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moisheh · 09-04-2010, 08:21 AM

Keep in mind that codes vary from one area to another. I dont think the National code calls for that ground rod but I am NOT an electrician. I have never seen a ground rod near a pedestal in any trailer park. I know that usually a sub panel requires a ground rod but perhaps there is something in the code that addresses RV panels.Where we live burial wire has to be 2 ft. under but flex cable can be 12 inches.

vermilye · 09-04-2010, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimM68

...You "may" be able to skip the 4rth conductor. We did with the pool / hot tub. Oddly, code for a house says one and only one ground, at the main panel, everything else grounded off of that, but code for a pool says a separate bonding wire with a ground rod 10 feet into the ground.

So the cable coming out of the house is 2 hots and a neutral. (times 2)

Please do not even consider installing a sub panel or feed to a pool without a ground wire included with the hots & neutral. Although driving a ground rod & attaching it to the wired ground buss is a good idea for a pool, using the ground rod in place of a ground wire is not acceptable under any code I know of.

The purpose of the ground wire is to trip the feeder's circuit breaker if there is a fault to any metal in the pool area. You cannot depend on the earth to have a low enough resistance between the pool area & the service entrance where the system ground is located to cause enough current to trip the breaker when there is a fault to ground.

Again, in all but a few rare cases, a ground wire must be run with the hots & neutral.

Renipladlo · 09-04-2010, 10:39 AM

I am not an electrician, but I helped build high voltage substations which are typically 600V and above.

I am certified RV Tech, so we had some electrical theory in class. As mentioned, some things to consider, wire size, length of run, approved panel and breakers, which have been mentioned. IF it was me, and I was close to the maximum size based on my length of run, I would go to the next larger size to be safe.

I know you have to have the ground and neutral separate in the panel and having a ground rod near the panel won't hurt.

In RV parks, they have 10-20 spots off the same transformer and the grounds run back to that ground rod for that loop of sites. It costly to have ground rods for each site, so they bond all the grounds together with 4/0 copper medium ground and tie them all together back to the ground rod in the transformer.

When laying out the ground mat for a substation, the HV code and lessons learned dictates every so many square feet a new rod is driven into the ground and that rod is then bonded to the rest of the mat. I think it was every 50 linear feet in all directions, but I never was in that part of the process.

For my application, my box, and my panel are within 20 feet of each other, but I am still going to use the correct size wire and come back to the panel for the neutral and ground and both hot wires. We converted to gas, so the DPST 30A breaker and the 50 & 70 AMP DPST breakers are not needed any longer for the furnace, so I have 150A free in the panel to provide a 50A for the motorhome. It just means getting dirty and fiberglass all over me when I run the wires.

JDooley · 12-11-2010, 09:20 AM

I would have the electrician come out once to inspect and tell you if you can run 50 or 30 and what wire to purchase. Then I would run two conduits to the rv site, one for the electrical line and one for low voltage, telephone and intercom. Install the electrical line that the electrician specifies and when done call the electrician back out to do the actual hook up to both ends.

MickBrennan · 12-11-2010, 09:57 AM

Besides what JDooleysaid:

The cost to upgrade is insignificant when creating a new installation. Consider that additional conduit (with fly line) for additional future services. Cable TV coax, cat 6 data cable or even a phone line. You are doing the trenching and backfilling so "might as well"... "while you are at it"...

JDooley · 12-12-2010, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickO

Thanks vermilye... yep, that's the site. I created my account and you're sure right about the reader being a pain to use. It's good background information.

Do a print screen and save to a word document