Guidance for electrical outlet needed.

[MichelleyD]

Hello all! My brother and I are currently doing site work on a pretty piece of property for our travel trailer and 5th wheel. One is 50 amp and the other is 30 amp. PGE just placed a meter box for us and we’re getting ready to hire someone to run the box or boxes to plug in to. So I know what I’m talking about when I call, may someone give me some idea of what I’ll be asking for? I.E. do I need one or two boxes? What kind of wire to run from the meter base to the box? I believe the run will be 50-75 feet from the box. Thank you in advance for your advice.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

"RV Pedestal" is the general term. There are multiple flavors that contain different combinations of outlets and breakers. Maybe look through a few electrical supplier sites and have an idea what kind you want. From there you will have local codes that determine what kind of wiring and how it will be run to connect them. It would be expected that any reputable electrician would review the job in person before providing an estimate or quote.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Isaac-1]

Just make sure they know you want a 120V 30 amp TT Outlet, lots of electricians hear RV 30 amp and just assume that if it is 30 amp it must be 230V, the result is a lot of people needing to buy all new RV appliances.

 

[Viajeros]

Agreed. Be very clear on the terminology. Don’t mention voltages. . Say or write

50 amp RV pedestal
30 amp RV pedestal.

Jmho.

 

[PerroSucio]

We just went through the same thing at our abandoned farm. Our Electric company won’t allow us to put our own service box on their pole, so we put in a new pole 15’ from their pole, and installed an outdoor service box on our pole. 3 30 amp RV plugs and 3 20 amp GFI outlets were then mounted on a plywood panel beneath the outdoor service box. We currently run 10 gauge extensions to the new pole to power up our trailers. Next year we will be burying 10/2 in the ground to new RV pedestals closer to our parking spots.
Where did PGE place their box, and do they allow you to place your box in the same spot ?

 

[Isaac-1]

SAY 30 AMP 120V RV OUTLET, DON'T JUST SAY 30 AMP OUTLET.

There are horror stories on the forum that happen about once per month where someone just told an electrician they wanted a 30 amp RV outlet, and ended up getting 240V outlet not a 120V and frying all the electronics in their RV as the electrician wired up the outlet like he would the very similar looking 30 amp 240V old style 3 prong dryer outlet.

See https://www.myrv.us/Imgs/PDF/30-amp Service.pdf

p.s. I know 2 people in my town that had this happen with so called "professional" electricians doing the wiring.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

greed. Be very clear on the terminology. Don’t mention voltages. . Say or write

50 amp RV pedestal
30 amp RV pedestal.

Bad advice in my opinion. Definitely state the required voltage for each
30A -- 120v -- NEMA TT30 outet
50A --240v -- NEMA 14-50R outlet

Do not assume an electrician will know what an RV needs for power - years of reports here have shown that few know the correct voltage, amperage and receptacle type.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I.E. do I need one or two boxes? What kind of wire to run from the meter base to the box? I believe the run will be 50-75 feet from the box.

If the two trailers will be physically close enough, you can use one box with two outlets, but the outlets need to have individual power lines. Each trailer can be using its max power at the same time, right? So they cannot share a single power wire unless that wire is rated for the combined amperage of the two outlets.

Describe the needs to the electrician, i.e. separate outlets of 30A/120v for one and 50A/240v for the other. Give the electrician the distance and let him calculate the wire size needed to deliver the rated amps. It's probably 6 gauge for the 50A and 10 gauge for the 30A, but the distance may be far enough to require a larger wire size. He will figure that out once he measures.

 

[Viajeros]

Bad advice in my opinion. Definitely state the required voltage for each
30A -- 120v -- NEMA TT30 outet
50A --240v -- NEMA 14-50R outlet

Do not assume an electrician will know what an RV needs for power - years of reports here have shown that few know the correct voltage, amperage and receptacle type.

Yah. I can see that Gary. I guess I’m assuming that a certified electrician would know and understand the code and what an RV pedestal is. But I’ll lean that way and go with your experience on this. But use the therm RV pedestals as that should also be an indicator for many experienced electricians.

And then at the end of the day still check it with a meter yourself.

