Before I burn something up, or down, I need advice. I want to leave my travel trailer refrigerator on, so I just ran a regular household extension cord into my shed, which is hooked up to a 30 amp breaker. I just hooked it up yesterday to assure the a/c and refrigerator worked. I'm pretty sure this isn't sufficient enough. Would a heavy duty extension cord be fine? Do I need to run a receptacle near the camper? I'm in no way shape or for an electrician, so need a little guidance. I only plan on running the fridge, and a small fan. Thanks
Electrical help...
- Thread starter Neil09
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I would at least get a heavy duty extension cord. If you're drawing too much current the extension cord will get warm; if so consider running a dedicated circuit. If you overload the household circuit the break should pop/fuse should blow;if so consider running a dedicated circuit. The travel trailer refrigerator really doesn't draw that much power. Just don't spend the day watching the ball game with the AC on while blow drying you hair. ;-)
A 12 ga cord is not sufficient to run a travel trailer ac. You are welcome to try and prove me wrong by melting your plug and the cord though.
On my travel trailer, I do plug it in to a 12 ga cord but do not turn the ac on. It is sufficient to run everything else, but ac is a no go.
The best way of course is to have a dedicated 30a receptacle close to the rv and plug it directly in.
Did I read that you have a standard outlet with an extension cord running from a 30a breaker? NO! please stop or at least make sure your homeowners is up to date!
On my travel trailer, I do plug it in to a 12 ga cord but do not turn the ac on. It is sufficient to run everything else, but ac is a no go.
The best way of course is to have a dedicated 30a receptacle close to the rv and plug it directly in.
Did I read that you have a standard outlet with an extension cord running from a 30a breaker? NO! please stop or at least make sure your homeowners is up to date!
simplepeddler
Well-Known Member
did the OP want to run the A/C?? I must have missed it
The camper was just purchased, and I used the cord to test the ac and fridge. I decided I want to leave the fridge on while parked. I'll just run another line. I'm assuming there is different guage wire to run underground, is there a certain size that should be minimum?
If you get an "uglys" electrical book from electrical shop or maybe Home Depot ( I think they sell them; but not sure) you can determine the cord size based on amps and distance of wire run. You gotta know how many amps it draws. Longer run (distance from source), more start up amps= bigger wire.
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I think the 12 gauge reco was probably good enough for a fridge. They usually don't draw high amps.
In any case...here is a amp calc for wires. http://www.csgnetwork.com/wiresizecalc.html
Since the camper has a 30 amp plug, I might as well go big enough to be capable to run it all. According to this chart I found online, I need 10g wire. Thanks for the help guys.
http://www.paigewire.com/pumpWireCalc.aspx
http://www.paigewire.com/pumpWireCalc.aspx
Danny Abear
Well-Known Member
10 ga is fine for up to about 50' from main/circuit breaker box. Unless you plan on living in it, there is no use in putting wear on the refrige and also the inverter. Unless it is a very high $ model all rv manufacturers have a note on their website that they are designed for occasional use only.
Newb question..what exactly is the inverter doing?
Change of plans, will put an RV 30 amp receptacle in my shed since I don't have any more slots open to go in my main breaker box. I have 12g to my shed, which is only 10 ft from my home. My camper cord is long enough to go into my shed. There is nothing that I use electricity for in my shed, so it should be fine
Danny Abear
Well-Known Member
The invertor converts 110ac to 12 volts dc to power lights and slides, it is always on when plugged in.
I will try to put this nice. Please do some research before doing electrical work if you dont know what you are doing or consult someone that does.
12ga copper wire, even 1 foot of it, is not rated for 30 amps, it is rated for 20a. Longer run= less amp rating and more voltage drop.
Your rv (I am guessing) has at least a 13.5k btu roof air unit, and possibly (even probably unless it is a base model unit) more. It has a 30a service. This 30a service will run the ac and other things, but usually not all at once. If you have any experience using said camper, you will know you cannot always run the ac and some other things at the same time, like say ac, microwave and toaster all at once.
Your ac on startup probably draws somewhere around 20+amps, and while running somewhere between 8 and 16a (this varies by model, condition, etc).
