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Old 07-04-2014, 08:41 AM   #1
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Plugging motorhome into house.

I have a class A motorhome with 50 amp. I want to reduce it so I can plug It into my garage outlet. It is a regular outlet. I just want to run my refrigerator to get cold before I leave for vacation. Is it safe to reduce the amperage? What's the best way? Thanks.
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Old 07-04-2014, 08:52 AM   #2
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You can do that, just make sure everything else is off. You could also use the opportunity to exercise your generator instead. That way you could keep the a/c's on, water hot and ready for camping.
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Old 07-04-2014, 08:58 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by Spike25 View Post
I have a class A motorhome with 50 amp. I want to reduce it so I can plug It into my garage outlet. It is a regular outlet. I just want to run my refrigerator to get cold before I leave for vacation. Is it safe to reduce the amperage? What's the best way? Thanks.
You can purchase the necessary 50 to 30 to 15 amp reducing electrical adapters from Walmart and you will be just fine.

Worst case scenario would be that you trip the 15 amp circuit breaker servicing your garage outlet. If that occurs, you can switch off breakers inside your motorhome to eliminate the extra current draw causing your garage circuit breaker to trip.
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Old 07-04-2014, 09:05 AM   #4
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You can use one of these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Try and find a non-GFCI receptacle at your house to plug into.
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Old 07-04-2014, 09:10 AM   #5
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GFCI circuits tend to pop when you plug a MH in as the inverters are not compatible. Beyond that reducers will work. What I have done in the past is to run an extension cord directly to the refrig. Mine is a residential model.
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Old 07-04-2014, 09:39 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike25 View Post
I have a class A motorhome with 50 amp. I want to reduce it so I can plug It into my garage outlet. It is a regular outlet. I just want to run my refrigerator to get cold before I leave for vacation. Is it safe to reduce the amperage? What's the best way? Thanks.
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Originally Posted by jd956jd956 View Post
You can purchase the necessary 50 to 30 to 15 amp reducing electrical adapters from Walmart and you will be just fine.
Worst case scenario would be that you trip the 15 amp circuit breaker servicing your garage outlet. If that occurs, you can switch off breakers inside your motorhome to eliminate the extra current draw causing your garage circuit breaker to trip.
Spike25
jd956jd956 is correct.
IMO, (and experiance), running your fridge while your 50A coach is plugged into your "regular" garage outlet will not be a problem.
My coach is plugged in whenever it's not moving or we are dry camping, (and has been for 14 years)....most often into a 20A garage receptacle at our house.
By using the "appropriate electrical cord adapters" and "common sense energy management" we have never tripped the 20A garage breaker, (even if/when we run the refrigerator on 120VAC to get it cold before leaving home).

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Old 07-04-2014, 09:52 AM   #7
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I keep my coach plugged in at my home all the time, and it can easily be accomplished. I would however make several recommendations.

1. Most modern energy management systems will manage 20 amp current

2. Try to use an outlet that is on a 20 amp circuit or run a 20 amp circuit. Many standard outlets are 15 amp circuits, and they are easily overloaded.

3. Make sure you use at least a 12/3 extension cord. It is thicker, and it will handle higher current easier. Most extension cords are 14/3, and they can barely handle a 15 amp load.

4. Always unravel the whole extension cord. Never use an extension cord that is coiled, as they will overheat.

5. Make sure you have a clean and tight connection on each of the adapters.

6. Try to make sure the connections are watertight, or make the connections inside the dry electric bay

7. Enjoy having your refer always cold and ready to go. Unfortunately, my DW uses it as a 2nd refer for the house, and it is used all the time.
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Old 07-04-2014, 09:55 AM   #8
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Our coach is plugged into the house 24/7 when not in use on a 15A 110VAC circuit. Just get the appropriate cable adapters as mentioned. We have a residential refrigerator, and the inverters provide sufficient power to it, as well as charge the batteries.

