Plugging in to a house

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A fair question, Tom, but what I had in mind is that you are a bachelor, rather modest in your lifestyle, and have many years experience in living in an RV. A "more typical" RVer is a couple or family and accustomed to having plenty of power in their stick home, with tvs playing in the background, a/c droning away 24/7, taking lengthy hot showers, using hair dryers, etc.  Many people find it difficult to adjust to even 30A limitation after a lifetime of abundant power and water.
 
I agree Gary, but I do think that my electrical load is fairly typical for an RVer. I run my refer on propane, I have a big TV I watch a lot. I run my A/C most of the time and I have my share of devices that I charge up. There are RVers that use more power than me no doubt. While most people do have problems adapting to conserving I don't think it takes most RVers very long to figure out that they must conserve.

Two years ago I spent the summer in Kingman Arizona with my A/C running full bore all day long. My electrical bill at 11 cent a kw, was around $110 a month. I asked the office manager if that was typical and she said it was.
 
You will have to careful with the amount of power you pull from the 20amp plug. It will get hot if you run heavy amps thru it and could melt it. I have gotten my dogbone pretty hot in the past trying to run A/C in july at home.
 
Conquest aka Robert said:
You will have to careful with the amount of power you pull from the 20amp plug. It will get hot if you run heavy amps thru it and could melt it. I have gotten my dogbone pretty hot in the past trying to run A/C in july at home.
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You are correct, the wiring could get hot. But if it does it is not so much about the amount of amps being drawn as it is about using an extension cord that is too small. You should use a minimum of a 12 gauge extension cord if the power cord to your RV is not long enough.
 
Wavery said:
It depends if it's a gas or electric dryer. If it's a gas dryer, it may have a 20A 110V outlet..... ;)
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This is one of those "True but..." posts.

You need to re-read the original post.. He specifically stated "The amps are the same" which tells me the outlet has 30 amp breakers feeding it. which means it is a 240 volt 30 amp dryer outlet.
 
SeilerBird said:
You are correct, the wiring could get hot. But if it does it is not so much about the amount of amps being drawn as it is about using an extension cord that is too small. You should use a minimum of a 12 gauge extension cord if the power cord to your RV is not long enough.
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Mine was bogbone direct into outlet rv cord only.
 
Conquest aka Robert said:
Mine was bogbone direct into outlet rv cord only.
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Then you have a problem with the dog bone or the breaker. Wire doesn't get excessively hot just because electricity is running through it. It gets hot when the wire size is not large enough to handle the amperage. With a 20 amp load and number 12 gauge wire it should not get hot. If you try to run more than 20 amps through a 12 gauge wire the circuit breaker should trip long before the wire warms up.
 
The 15 to 30 amp adapter and/or the socket it's plugged into are often the weak link when you're plugged into a 20 amp circuit.  The contacts in a cheap 15 amp outlet with a moderate amount of wear will heat up long before wire feeding it, especially if it's been stressed in the past and lost spring tension in it's contacts.
 
Lou Schneider said:
The 15 to 30 amp adapter and/or the socket it's plugged into are often the weak link when you're plugged into a 20 amp circuit.  The contacts in a cheap 15 amp outlet with a moderate amount of wear will heat up long before wire feeding it, especially if it's been stressed in the past and lost spring tension in it's contacts.
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That can be witnessed by the many melted 15A outlets that I have seen in RV parks.......  ;)

 
Gee I have seen BROKEN 15 amp outlets, but never a melted one... However.. I normally see 20 amp breakers on that side of the box.

Take a 15 amp outlet, epically one with STAB connectors (you poke the wire in a hole) or piercing connectors (you clamp the wire and a v-shaped kinfe slices into the insulation) and it's gonna overheat with a 20 amp load, no question about it.

Pull it out and put in a proper 15/20 amp outlet like my space heater outlets, with wire (12ga or larger) wrapped around a screw and tightened down and perhaps weather resistant treated (Helps or regular cleaning every 10 years or so) and overheat is far less likely to happen.

Another thing that causes overheat is the plug you plug into it.. Ever look at your plug.. Tell me, is it bright shiny copper, Dull copper, Jet black?

BLACK?  yes Black, the color of a very high resistance plug pin.  One sure to overheat.
 
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