My thoughts in red. Had to add this or thinks my message is too short. I know there are ways around that but I didn't feel like redoing my reply.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hilgert
...RV park pedestals are most typically supplied by lines servicing multiple pedestals. This would mean that the current carrying capacity of the lines feeding the pedestal(s) is several multiples of 50A (maybe 200A or above). The 50A/30A/20A breakers at the pedestal are therefore primarily there to protect the cords plugged into the pedestal...as the lines to the pedestal can carry MUCH more than 50A...
I can't speak for all RV parks but in my experience each pedestal has it's own feed with another 50 amp breaker back at the distribution panel. Again that's just what I've seen.
This is part of the reason for brownouts at many RV parks in the summer...when *everyone* has their AC units on the resistance of the feeder lines causes a drop in voltage. This happens in our stick-and-brick houses as well...just typically a much smaller voltage drop.
Correct..but...just like in a house it's possible to plug in an appliance with a smaller cord that could burn up at currents lower than the breaker for the receptacle. I know I've experienced a few burned cords in my life, where the house breaker for that circuit did not trip (as the cord burned up before the breaker heated up enough to trip).
In the improbable (but possible) event of a short between the 50A pedestal breaker and the 30A RV breaker (say in the transfer switch), more than 30A could flow before the 30A breaker. Another scenario would be that something crushed/cut the cord (maybe one misses with a shovel or something) and shorted it out. In both cases the 50A pedestal breaker would (hopefully) trip, but the 30A RV breaker may not see even a single amp of current due to this...as the short is *before* the RV breaker.
Well I'll start with anything is possible. In the event of a short between the 50 amp pedestal and the 30 amp RV breakers it would need to be a partial short. One that allowed more than 30 amps to flow on a sustained basis but not more than 50 amps. A shovel would pretty much be a dead short. Are there other possibilities? Yes, but there is absolutely no way to protect against every possible situation when dealing with electricity. I think most can agree with that.
100% agree...which is why when we had 30A I always favored using a dogbone off of 50A. We have been to one park that had ONLY a 50A outlet (this was a park in Florida near relatives that was mostly a mobile home park, but had a few slots for RVers, and had loaner dogbones if needed).
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Just a note. Regarding 110, 115, 120 volt, yes many do still refer to it as 110 volt. Since there were other glaring errors, most notably 'all current returns on the neutral line', I felt I should address all of them.
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