the 50 amp RV hookup is 50 amps at 240v. The 240v comes from two 120v circuits 180° out of phase. The 30 amp RV hookup is 30 amps at 120v, with a single 120v circuit. If you want a 50 amp receptacle similar to the 50 amp hookup at the RV park, it would be fed from a 50 amp, 240v, two pole breaker in your house's breaker box. A 50 amp circuit will require a 4 conductor cable with 3 conductors being #6 or larger. A 30 amp circuit would only require a 3 conductor cable with #10 or larger conductors.

The big difference between the two is the power available. The 50 amp circuit provides 120v x 50 amps x 2 = 12,000 watts. The 30 amp provides 120v x 30 amps x 1 = 3,600 watts, only 30% as much.

(Sorry for being repetitious.)

You would simply tell the electrician "I need a 50 amp, 240v NEMA 14-50R outlet here!". Let him worry about the rest.

I'm not going to comment on the OP parking his RV in the street or laying the cord across the sidewalk. You must have very nice neighbors or a unique situation.

[TedS]

Maybe a picture will help.

Understanding 50 Amp Shore Power System.pdf

[Scott'n'Wendy]

All or most houses are wired with 2 seperate phases

Boy I hope I got that right or the EE's will crucify me......

Brian

Well you did pretty good..... except houses are wired with a single phase supply
Two hot legs are the result of a split single phase

[TedS]

I relate to pictures.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

TedS
Nice picture! RV'ers should keep a copy of that with their meter so they have a clear idea of how they receive power, and will help with their troubleshooting in the event of supply problems.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

To the OP, you may be able to punch a hole under the sidewalk with a pipe or similar to create a little tunnel to feed your trailer, but check with local authorities if that is even allowed.

[Jkwilson]

A 50 amp RV plug is actually 2 50 amp lines, out of phase is the important thing. This would come from a 50 amp 2 pole breaker in your main or sub breaker panel. The 2 pole breaker insures that the 2 lines are on seperate phases. All or most houses are wired with 2 seperate phases, your home electric water heater generally uses a 2 pole 30 or 50 amp breaker.

Boy I hope I got that right or the EE's will crucify me......

Brian

Warning EE mode on: If you want to get technical, it is a single 50A, 240V circuit with neutral, period. Current flows from one hot to the other. On strictly 240V loads, the current runs straight from one leg to the other. On balanced 120V loads, it also runs straight from one leg to the other. This is because the 120V loads on each side of the panel are actually in series with each other, so the same 50A runs through both. There isn’t 100A anywhere, just 50A that is used twice. When the 120V loads aren’t balanced, the excess current runs through the neutral to shortcut going to the other line.

This explanation will get an argument from many electricians and engineers, but if you draw it out, it’s pretty simple.

In electrical service, the output of the transformer is a single phase.

I don’t have the energy for a crucifixion. Can we settle for a beer or cup of coffee? 😀