Electrical cord extensions

I am planning a trip from Texas to Newfoundland this summer with our new MH.  It comes with a standard length 25' 50A cord.  Last year during our trip to Alaska on the ALCAN highway we had a Class C that had only 30A service.  Several times we came close to needing an extension cord to reach the park's electrical service.  I am planning on buying an extension cord.  I also will be purchasing a 50A to 30A and a 30A to 15A pigtail for the anticipated occassions where 50A or even 30A service is not available. 

The question I have is this......50A service as I understand it is relatively new and therefore the issue of not being able to reach the park service without an extension cord might be a low occurance.  Would it be better to buy (and save some money) a 30A extension cord instead of a 50A?

Don

Don, 50A cords are certainly heavier and more expensive than 30A ones. I haven't needed one very often, but when I do it's either inconvenient or I've had to borrow one. I recently bought a 30A extension, figuring that the few times I need it I can manage the power usage in the coach.

We have a motor home that has 50 amp, but find that unless we are the south in the summer, we almost always only use a 30 amp hookup with a short pigtail at the coach and a 30 amp extension cord. Certainly, you're not going to need 50 amps very often on the trip you have planned. I think that you will find that if you have a 50 amp site, the outlet will almost be where the left rear of the coach is parked and an extension is unnecessary. I can't think of a time when we have ever needed a 50 amp extension cord. I'd suggest you make a trip or two before investing in a 50 amp extension.

Chet18013

Don, that is ironic you are in Texas and traveling to Newfoundland. We make that trip quite often from Dallas. My wife is a native Newfie. We are also planning on making the trip this summer. Do you have any ties to Newfoundland or are you vacationing?

GEJim said:

Don, that is ironic you are in Texas and traveling to Newfoundland. We make that trip quite often from Dallas. My wife is a native Newfie. We are also planning on making the trip this summer. Do you have any ties to Newfoundland or are you vacationing?

Click to expand...

I spent many weeks in St Johns in the early 70's flying International Ice Patrol with the Coast Guard out of the Torbay Airport.  It was usually in the winter and early spring so I never really got a chance to fish and explore the beautiful area.  Now that I have retired, we have the time and I'm really looking forward to the trip.  Any recommendations on where to fish? ;D

Don

Chet18013 said:

We have a motor home that has 50 amp, but find that unless we are the south in the summer, we almost always only use a 30 amp hookup with a short pigtail at the coach and a 30 amp extension cord. Certainly, you're not going to need 50 amps very often on the trip you have planned. I think that you will find that if you have a 50 amp site, the outlet will almost be where the left rear of the coach is parked and an extension is unnecessary. I can't think of a time when we have ever needed a 50 amp extension cord. I'd suggest you make a trip or two before investing in a 50 amp extension.

Chet18013

Click to expand...

Thanks you have helped confirm my theory.

Don

I have a 50 amp extension cord, I think I've used it once or twice in the last year and a half. I use the 30 amp cord often.  In fact this year I've only hauled the 50 amp primary cord out in a few places, choosing to wrangle the lighter 30 amp cord since I've not needed Air conditioning.    The one place where I really could have used AC this trip was a few days in Vegas.  And I fired up a swamp cooler I have in the rig, 56 watts and it worked as good as the over a kilowatt job on the roof plus it brought the humidity up.  Very useful device in the desert.

I have a 50A extension, but got it for use in one particular place where it is needed and we spend a week there twice a year. Otherwise I would not spend the $$. But since I have it, I use it even for 30A sites, putting the 50/30 dogbone on the 50A extension when needed. I always figure that one can never have too large of an extension cord capacity - a bigger (not longer) cord reduces heat build-up and voltage drop.

Fishing in Newfoundland has gone to pot due to the all the restrictions and moratoriums. I fish the west coast of the island. Here is a link on regs.

http://eurekaoutdoors.nf.ca/fregulations.htm

GEJim said:

Fishing in Newfoundland has gone to pot due to the all the restrictions and moratoriums. I fish the west coast of the island. Here is a link on regs.

http://eurekaoutdoors.nf.ca/fregulations.htm

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.  Maybe I'll see you on a stream.