Not to mention the obvious (but I will), you can't run air conditioners or other heavy current draw items in this con figuration.
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Old 07-04-2014, 10:00 AM   #9
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From the time that we take the MH out of winter storage, it is plugged in to the outlet on the garage. We never know when we might leave on the 'spur' of the moment and also keep the frig stocked all of the time.
Besides the MH makes a 'good' guest house for when people 'happen' to stop by.
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Old 07-04-2014, 11:02 AM   #10
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Why not find an electrician to put a 50amp rv circuit in. I wired a 30amp circuit in my garage. Easy to do and no worries about overloading. As luck would have it the builder of my house already put in the conduit and box on the wall in the garage. The breaker panel was on the other side of the same wall about 3 feet away.

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If you store your RV at your house you should consider installing either in the garage or a outdoor rated plug/box on the outside. Should cost much and you would have your rv ready any time

My 2 cents
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Old 07-04-2014, 11:04 AM   #11
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Forgot to mention I don't store my rv at my house so I turn the breaker off when not in use. Kids can do the strangest things with plugs.
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Old 07-04-2014, 11:08 AM   #12
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Well, maybe. I did this before installing a dedicated 30A receptacle. The starting current of my roof air conditioner is over 15A, but running current is around 13A. Circuit Breakers have a "Hold-in, Trip-out" specification that is designed to avoid nuisance tripping from short overloads. I used my 50A umbilical cord, a 30A extension cord, then a 30-15A reducer and didn't run anything other than the A/C. The issue here is that a residential circuit breaker is actually UL rated at 80% of it's rating for continuous duty so a 15A breaker should theoretically trip thermally at anything over 12A. Variations in ambient temperature at the breaker, breaker calibration, and A/C size may allow running a single roof A/C, on a 15A circuit, but just barely.

We just returned from a trip where some friends 15A receptacle/breakers would run our A/C, and some breakers would eventually trip. Another variable was the power (voltage) available. Mornings were fine, but available voltage dropped as people came home from work and turned on more electric loads. You don't want to damage your A/C trying to run at low voltage (under 110V?); even at campgrounds. And, if the receptacle plug is getting hot, turn the A/C off even if it appears to be running properly.

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....Not to mention the obvious (but I will), you can't run air conditioners or other heavy current draw items in this configuration.
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Old 07-04-2014, 11:51 AM   #13
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You can do that, just make sure everything else is off. You could also use the opportunity to exercise your generator instead. That way you could keep the a/c's on, water hot and ready for camping.
you would need to run the generater for 8 hours to get the fridge cool enough for travel??
15 AMPs at best will run a converter to keep the batterys charged
If you were to try and run the fridge heaters(for cooling) and the converter at the same time on 15 amps I doubt it would work. use one or the other and DO not use a GFI protected outlet.It will not work.
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Old 07-04-2014, 07:53 PM   #14
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My house was wired with a 15A breaker that served a single outlet in what the builder had designated as the "computer room". We use it as a guest bedroom.

Our Georgetown is a 30-A rig, so I bought the hardware to upgrade that one breaker to a 30A rating (still well within the load on that side of the box) and planned to put a weather-proof-while-in-use box for a 30A socket on the outside wall, close to where the RV is parked when not in use.

Fortunately, the house c/b box is less than 5' from where I planned to put the exterior socket. As often happens, the project has been procrastinated to where it no longer seems worth the grief.

We plan to sell the MH after the end of this season as we really can't afford to run it any more. We started out with gas at $1.75, now closing on $4.00 and SP fees at $15 or less, now heading towards $35 and privately-owned CGs heading above $50. The MH gets about 8 mpg, so every mile costs 50 cents. A 10-day 1200-mile trip looms up at $600 or more for fuel and maybe $450 for CG fees. Propane is down in the white noise with these numbers!

I may still do the job, as I've got all the bits and having an RV-dedicated outlet is a probable plus in our local housing market. Almost every house has an RV or a boat outside! A neighbor is a retired electrician and still has his inspector credentials.
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