110 volt what can I run?

[rlh1957]

Originally Posted by Stumpy75

Refrig, TV and maybe even the hot water heater would be ok. However, if you want to try to run the AC, then all of those other things will have to be shut off or turned to propane. The starting surge of the AC is what draws the big amount of power. Depending on your friends available power, the AC will probably run on the standard 120volt, 15amp household circuit, as long as it's the only thing on the circuit. Keep any extension cords short and heavy(10 gauge wire). And don't use the cheap 15A to 30A adapters. Get a heavy duty one of those too.

While you're at it, pick up a voltage monitor. It plugs into a 120volt outlet and reads out the voltage. Anything below 108 volts will be real hard on the AC, or whatever else is running too.

The lights run off of 12volt, and should not be as much of a problem.

If you have dual AC/LP fridge and HW then use LP on fridge and HW. Refrigerator runs great on LP and doesn’t use much LP gas. The HW heater uses much less LP than you’d think.
The 110v from the house will go through converter to run DC lights and charger for batteries.
Don’t turn on Elec HW heater. It would probably trip the house breaker if 15amp as house plugs usually are. Some garage plugs are on 20amp breakers.
Either way use at least a 14 gauge 14AWG heavy extension cord, a 12AWG would be better.
Use short as possible length on extension cord.
You can probably forget about running the AC unless you installed an SoftStartRV box on AirConditioner, then you’d still be limited on what else you can run.
Coffee makers and hair dryers are real amp hogs.

If you pull too many amps from the house plug the breaker will trip there first.

[VitoJCongineJr]

It is not only the voltage to be concerned of. You need to know the amperage draw. If you plug into a 110 volt outlet of a friends property you will most likely only have 15 amps and if lucky up to 20 amps.
The result of overloading will be a tripped breaker, assuming the breaker is working properly, if the breaker is not working properly and does not shut down properly then a degradation of insulation and conductor will result.

[Southwing]

For anyone reading that is looking at plugging into a friend's or family member's house power (or their own house!).

Look for the wire leading to the outlet you plan to use. If the outlet is on a wall associated with a garage, you can usually see (In the ceiling rafters or at the top of the wall) the romex wire that leads to the outlet. On an exterior wall that is associated with a finished interior wall, you can often access the attic and locate the romex leading to the outlet in amongst the ceiling joists (you might have to move some insulation to find the wire). If the romex insulation (covering) is white, it is 14 gauge, which will dictate a 15 amp capacity in house wiring. If it is a yellow covering, it is 12 gauge, which will dictate a 20 amp capacity. Note that this is the amp capacity of the wire. The circuit breaker the romex is attached to in your CB panel should be of the corresponding amperage. White = 14 gauge = 15 amp, yellow = 12 gauge = 20 amp. Use this info to help determine what is a safe load to draw from the house. Just FYI, 30 amp romex is orange, with 10 gauge wire.

Note also that a 20 amp outlet has different shaped openings in its face. For a 20 amp outlet, there will be an opening that will accommodate a plug with either a vertical or horizontal flat prong. 15 amp outlets do not have the horizontal opening.

Keep in mind that some houses, especially older ones, may have mismatched amperage breakers for the wire that is installed in the house. For example, a 14 gauge (white) romex connected to a 20 amp breaker. This breaker is oversized, and could pose a fire hazard with 14 gauge, white romex. This could cause the overloaded 14 gauge (15 amp) wire to heat up and catch fire because the 20 amp breaker didn't trip. Finally, remember that the gauge of the wire is what is limiting how much amperage you can use safely, not the size of the breaker!

Just some house wiring primer for those who are not quite up to speed on house wiring...

[jasin1]

Keep in mind if it hasent been mentioned that all of these scenarios are assuming you have a dedicated outlet to plug into….just because you see an outlet it doesn’t mean it’s the only one on the circuit..someone in the past may have pulled power from the garage circuit or basement circuit or wherever..it may be also powering garage door openers or a shed on the property.. people are lazy and always say they will install it rigged right now and correct it later..I go into homes everyday and the biggest thing I see wrong is mislabeled breakers and “dedicated furnace breakers” that are anything but dedicated..they wire half the basement of of that circuit or every now and then a air cond disconnect that also powers the shed.

Everything might be good for running your trailer then someone hits the garage door opener and you have a breaker tripping…think about Chevy Chase and Christmas vacation and the lights not working. Lol

[Southwing]

Originally Posted by jasin1

Keep in mind if it hasent been mentioned that all of these scenarios are assuming you have a dedicated outlet to plug into….just because you see an outlet it doesn’t mean it’s the only one on the circuit..someone in the past may have pulled power from the garage circuit or basement circuit or wherever..it may be also powering garage door openers or a shed on the property.. people are lazy and always say they will install it rigged right now and correct it later..I go into homes everyday and the biggest thing I see wrong is mislabeled breakers and “dedicated furnace breakers” that are anything but dedicated..they wire half the basement of of that circuit or every now and then a air cond disconnect that also powers the shed.

Everything might be good for running your trailer then someone hits the garage door opener and you have a breaker tripping…think about Christmas vacation and the lights not working. Lol

How true! Great examples, especially of an older house that has had a few owners who like to tinker and "add-on." A newer one-owner house would be less likely to have some of these "issues."

[Mark2827]

I plug mine into a normal 120 outlet with an adapter for the plug
I can run the ac and lightning and after ac is on tv as well. Can’t use microwave or toaster etc. So I shut off ac to use other things. All lighting is LED so not a lot of power draw and TV also low power draw. I do have a 20A breaker gfci though. So just saying this can be done but pay attention to what you are trying to run…. My water heater is only LP.

[JRTJH]

Also realize that all ROMEX, whether it was/is 6, 8, 10, 12 or 14, until just a few years ago was ALL white sheathed. The color coding for ROMEX sheathing only started to be "fashionable" about 8 or 10 years ago. Southwire was the first company to colorcode ROMEX and within a few years, most companies were coloring their outer sheath. Prior to that, most ROMEX was white sheathed for interior work, gray sheathed for exterior work and some was even black sheathed (I have no idea what it was for)

Anyway, most houses built prior to 2000 or even 2005, could have been built with ALL the ROMEX in it being "white sheathed"... So, unless it's a "brand new house" I'd look for the writing on the sheath rather than making an assumption that "it's white it must be 14 ga"..... https://www.thespruce.com/nonmetalli...-color-1152905

Even today, some brands of ROMEX comes with white outer sheath in all gauges from 4 through 14. The UB grade ROMEX is designated for above ground "wet locations" such as garages, outbuildings, etc. Some building codes specify that grade ROMEX, so in some locations, even a new house will have "white ROMEX" in the garage, no matter what gauge the circuit carries. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Southwire-2...e-Roll/3129375