Don

As a bit of an aside to this, but related: When ever i get a "new" camper, I "enhance" the electrical system. One of the enhancements I make is that I take the wires that feed the Air-Conditioner and any other appliances with a significant draw and remove them from the converter / distribution panel. I then hook them to a smaller panel that can accomodate the same amt of circuit breakers. From that panel I run the necessary amount of cords with male plugs and a cord from the converter/dist panel to a box with the necessary amt of female outlets. I place this set-up in an easily accessible place. Then when I am in a campground that has a 30A and 20A box at the site I unplug the cords from the outlets and connect them to extension cords. I run my 30A cord to the campground outlet and run one or two extension cords to the 20A outlets. That way, everything in the camper but the largest appliance(s) is running on the 30A and the largest appliance(s) is running seperately on the 20. Some campgrounds -as you know- have two seperate 20a outlets with dedicated breakers in addition to the 30a. Then I can run anything in the camper, plus the AC and an electric griddle without worry of overloading. Another note: I ALWAYS install a digital guage to indicate the voltage available. When I encounter any electric supply with less than 103 volts I will not operate my AC for fear of damage to the compressor and fan motor. yes a "booster would be nice for the low-voltage situation, but the cost is prohibitive for me.

I did exactly the same thing with my Rear AC on my motor home

There is a company, Power solutions, that offeres a 90 dollar box that does the same thing

The problem is.......... It's 90 dollars (Worth closer to nine I suspect or 19)

Don:

When I installed a power rewind reel for our 50 amp electric cord the new reel came with its own cord. I converted the original cord to a 50 amp extension cord that I lugged around for a year. It took up so much space and was so heavy that it now resides in our storage locker in Chicago and I use a light 30 amp extension that winds up tight and takes up much less room.

In your years at Continental did you know Paul Runyan?

And I fired up a swamp cooler I have in the rig,

Click to expand...

If you are lucky enough to have access to distilled water (from a compressor type air-conditioner or dehumidifier) use it to fill your swamp cooler. The demineralized water will not clog your evaporator and will transfer more heat.

Thankfuly the swamp cooler in my rig is one where I can easily replace the "element" as it were and restore full operation.

used it last visit to QZ/Vegas area when it got hot... Neat device, cooled down the room I have it in very fast  Did as good as or better than the roof top, did not lower the humidity but actually got it up high enough for me to read it from time to time (The meter has a lower limit) and burns a grand total of way under 100 wattw when running (I Kill-a-watted it) so my electrial systems don't even notice it.  I mean the INVERTER can take 100 watts, all day in fact.

Did as good as or better than the roof top

Click to expand...

You may be aware of the reason, but just in case....
The reason that the rooftop unit is not as effective is that not only does it have to absorb heat from the air but its efficiency is directly related to the outside temperature across the condenser, and the compressor is generating heat through mechanical  action plus the electrical current is generating heat. Air is capable of carrying only 1/4 the heat as  water can. For the rooftop to function efficiently the evaporator needs to be 15 - 20 degrees lower than the air it is absorbing heat from then the compressor adds about 10 degrees to that (so 90 would be 100) and the outside temp should be 20 degrees lower than that, but it is probably 100+. IF water were traveling across the condenser -even at the same temperature as the air- it would work in the environment that you are experiencing in AZ and NV even though the temp is not correct the waters ability of heat absorbtion would compensate. But as you know, the most effecient device in those environments are the evaporative coolers so everything I just typed is moot... lol
In my area we spray water on the air-cooled condensers on the rooftops of the buildings when the temp brings us into the 10 degree differential. The units I manage are 680ton through 840 ton. Most are water-cooled by towers.

Oh, Did I forget to tell you I majored in the hard sciences... I do realize why a swamp cooler works so well in Ariziona or southern Nevada and why the roof top works much better in the area I'm in.  And you did a great job of explaining it, at least in part, there are a couple of additional issues too.

One of the big advantages I did not dewll on (But mentioned) is the swamp cooler is what we nere in the North call a humidifier.  It adds to the humidity and when I'm out there I have a problem with the dry air as well... The swamp cooler works best in dry air.

I use my "swamp cooler" in the winter here in MA to raise the comfort level. keeping the humidity around 55% relative is just right. I wish that I was in a climate dry enough to use it to cool...