Electrical hookup question

S&K · 03-11-2014, 03:29 AM

We will be bringing the 36FB home soon and want to have some electric available on our property.

We do have room for a 30 amp breaker to be run to the site pad, but the question posed was "is this a 110 or 220"? (This is from the installer, not my hubby, "K")

We will not be living in it here, so minimal power is needed on occasion. I'd like it available for company that comes down to visit, but we maybe will get one or two visits a year as it is. (Maybe more will come now!)

Do we need to install 220? or is 110 sufficient?

Thanks!

Oriana · 03-11-2014, 04:53 AM

My understanding is that all 30 Amp supply is 110 Volts. The 4 prong 50 Amp plug is actually 2 - 110 volt supplies.

Railcat · 03-11-2014, 05:01 AM

If you plan on wanting to run more than one air conditioner, or water heater with the ac on you will definitely want 50 Amp 220 service.

Railcat · 03-11-2014, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oriana

My understanding is that all 30 Amp supply is 110 Volts. The 4 prong 50 Amp plug is actually 2 - 110 volt supplies.

Yes 30 amp is only 110 and 50 amp is 220, you can still run your camper on 30 amp 110 with the necessary adapter but will be limited to what can be ran at the same time.

**Dave&Ginny** · 03-11-2014, 05:21 AM

It's not hard to run the 50 amp 220 volt plug. I use mine as a guest room and as 5th Time (Mike) did, you can run the power from the generator to the house in emergency situations.

johnboytoo · 03-11-2014, 02:51 PM

As Dave says - it's not hard --- just like riding a bike though, some fall down the first few times so a word of caution,
have heard horror stories of a 'regular' electrician not setting it up correctly and frying the rv's electrical system... as rv's are somewhat different than house hookups...

maybe ask redwood for a diagram ?

mhs4771 · 03-11-2014, 03:42 PM

It comes down to the open slot in the breaker box: Is it for a single pole or double pole breaker.
I have a double pole breaker box in the garage that feeds out to my outlet for the RW. I have installed a 50 receptacle but only have 30 amps per leg (60 amps total) vs 50 (100 amps total), but for typical short term use it's fine and avoids having to use an adapter to plug the RW in.

rcflame · 03-11-2014, 04:40 PM

Along with what room you have for a breaker it also depends on how much amperage you can get out of your present box,, and how much you will use it for the cost involved. You can actually go from a 20 amp on up. We had to stay in a repair shops lot for over a week and only had 20 amp service. We had to run everything off propane and watch what we had on at one time but we had lights,and use the coffee pot individualy. Many of your older campgrounds run 30amp and it would probably handlle you fine for what it seems like you want it for. It is a 110 outlet but with the correct adapter available at most rv dealers, you should have no problems as long as you don't try to use more than 30 amps. Your box in your camper is a 50 amp which is basically like the box in your house and made up of 2 110 v. circuits. What the 30 amp adapter does is feed this power into your one 110 volt line going to your camper, They cost in the $20 range. It's a good idea to carry an adapter anyway since you never know when you may have a need for one.

S&K · 03-12-2014, 02:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rcflame

Along with what room you have for a breaker it also depends on how much amperage you can get out of your present box,, and how much you will use it for the cost involved. You can actually go from a 20 amp on up. We had to stay in a repair shops lot for over a week and only had 20 amp service. We had to run everything off propane and watch what we had on at one time but we had lights,and use the coffee pot individualy. Many of your older campgrounds run 30amp and it would probably handlle you fine for what it seems like you want it for. It is a 110 outlet but with the correct adapter available at most rv dealers, you should have no problems as long as you don't try to use more than 30 amps. Your box in your camper is a 50 amp which is basically like the box in your house and made up of 2 110 v. circuits. What the 30 amp adapter does is feed this power into your one 110 volt line going to your camper, They cost in the $20 range. It's a good idea to carry an adapter anyway since you never know when you may have a need for one.

Thanks everyone for the help on this one. It's all greek to me; but my hubby has a handle on it. As long as the plug from the trailer has two lines, a common and a ground, we will probably go with installing the 50 amp service if the price isn't too outrageous. We have about 125 feet of wire to run; he's guessing 6/3 with ground.

He kinda wants to wait until the unit arrives before we do anything just to make sure that it will work and no surprises develop. In the mean time, will be laying crushed limestone for the pad it (and the dually) will rest on.

**Dave&Ginny** · 03-12-2014, 04:46 AM

The outside box itself can be bought for around $75. The wire is the most expensive part of the project. As for the wiring, you can look it up on the web. Yes a 50 amp service requires a double slot in your circuit box. If you don't have the extra space in the box, you can add an "add on" box (check your electrical codes).

mhs4771 · 03-12-2014, 05:59 PM

To expand on my post. I have a 240 Welder outlet in the garage, so I made a 3 wire extension cord over to to a double pole 30 amp box, then from there underground to my 50 Amp Camper Box, added ground cable and ground rod there. Gives me a total of 60 amps for the RW and if I need the welder, I unplug the extension and plug the welder in.

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