electric service?

Question

i hav a 200 amp box hooked up. with a 30 amp outlet 120v.
when i plug in to rv trailer 30 amp ,i will draw only max 30 amps? Should i wire to box so everything runs? Will long ext cord to pole and rv reduce service?

Answer 1

No. Do not use an extension cord unless you buy the one they MAKE FOR RVs and is rated for 30 amps.

In addition, 10G copper wire is rated for 30 amps at 120v and normal operating temperatures. You do not need to go to 7 gauge (which- btw, you will not find- 6 would be the closest and that is WAY TOO BIG)

SO I SAY- go get an RV SERVICE CORD. They make them JUST for what you are doing. They are rated at 30AMPS and have a special plugon them for your RV.

I have gone through this about 200 times in the last 12 months dealing with Hurricane Katrina trailers and mobiles.

I do know people that ran extension cords with adapters that ~worked~. But they kept tripping breakers and I found one of them melted. I DO NOT SUGGEST it.

Answer 2

This is actually 3 questions.
1) Not really. Your RV could theoretically draw as much as it wants, but what it means is that if you attempt to draw 30 Amp (or more), the fuse (or beaker) will shut off.
2) Same effect as if you do 3) below.
3) Yes, you will lose quite some voltage, and as a result some Watts. It all depends on the gauge of your extension cord, and its length.
I give you an example:
For 30 Amp you should use a Gauge 7 wire (gauge 10 is only for 15Amp!), and that wire has a resistance of 0.5 Ohm per 100 feet. So lets assume your extension cord is 100 feet long, that means 200 feet of wire (live and neutral to-and-fro) then you end up with 1 Ohm total resistance. At 30 Amp, you will then lose U=I*R = 30 Volt !!
That means, all your stuff in the RV only runs at 70% of its "normal" power.

Answer 3

Here is the exact language from PGE's tariff page: When a change in occupancy occurs or the Customer otherwise chooses to close an account, the Customer must provide five business days’ notice to the Company, before the change will go into effect. The Company may accept a change of occupancy notification from a third party. The Company may refuse to process a change of occupancy until it receives satisfactory evidence of the third party's authority to request such a change. The outgoing Customer (or serving ESS if it is providing a Consolidated Bill) is held responsible for all service supplied to the Premises until the account is closed. But, there is another section in the tariff which might give your girlfriend hope: General Rules and Regulations may require a written Customer Service Agreement. 6. Consequences of Accepting Electricity Service Any person who occupies or is responsible for Premises where Electricity Service is supplied and/or delivered by the Company where the Company has no accepted current application for Electricity Service is liable for all charges for such Electricity Service, based on the applicable rate schedule. Such persons, however, do not have the rights and privileges accorded to Customers. This part gives PGE the right to bill the new tenants as they lived there and used the service (even though they neglected to apply). Basically, this means your girlfriend is on the hook unless PGE accepts notification from the landlord that the other tenants moved in earlier. If they will accept that, then clause 6 of their service tariff applies, and your girlfriend is off the hook. It is worth a try. If you don't get anywhere with the 800#, write a letter to the CEO's office. That will get routed to someone with greater discretion to help.

Answer 4

30 amps is quite a bit.
You would need quite an extension cord!!

I think I undestand.....
You have an 200 amp electrical box at the pole, and you want to plug your RV into it and the circuit breaker in the RV is 30 amp.

The most you can draw within the RV is going to 30 amps.
The most you can draw from the Dist. box is 200 amps.

Answer 5

i am an electrican and no the breaker is onle rated for about 26 amps at continous load. i dont know about your RV but if you can hook it up 240 volt that would give you more power. if not try to keep the big stuff you run one at a time. and a longet ext. cord will drop your volts if its not a big enough gage! this is a "bigger the better" i know they are a lot of money abut a cord that is 10 gage would be great. FYI smaller the gage the bigger the wire

Answer 6

You are getting a voltage drop on the extention cable, yes, a long extention will reduce the service.
like this...
Where V is Volts ( in this case drop), I is Amps, and R is the resistance of the cable
Volts drop = I X R. the larger the current I, the more volts are dropped (lost) oki, so we make R smaller...with a thicker cable, et voila....less volts drop.

Answer 7

no,it all depends on the load of what your plugging into it and is only limited by the size of the breaker therefore you need to verify the size of your load by looking on the nameplate by your plugin on the RV it will tell you what size outlet you need.compare the size of your load to the size of the breaker your running from.