That shed that is 10' from the house on 12ga wire could be a run as short as say 20' up to a lot more.
See the following ampacity charty, it is very basic and easy to understand: http://cerrowire.com/ampacity-charts
Then search voltage loss and amp reduction in wire runs and understand why your proposed idea is a bad one.
What you risk is as simple as tripping the breaker a lot all the way to melting things/starting a fire, not to mention the low voltage drastically reduces the life of everything in your rv. So, if you want to run your fridge in the rv from your proposed setup, that is fine. You can run your tv and other small, low amp draw things too. Even the roof air in fan only mode wouldn't de of concern. But the roof air in colol (compressor and fan) is a no no.
My recommendation if it is a short run from the panel (les than 40') is #10 cu, or even better #8. You can buy a roll of 125' of #8 romex (2x #8 and a #10 bare ground) for under $1/ft. Put that in some grey pvc conduit on a 30a breaker and you have a complete setup for under $200 with no worries of it being undersized. As for you no empty spots in the breaker panel, ther are ways around this including installing a small sub panel or using duplex breakers.
For the record, No, I am not an electrician. I have owned several RVs, wired several houses/shops/additions/ remodels and grew up owning a trailer park among other electrical applications. You NEVER go less than needed on wiring.
12ga copper wire, even 1 foot of it, is not rated for 30 amps, it is rated for 20a. Longer run= less amp rating and more voltage drop.
Your rv (I am guessing) has at least a 13.5k btu roof air unit, and possibly (even probably unless it is a base model unit) more. It has a 30a service. This 30a service will run the ac and other things, but usually not all at once. If you have any experience using said camper, you will know you cannot always run the ac and some other things at the same time, like say ac, microwave and toaster all at once.
Your ac on startup probably draws somewhere around 20+amps, and while running somewhere between 8 and 16a (this varies by model, condition, etc).
That shed that is 10' from the house on 12ga wire could be a run as short as say 20' up to a lot more.
See the following ampacity charty, it is very basic and easy to understand: http://cerrowire.com/ampacity-charts
Then search voltage loss and amp reduction in wire runs and understand why your proposed idea is a bad one.
What you risk is as simple as tripping the breaker a lot all the way to melting things/starting a fire, not to mention the low voltage drastically reduces the life of everything in your rv. So, if you want to run your fridge in the rv from your proposed setup, that is fine. You can run your tv and other small, low amp draw things too. Even the roof air in fan only mode wouldn't de of concern. But the roof air in colol (compressor and fan) is a no no.
My recommendation if it is a short run from the panel (les than 40') is #10 cu, or even better #8. You can buy a roll of 125' of #8 romex (2x #8 and a #10 bare ground) for under $1/ft. Put that in some grey pvc conduit on a 30a breaker and you have a complete setup for under $200 with no worries of it being undersized. As for you no empty spots in the breaker panel, ther are ways around this including installing a small sub panel or using duplex breakers.
For the record, No, I am not an electrician. I have owned several RVs, wired several houses/shops/additions/ remodels and grew up owning a trailer park among other electrical applications. You NEVER go less than needed on wiring.
I have help with the know how. I was going to to run the 10 guage on its own breaker, but decided against the trouble, since I'm only running the regrigerator, and it will be much easier to run the cord into the shed 3 ft away. The line running into the shed is less than 15ft, I know because I'm the one who ran it. Thanks
I agree with Ed, I might also suggest if wanting to run any length of romex or something that might be exposed to environment.. buy so SO cord and use it.. it tends to be a bit better and flex and moving it when needed..
Thank you, that's exactly what I was getting at in my above post.
Is it a combination gas and electric refrigerator? Most camper refrigerators that run on either LP gas or electricity are absorption operated. A it uses a small heating element or gas flame that vaporizes ammonia. It draws very little amperage, the flame that runs it is no bigger than a match.There is no compressor like in a home refrig. A standard 3 prong 110 volt extension cord should work fine. We have an RV and that is all we use to run the refrigerator and battery charger. We can even run one roof AC on it.
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