Running A/C at home?

[erjs05]

I have our camper plugged in at the house with an extension cord. When I first brought it home I tried everything and everything worked fine, including the a/c. I was told not to run the a/c unless I'm hooked up to a 30amp service. I'm sure I'm not running on 30amps at home. Will this damage the a/c unit if I do run it? I ran it less than 10 minutes just to make sure it worked. I know my son is going to want to sleep in it over the summer and I'd like to run the a/c on hot nights, am I asking for trouble? Thanks for any input.

[rheltzel]

If you're hooking a 13K/15K BTU a/c up to a 20amp 120v circuit and it doesn't blow the breaker (it shouldn't), you're fine. If memory serves, our 15K BTU a/c draws about 13 amps (start up draws slightly more). We hook it up to a 20 amp circuit at home with no problems. Of course, you probably don't want to use the circuit for much else or you would be drawing too many amps. Also, you will have to get an adapter to adapt your 30amp RV plug to a 20amp plug. Be sure to get a heavy duty one, not a cheapo.

[Festus2]

You may be OK providing that you do not use an "ordinary" extension cord. You will need one rated at 12 gauge - minimum - 10 gauge preferred. The longer the cord, the lower the gauge rating required. If your RV power cord is long enough to plug directly into a 110V receptacle, that would be the best route.

Since your household circuits are mainly 15A, you should have a dedicated circuit just for the RV A/C. If you run the RV A/C and some other item in the house that is on the same circuit which requires high amps, you could easily end up setting off the breaker.

It would also be wise that when the A/C is running that the RV microwave or some other appliance (toaster, coffee pot, etc.) not be used at the same time or the breaker in the RV and/or the house may trip.

[billb800si]

I also use our trailer A.C. while plugged in the garage 20 Amp socket.
Here's my extension cord I use:
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/heavy-duty-30-amp-103-stw-cord-25-with-handle/57720
Happy trails,

[fredetteb]

There are 2 main issues with running your camper A/C off "standard" house current. As mentioned a typical household plug is wired for 120v at 15a. The rooftop A/C unit on your camper uses 120v at around 10-13a. So as long as you ONLY run the A/C on the camper and ONLY have the camper on the house circuit there should be no problem.

However, the first problem comes with running more than the A/C on the circuit. If your camper draws too many amps (trying to run A/C and micro for example) there will not be enough current to power both items. This may cause the motor on the A/C to run at a reduced speed and damage the compressor or cause the unit to cycle too often also causing problems.

The second issue is heat. When any appliance is running heat is generated. The more current that is drawn the more heat that is generated. If your extension cord or house wiring is not substantial enough to handle the current draw, an excess of heat can cause melting of the insulation or worst case a fire.

For your testing purposes, a short run with only the A/C on is not going to cause any harm, but be sure the extension cord is heavy duty and simply touch it while the A/C is running. If it feels unusually warm then get a heaver one. (By heaver I mean a smaller gauge number; 16ga handles less current than 12ga)

If you plan on running the A/C longer; more than 1-2hs I would recommend adding a dedicated 30amp circuit to your home electric box. Any qualified electrician can do this.

[Trent McCain]

I have both at our home. I can run the AC off the standard outlet on the garage but much else and it'll trip the breaker. We just run AC long enough to clean things out from our trip, or run the fridge until we can remove the food. I recently had my contractor install a dedicated 50 amp circuit on its own breaker in case we want to use the 5th wheel for a guest house

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[SAD]

My "standard" outlets in my home are 20 amp. Prior to having my shop built, there was no problem running the A/C off of one (of course, no other high-draw items).

[Terry W.]

We put in a gas hot water heater years ago so I took on leg that went to the electric water heater and ran it over and put a 30 rv plug from Home Depot on the side of the deck.

[chuck&gail]

Simple way to tell is put a voltmeter INSIDE the TT. If the voltage is at least 110 VAC with the A/C running, you will be fine. If less than 110 VAC you are gambling on buying a new A/C.

[erjs05]

Looks like I won't be running A/C for know. With nothing dunning voltage is 118, with the fridge running on electric and the fan running and the TV on voltage is 114. If I shut everything off and turn on the A/C voltage drops to 107.9, looks like I'll need to upgrade.

[tileman]

Looks like I won't be running A/C for know. With nothing dunning voltage is 118, with the fridge running on electric and the fan running and the TV on voltage is 114. If I shut everything off and turn on the A/C voltage drops to 107.9, looks like I'll need to upgrade.

I installed a 50amp for our 5th wheel took maybe a day to do.
Ran it from our outside panel to the barn.

Here's some good info here http://www.myrv.us/electric/index.htm
look under 30-amp Service

[rheltzel]

Good thing you checked!! I assume you were using a heavy duty extension court of relatively short length?

[erjs05]

Good thing you checked!! I assume you were using a heavy duty extension court of relatively short length?

Yes I'll just have to upgrade to it's own 30amp service.

[erjs05]

Upon further review I tried plugging the camp directly into the outlet, didn't think the camper cord would reach but that suckers pretty long. With nothing on 119 volts with the A/C running it's now 113 volts. With the fridge on electric and the A/c on it was 111.9. So I'm thinking with the fridge on gas I should be able to run the A/C s long as I don't run the Microwave.

[mikell]

You have a what 30-40K$ camper

Spend $500 and put a plug in

I know everybody can't do it themselves but I'm looking at $400 for a new AC unit on a class C I picked up because the guy melted the 30 amp adapter.

Waiting for the NEW hard start cap now

[erjs05]

I did just have a 30 amp dedicated line run for the camper. With the fridge running on electric, the TV on and the A/c on I'm running 116.6 volts. When I run the microwave along with everything else I'm running 113 volts. Also don't need an extension cord the camper plugs right in, defiantly worth it.