Plug in at house to use AC

[wille]

We live in Flordia and have recently purchased a 25' AS Classic. In the summer, it is always over 90 degrees during the day and we would like to plug the trailer in at our house to load and unload the trailer in to have AC comfort. When we tried to plug it into a regular outlet, it tripped the circuit. Can we plug it into the dryer electrical outlet (30 amp) or should we consider a generator?

[thecatsandi]

Originally Posted by wille

We live in Flordia and have recently purchased a 25' AS Classic. In the summer, it is always over 90 degrees during the day and we would like to plug the trailer in at our house to load and unload the trailer in to have AC comfort. When we tried to plug it into a regular outlet, it tripped the circuit. Can we plug it into the dryer electrical outlet (30 amp) or should we consider a generator?

This has been discussed several times.
The short answer is NO. a Dryer is 220/240 VAC this will fry everything in you trailer. The RV plug should not fit in the dryer outlet. Your trailer is 110/120 VAC. If you have a 20A circuit use it. The AC alone should not trip the breaker.
The best answer to this question is to install a dedicated 30 RV connection.

[HowieE]

Best advise is don't do it until you get a 30 amp line installed.

If you do try and run the AC on a house outlet make sure you are using at least a #12 extension core, and the shorter the better. Make sure the refrigerator is off or on gas and turn the converter off. Both of these will attempt to come on as soon as they see 110 volts and will draw enough current to trip the house breaker when the AC comes on.

If your house is old enough to have aluminum wiring I would not attempt it or make sure someone is at the fire house.

[RLS]

I just finished up installing a 30 amp RV box on the outside wall of the garage. If you are a handy man at all, there is nothing to it. You need the 30 amp breaker that goes inside your main panel , either 8 ga. or 10 ga. (I used 8 ga. since the distance to outside RV box was around 60') wire, conduit for outside wire going to RV box, and the RV 30 amp box. Total cost was around $140. Half of that was for the 8 ga. wire. I had to buy the 125' roll, by the foot would of been more for the 60'! PLEASE make sure if doing this to have the main breaker turned off before doing anything

Bob

[dlb435]

I just plug mine into a heavy duty extension cord. This limits you to only 15 amps of power. You can run the AC, but nothing else. If you turn off the AC, you can use all the other items in your trailer. This is fine for cleaning up or testing things.
Note: If you have a microwave this will use as much power as the AC.
If you want real full time power in the trailer you need to get a 30 amp outlet installed.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by dlb435

I just plug mine into a heavy duty extension cord. This limits you to only 15 amps of power. You can run the AC, but nothing else. If you turn off the AC, you can use all the other items in your trailer. This is fine for cleaning up or testing things.
Note: If you have a microwave this will use as much power as the AC.
If you want real full time power in the trailer you need to get a 30 amp outlet installed.

Hi, this is the best answer to your question, plain and simple.

[TBRich]

We had a 30 amp box installed in our "Bambi Port" and it's one of the best investments we've made. It's great to have full power hookup at home, especially when getting ready for a trip or cleaning up after one...also is fun to just go out and use the trailer to watch a movie sometimes or take a nap or even "camp out"...you know, if you are itching to go camping, but can't really get away... And when it's really hot out (like now...109 today) we keep the AC set about 89 so that it doesn't get too hot inside the trailer. Couldn't do this without a 30 amp set-up.

[moosetags]

Welcome to the Forums. We're glad to have you with us.

We have a 30 amp dedicated service in our garage to keep Lucy plugged in while at the house.

We also have a beach rental house across the street. We have plugged Lucy in there on several occasions. We plugged into a 20 amp circuit in the garage. this circuit was not running anything else, and it was able to handle the AC. We ran the refrigerator separately on another 15 amp circuit on the porch by plugging the refer in with an extension cord from the outside refer box on the Airstream.

Brian

[ZoominC6]

Unless you're a pro, call a professional electrician and do it right the first time with an RV 30amp outlet. It'll save ya money in the long run. You'll love the convenience of it all. Just my two cents worth .

[wille]

Can you give me an idea of the cost to have an electrician install the 30 amp outlet?

[jimmickle]

If you have an electrician do it, be sure he understands that it 120 volts! There have been cases of electricians wiring it for 220 volts, which will blow everything in the RV.

Cost will be dependent on the location of the house breaker box and where you want the outlet

[SSChanger]

We installed a 30 amp box just below the breaker panel in our garage, which makes it a piece-of-cake to plug Twinkle in after camping. Our neighbor is an electrician and did it in about 10 minutes for free--the total cost was about $75, and it's been worth it!

[TBRich]

We went this info to Willie privately, but thought we'd post is here, too, for what it's worth:

I looked back at the paperwork for installation of our 30 amp service... This was in March of 2005...it was $203...that was $64 for the materials (conduit, wiring, box, etc + tax) and 2 hours of labor for two electricians at $65/hr ($130) ... Our main electrical box is very close to where we store our Bambi...about 15 feet, so it was not a long distance for the new circuit to be run... We have never regretted it.

Good luck!
Terry