Extension cord or not?

[boatto5er]

It's highly unlikely that the 15amp circuit can handle the power required when the AC unit cycles on. I tried that a couple of times and it always tripped the house breaker. A 20 amp circuit has just enough amperage to handle the cycle on power draw in most cases as long as nothing else with a big amp draw is running. You can't just swap breakers though. the wiring for the 15amp circuit is not not big enough to handle the load either. You'll have to find a 20 amp circuit, or do what I did, install a 30 amp circuit with RV plug in the garage. Of course that presents a whole new set of possible issues (does the breaker box have space, is there sufficient wattage available in the box, etc). Best to let a qualified electrician do that kind of work.

This is my advice and opinion. Others may chime in and say they run their AC on a 15amp circuit, but mathmatically it would be maxing out the circuit.

 

[ga993]

Thanks! I unplugged my washing machine, which is a 30a circuit and plugged in ther and the a/c is running fine now. Again, thanks for your help.
brandon

 

[boatto5er]

Great. Hopefully you were able to do that with just the trailer cord and an adapter. If you are using an extension cord check periodically that it isn't get hot. Most extension cords are not heavy enough to carry the power pull the AC will have. You can get extension cords capable of handling 20 to 30 amps of power.


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[ga993]

Well, I have an update...about 1-2 hours later, the extension cord caught on fire. It was laying right next to my rig. Thankfully I was there when it caught on fire. Who knows what would have happened had I not seen it. I think I may just pass on parking it in a driveway and stick to RV sites only.

 

[Sandpirate69]

I'm not an electrician nor a scientist, but hire an electrician. Install a 30A box close to where you park your rig. That's what I did. I had my friend (electro guy) run new wiring, breaker, and outlet for the 30A. Last year when I got the 5ver, we pulled the wires out and re-ran wires & breakers that would hold the full 50A. Think about this for a moment: rv parked next to your house, rv catches fir (god forbid!), your house may catch on fire. Now you are out 2 homes & hopefully you got out OK. This is food for thought, not trying to upset anyone or hurt their feelings. You made an investment, enjoy it.

Just my 2 cents

 

[porthole]

If you are going to go through the trouble of installing a 30 amp anp circuit, you may as well use 6 gauge and add one wire. It will be far easier to switch to 50 amp when you upgrade your trailer.
Although, I think most of us that use 30 amp circuits at home have sufficient juice to do what normally do at the house.

 

[boatto5er]

Well, I have an update...about 1-2 hours later, the extension cord caught on fire. It was laying right next to my rig. Thankfully I was there when it caught on fire. Who knows what would have happened had I not seen it. I think I may just pass on parking it in a driveway and stick to RV sites only.

Guess I didn't get my warning about the cord posted soon enough! Glad nothing serious occured. Invest a few bucks and have a 30amp circuit installed.

 

[usnthedog]

My dealer during the set up told me in no uncertain terms that if you run your AC on a 120 household circuit you will burn up the AC and "they" will know and deny a warrenty claim. That said, and I am not an electrian, it is not the amps that bother you its the voltage drop. Most if not all of your breakers in the RV are 15 amp and they don't trip. The problem is the voltage drop in an extention cord. The volts go down because of the "choke" in the cord and the motor stalls out. Just like the notorious "brown outs' that kill appliances. If you monitor the voltage at the trailer say in one of the outlets and it does not drop with the AC on then you should be ok. Will you do damage the AC while you are testing the voltage drop. Maybe, but at least you know. Several posts have been made about low voltage at RV sites; same thing.
Please look again at my disclaimer, I am not an electrian but I did stay at a Holiday Express.

Jeff

Jeff

 

[porthole]

My dealer during the set up told me in no uncertain terms that if you run your AC on a 120 household circuit you will burn up the AC and "they" will know and deny a warrenty claim.

I think your dealer is smoking crack.

 

[2psnapod2]

A 50 AMP is just 2 110 circuits. Your A/C runs on a 110 circuit all the time.

 

[pegmikef]

Mine is 30 Amps and I keep it hooked up to a dedicated 20 Amp circuit (I can't change out the breaker because the romex is only 12 gauge), but I run my 15 K btu A/C just fine on the twenty amp circuit. I put a meter on it when I was running the A/C off my generators and found that it draws a little over 1400 watts (more when it starts). Since that is only about 12 Amps, I figure I am good with the twenty amp circuit. I don't know if fiften amps would have enough oomph for it to start . . . dependent on the starting capacitors capability I guess. When I do use an extension I use a minimum of 12 gauge, and for any distance, 10 gauge.

 

[MdMike]

I don't think his dealer was smoking crack. I know someone that had a travel trailer many years ago and was camping in a local park for a softball tournament. While there I asked why he was running his A/C (they only had 120V outlets) and he was plugged in with a regular heavy orange extension cord and an adapter on his 30A cord to the trailer. Sure enough the second night there (this was mid summer in Md. temps in the mid to upper 90's and high humidity) his A/C quit blowing cold air. his wife later said the cord had gotten rather warm.When he returned home it was discovered that the voltage must he burned up some sort of relay on the A/C unit between the compressor and electrical panel in the unit. Could have burned it up worse but the relay saved the compressor (about $40).

 

[MdMike]

If you are going to go through the trouble of installing a 30 amp anp circuit, you may as well use 6 gauge and add one wire. It will be far easier to switch to 50 amp when you upgrade your trailer.
Although, I think most of us that use 30 amp circuits at home have sufficient juice to do what normally do at the house.

I just ran the wiring for a 50A box at my house for my unit should I ever need to run more then the refrigerator to cool it before a trip. Total cost was $128 (box, breaker and wire.... I needed 42 feet). Works like a champ and now I have additional living space for when family visits for a period!

 

[Sandpirate69]

That's the best way to go. Do it right the first time.

 

[evolvingpowercat]

30 AMP RV is 110 Volts, DO NOT TRY TO PLUG INTO A 220 Volt Dryer or Welder outlet unless you want disaster. This would be pretty hard to mess up as the 220 V outlets are totally different than the 110 V 30 amp RV outlets.

The main "background" load will be the 12 V converter battery charger it will draw over 500 watts for a while to charge depleted batteries then it will fall to well less than 100 watts once batteries are charged. The fridge in 110 Volt mode will use less than 200 wats. Things that will really suck the juice are the microwave (1000 watts) and the a/c (1500 watts). As was stated a 30A to standard outlet adapter will work for about everything except the AC as long as you don't fire too many things up at once and once the converter draw has dropped down as the batteries get charged up.