30 amp outlet at home

[Dean Johnson]

Hello all of you electrical types!
We are having a heat pump installed at our house and the location is right where I park the motorhome. I almost burned up an outlet and extension cord by stepping down to a 110v/15amp outlet and then had a heater plugged in during a recent cold snap so I decided to have the electrician run extra wiring and bought a 30 amp outdoor outlet to plug the motorhome into so that we can have a heater on inside and not worry about frying outlets, starting fires, etc!

My question is this, the electrician wanted to know if we wanted a 220v outlet to plug into. There is a 30 amp breaker in the house panel, dedicated to the RV hookup. If I have them wire this for  220, using my 50-30amp adapter on the power cable, am I going to be blowing stuff up? Does the motorhome know automatically what source you are plugged into?

The way they have it wired right now, a wire would have to be taken from ground and connected to the breaker in the house panel to bring it up from 120v/30 amp.

Thanks,

Dean

[Gary Wolfer]

Your motorhome is not 220 it is two runs of 50 amp 110. I am not an electrician but I would get some imput here before you plug it in.

[Lee Welbanks]

Dean,  Your electrician doesn't understand what a RV plug is. If you go with 30 amp it is a 120 volt 30amp circuit it is a RV 30 amp receptacle. Better yet go to Homedepot and pickup a 50 amp RV plug and box, they are already to go also pickup a two pole 50 amp breaker for your electrical panel.
He (electricain) has to understand that this is a 50 amp per leg 120 setup. A 30 amp is a 30 amp 120 volt circuit.
Do not let him hook it up to get 220 volt, you will smoke all kinds of thing in your coach.
Here is a link for RV electrical have your electrician read.

http://www.myrv.us/electric/

[Steve Huber]

Dean,
For 30 amp service to the RV you don't need a 220 V source. Even on 50 amps, the RV is wired to see 2 separate 110V circuits. So, if all you need is 30 amps, stay with the 30 amp source, use your 30A plug and save some $. Wiring it for a 50 amp plug when you only have 30 amps available makes no sense.
Steve

[Bill Sprague]

Steve's description of a standard 30 amp plug with RV adapter is exactly what we use in our commercial storage lot.   It is enough to keep the HydroHot running on electric, the batteries charged, the refrigerator on and a dehumidifier running.  If there is a power failure the fridge will switch to propane and the dehumidifier will draw down the batteries through the inverter.  I have the Onan set to auto start which will then put power back into the system for the HydroHot.   
 

[Bob Jae]

What I have in my garage is a 50amp receptacle but I used a double pole 30amp breaker at the panel and 10 gauge wire. That way the coach cable will plug in with out adapters and I have 2 - 30amp circuits available to the coach.  Label the outlet so everyone knows what it is.

[Keith Oliver]

I added a 30 amp outlet, following a wiring advice that I found here:
http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A86.J77JPblUuRYAff0lnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByaDNhc2JxBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkAw--/RV=2/RE=1421454922/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fwww.myrv.us%2fImgs%2fPDF%2f30-amp%2520Service.pdf/RK=0/RS=AdEfuJF_WZegBEpRQlc18aw7vYk-
works perfectly, plenty of power for the fridge (Maytag household fridge), aquahot, magna charger, lights, etc.  Not enough to use the roof air.

[Edward Buker]

On 30 amps you should be able to handily run one roof air without an issue even with some additional lighter loads. I do it often when it is hot out to keep the humidity down in the coach.

Later Ed

[Michael Kauffman]

CAUTION!!!!  Don't go to 50 amp unless that circuit is wired with #6 wire.  You may end up causing your house to burn down.  If it's a preexisting 30 amp circuit it only has #10 wire.  Be safe, just buy a 30 amp RV box at the hardware store.

Mike