 

[conversationalonion]

always good this day and age to spend a few minutes researching outlet types... as Gary pointed out TT30 and 14-30R are all the electrician should need. If they look confused by this... find another electrician

 

[SeilerBird]

Yah. I can see that Gary. I guess I’m assuming that a certified electrician would know and understand the code and what an RV pedestal is. But I’ll lean that way and go with your experience on this. But use the therm RV pedestals as that should also be an indicator for many experienced electricians.

And then at the end of the day still check it with a meter yourself.

I am a life time union electrician who is retired. I never knew that 30 amp RV outlets are 110 until I got my first class A. We didn't study RV wiring in my apprenticeship classes. I sincerely doubt that out of 100 working electricians that only about two of them would know RVs used 110 @ 30 amp instead of 220.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The typical 30A outlet for a home or small shop is 30A/240v and that's what most electricians will install unless advised otherwise. Worse, the standard receptacle for 30A/240v is almost identical to the TT30 30A/120v, so the RV plugs in with just a bit of extra wiggle. We regularly see reports here from people who made that equipment-fatal mistake.

 

[Isaac-1]

The problem is at quick glance the 10-30R 240V old style dryer receptacle looks almost identical to the 120V TT30 receptacle, so many electricians may grab it and automatically wire it as if it were an old style dryer at 240V without ever reading the fine print stamped into the plastic, or even looking at the box. Note the 50 amp RV outlet is a standard 14-50R also used on modern electric stoves, etc.

 

[ButchW]

I am a life time union electrician who is retired. I never knew that 30 amp RV outlets are 110. We didn't study RV wiring in my apprenticeship classes. I sincerely doubt that out of 100 working electricians that only about two of them would know RVs used 110 @ 30 amp instead of 220.

I too, spent a lifetime doing union electrical work, and can't day for sure if I ever ran in to 30A 110V outlet, except in an RV use... Not common for sure.. So do as Gary says...
Butch

 

[boatbuilder]

GE makes an RV load center that has a 50A, 30A and GFCI outlet built in. You just hook up the 4 incoming wires and the outlets are already properly wired. GE RV Panel with 50 Amp and 30 AMP RV Receptacles and a 20 Amp GFCI Receptacle-GE1LU532SS - The Home Depot

 

[dabrooks]

If I was starting from scratch I would put in two of the RV load centers like the ones identified in the previous post. Do it once and be done. I wouldn't even bother with the 30 amp.

 

[SeilerBird]

If I was starting from scratch I would put in two of the RV load centers like the ones identified in the previous post. Do it once and be done. I wouldn't even bother with the 30 amp.

He would have to be able to run large enough wires to power two pedestals. Wire that size is expensive.

 

[dabrooks]

If it is going to be used often and someone upgrades to a new RV it may be worth it to do it now. Of course you are right it won't be cheap now but probably cheaper than doing it later.

 

[gwinger]

A 50 amp 240 volt circuit is actually 100 amps. 50 amps per leg. wiring would have to be capable of handling 50 amps to each leg. 6 gauge wire should be used. It's rated for 55 amps. Leaves room for any over currents.
I also agree with putting the dual receptacle pedestals in place. With the 6 gauge wring the 30 amp can be connected internally. Each receptacle will have it's own breaker sized properly.

 

[John From Detroit]

Generally an RV pedistal box has 3 outlets
One 50 amp. properly wired
one 30 Properly wired
one 15/20 properly wired
It will also have
One dual ganged 50 amp breaker
one 30 amp (single)
one 20 (Also single)

And these are pre-wired properly (but you shoudl check)
all you do is feed them You should have a "main" breaker as well 80 amp for a single box dual ganged. there may be room for it in the RV box or you may need to add a "main" box before it...

There are several advantages to using an RV Pedistal box. for one it's weather protected

To test. you need a voltmeter. I recommend a plug in meter (Any RV store) a 3-light outlet tester and a 15-30 puck (Or dogbone) You should also get a multi-meter because they are very useful

Plug the volt meter into the 15/20 duplex 120 volts or close GOOD
Plug th TLT in GREEN GREEN dark good RED bad Only one green bad

Using the puck (or dognbone) same tests on the 30 amp outlet

On the 50 if the first two were good fair chance it's good too but just to be safe

Side to side 240 volts
Side to top. or bottom 120

And now you can plug in.