Community Forums

Hillbilly2 · 02-10-2008, 06:03 AM

Ah! Zinsco, that explains it, at least you don't have a Federal Pacific panel, you can't get those to trip short of burning the house down! Zinsco has been out of business a long time,(probally not too long after the house was built) the replacement breakers are manufactured by a company that builds obesolete parts. It was probally manufactured before the requirement. The danger of this is if only one pole trips, and say a 240 volt load quits working, then you may think the entire circuit was dead leading to electrocution if you did not properly check it.

Gary RVRoamer · 02-10-2008, 04:37 PM

Since you already have a twin 30A breaker (and perhaps three wires plus ground running to the outlet?), it would make sense to install a 50A RV outlet in place of the 30A and not use the dogbone. That way you would indeed have 60A available, though only 30 on each hot leg instead of the 50 each of a full 50A connection. But if you don't have two hots and a neutral running to the outlet, you cannot install the 50A outlet without also rewiring.

UFO Pilot · 02-10-2008, 05:39 PM

The wire is 10-3 plus ground. I was going to do what you suggested but was concerned about the length of the run (about 60'). It should be OK because it is rated for 30 amps, and I would only be pulling a max of 30 amps, right?

Hillbilly2 · 02-12-2008, 02:47 PM

You should be ok, if you accidentally overload it all you will do is trip the breaker, the wire is protected by the the correct breaker size. The only other concern would be voltage drop, I haven't run the calculation on it, but at only 60' you should be ok. You may see the lights dim some when the A/C cranks up, but you still will probally have better voltage than most RV parks.

UFO Pilot · 02-12-2008, 03:04 PM

I am going to upgrade the cuicuit to 50 amps. I picked up some 6-3 wire, 50 amp receptacle and breaker today. That should fix things the right way.

Pusherman · 02-12-2008, 03:09 PM

Wayne, do not wire your 10-2 w/g wire for 220V application to your motorhme. It will not pass electrical inspection for your motorhome application. If you were to run a 220V application, you need 2 hot leads, a neutral, and a ground. You are lacking the extra neutral.

The 50A 220V configuration for motorhomes utilizes 2-6 gauge hot leads plus a neutral plus a ground. If you are to rewire your service with 6/3wg, and with a 50A double pole breaker, then this would pass the national electrical code.

Stick with a 110V application with your 30A 10/2 w/g wiring. Single pole 30A breaker. If you choose to rewire, then go for the 50A 6/3wg application.

And before anyone 'corrects me', yes, motorhomes only utilize 110V, accessing each leg of the 220V 50A shore connection individually. It still needs to be wired to meet NEC codes.

P.S. Wayne's above post appeared while I was still typing this one. Right answer, Wayne.

Hillbilly2 · 02-12-2008, 03:38 PM

10-3 w/grd type nmb or uf does have a insulated neutral with a seperate bare ground. 10-2 w/grd does not. If you are using SO or SJ rubber cord the designation would be 10-4 or 6-4. I'm assuming that the motor home cord is plugged into a permantly installed receptacle and this is not a homemade extension cord.

UFO Pilot · 02-12-2008, 04:50 PM

The 10-3 I am presently using is romex and has 1 red, 1 black, 1 white, and a bare neutral. I have temporarily rewired it for 110 volts using only one hot lead. I am replacing it with the same thing except in 6 gauge, and changing the breaker and receptacle to 50 amp.

Pusherman · 02-13-2008, 11:47 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Pusherman:
Wayne, do not wire your 10-2 w/g wire for 220V application to your motorhme. It will not pass electrical inspection for your motorhome application. If you were to run a 220V application, you need 2 hot leads, a neutral, and a ground. You are lacking the extra neutral.

The 50A 220V configuration for motorhomes utilizes 2-6 gauge hot leads plus a neutral plus a ground. If you are to rewire your service with 6/3wg, and with a 50A double pole breaker, then this would pass the national electrical code.

Stick with a 110V application with your 30A 10/2 w/g wiring. Single pole 30A breaker. If you choose to rewire, then go for the 50A 6/3wg application.

And before anyone 'corrects me', yes, motorhomes only utilize 110V, accessing each leg of the 220V 50A shore connection individually. It still needs to be wired to meet NEC codes.

P.S. Wayne's above post appeared while I was still typing this one. Right answer, Wayne. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Edit: I goofed and originally typed 10/3 wg -- meant this post with 10/2wg for 110V application only.

Wayne -- you're doing the right thing by changing to 6/3wg and fusing at 50A with a double pole breaker.