20 amp "dogbone" adapter

[bartbill]

Saw this in the City of Fort Morgan park/campground. Seems like a good thing to have. Like to know what you folks think.

The electric box has two 110 volt outlets. A fellow had made an adapter by wiring the two 110 volts into a 30 amp dogbone to connect his trailer. Seems like a good idea to me.

Any issues with this?

[chuckster57]

I'll let the electricians answer, but I wouldn't do it.

Virtually every campsite we have ever been at with power has a 30A receptacle. I'm not a fan of homemade adaptors, should something happen who's going to get blamed?

[bobbecky]

You will get nothing more than 15 or 20 amps of capacity, because the dual outlet is fed by one 14 gauge or 12 gauge wire serving both of the outlets, just like it would be in your home, so the capacity is not two 15 amp outlets to make 30 amps, or two 20 amp outlets to make 40 amps. You will just trip the 15 or 20 amp breaker in the pedestal, hopefully before you burn up something else.

[xcntrk]

You will get nothing more than 15 or 20 amps of capacity, because the dual outlet is fed by one 14 gauge or 12 gauge wire serving both of the outlets, just like it would be in your home, so the capacity is not two 15 amp outlets to make 30 amps, or two 20 amp outlets to make 40 amps. You will just trip the 15 or 20 amp breaker in the pedestal, hopefully before you burn up something else.

Bingo!

Highly unlikely those are two separate 120v@15A circuits. But even technically I don't think this is sound because each circuit is still backed by a 15A breaker. Meaning if you combine two circuits supplied from a panel with each broken out by 15A breakers, you still will oversubscribe either of those single breakers as soon as the load exceeds those 15amps. There's no intelligent way to balance the amp load down those 2 individual circuits.

[chuckster57]

I figured it was the way Bobbecky explained it, but electricity wasn't one of my favorite subjects.

[bartbill]

Thanks much.

Electricity isn't one of my best subjects either!

[ctbruce]

My rule: if it makes sense then something is probably wrong.

Chip Bruce, RPh
Kansas City, MO
2016 Fuzion Impact 312
2015 Chevrolet Silverado LTZ
WELL....THAT WAS FUN!