Can you use A/C unit while plugged into your house?

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Originally Posted by Jaycobro

I store my camper at my house and have it connected to our home electrical. Do you know if I can run my AC unit while plugged into my house?

When we first got ours, we tried it on a 12g extension on a 20a line. It worked but would flip the breaker when anything else on that line turned on. We ended up spending around $180 to have an external 30A outlet installed on the brick wall next to our drive. *That* works like a charm!

[RedHorse1]

Originally Posted by pward

x2

X3. Using my power cord and my 30A extension with my 15A dog-bone adapter I could reach a 20A plug just inside the kitchen window. This was the little HTT that I could back in the driveway. Haven’t even attempted to get the 5th in the drive, I figure let the neighbors find their own entertainment.

[Vicr]

First of all I've been an electrician for 37 years. I did an experiment one day with my Precept with the 13,000 btu AC's. I took a 50' 12 gauge extension cord and pluged my coach into a 20a GFCI receptacle on the outside of my house. I then put an ammeter on the circuit conductor in the panel feeding the GFCI the coach was plugged into. I turned the coach on and checked the ammeter: 2a load. I then turned on the main AC and went back to the ammeter: 13a load. The AC ran continually for 4 hours with NO fluctuation on load and NO over heated cord or connections.
To answer the OP: YES you can plug your RV into a 20 amp circuit with a short (100' or less) extension cord and run your AC to your hearts desire and still have an available 3 amps you can use in your RV.

[1SGPETE]

Originally Posted by Jaycobro

I store my camper at my house and have it connected to our home electrical. Do you know if I can run my AC unit while plugged into my house?

Mine is in the drive way. I used to have problems blowing breakers when I turned the AC on out side if the house AC was already on.
I installed a 30 amp breaker and ran a line to the other side of the house and installed a weather plug on a short pole. I plug into this and have no problem with running both the house and the Motor Home.

1SG Pete

[berwin]

When camping in friends' driveways, we sometimes connect to their outdoor outlets so we can run the A/C without cranking the generator. We have had mixed results with tripping breakers. It is doable but make sure you are connecting to a dedicated 20 amp circuit.

[1SGPETE]

Originally Posted by berwin

When camping in friends' driveways, we sometimes connect to their outdoor outlets so we can run the A/C without cranking the generator. We have had mixed results with tripping breakers. It is doable but make sure you are connecting to a dedicated 20 amp circuit.

That's what our problem was, I was connected to an outside plug that ran off of the inside wall plugs. and a window unit on the same circuit would come on and blow the breaker.
Once I installed a dedicated 30 amp breaker and ran a line to the other side of the house, it worked fine.

[Cavie]

Originally Posted by EA37TS

If you are talking about plugged into a 30 or 50 amp. outlet you had installed then yes.

If you are asking about adapting down and plugging into a 10 or 20 amp wall outlet then more than likely no. Sometimes however, if there is noting else plugged into that circuit you might get away with the AC running for a short period of time before tripping the breaker.

If you store your trailer at home and haven't done so you might want to get a 30 or 50 amp outlet installed for the trailer.

50 year electrician. Haven't seen a 10 amp outlet yet.

[jimmoore13]

At the risk of repeating someone.

A 13,500 BTU AC "CAN" run on a 2000 watt generator, IF YOU HAVE AN EASY START capacitor start assist. https://www.amazon.com/SPP6-Capacito.../dp/B0002YTLFE

This giant capacitor is like a battery in that it stores a bit of energy that it can dump at a high rate for a short time. Just enough to launch the compressor motor. Once running, the compressor requires substantially less power, so nominal 2000 watt peak/1600 watt continuous generator can just barely run it.

It turns out that your home shore power can meet this minimal standard if nothing else is loading the circuit and your circuit breakers are not tired. Ideally your circuit will be a 20 amp circuit, but a 1600 watt genny is only delivering a bit more than 13 amps.

You CANNOT do this with a 15,000 BTU AC, but with a soft start and a 20 amp circuit and a #10 AWG lead cord as short as possible, you MIGHT get away with it...so long as you add no other loads to the circuit - in the home or in the RV.

As others have said, if this is important to you, install a 30 amp circuit. If your main panel has an open spot, install a 50 amp breaker. Feed a sub-panel like this one with appropriate wire for the distance needed...typically #6 AWG. There are many variables in this equation depending on how your main panel is installed, but you could run the feed wire in conduit around the outside of your foundation/sill plate. You could even bury the wire in conduit and run it to a 6" x 6" post next to the RV parking site, and mount the box on that post. (the Siemens box is meant for outside use.) I'd recommend against direct bury wire. Unless you are in ideal soils, rocks and other debris can wreck direct bury wire. Use conduit if you go in the ground...no matter what code allows.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You're starting to talk real money in some situations, but if you park next to your garage, and if your garage is already wired with about 50 amps, you may be in luck...especially if there is a sub-panel in the garage. Like I said, many variables.

I just installed this box at my home. I'm very pleased with it.

[RetiredOne]

Originally Posted by jimmoore13

You CANNOT do this with a 15,000 BTU AC, but with a soft start and a 20 amp circuit and a #10 AWG lead cord as short as possible, you MIGHT get away with it...so long as you add no other loads to the circuit - in the home or in the RV.

Actually, as others have said above, on my home circuit, I can run my 15,000 BTU A/C on a 20 amp circuit with a GFI receptacle, with a 50 ft, 12 gauge extension cord, plugged in with a 30 amp adaptor, into my 30 ft. standard 10 gauge power cord on my rig. I've checked the wire and adaptor while running, and it barely gets warm. My converter will also kick on to charge the house batteries at the same time, too.

[us71na]

The A/C in my camper is on a 15 amp breaker in the trailer. It runs quite well on the 20 amp circuit I connect to in my house. I don't run any other devices at the same time when the A/C is running.

[Lake Huron]

All the years I've had trailers I've only plugged them in when we were getting ready to head out. I'd pull it out from along side the house into the driveway and use the rv cord with the 110v adapter and plug into the 20A plug in my garage to chill the fridge down. That was about it. I did "experiment" with trying to run the A/C. My older trailers would draw a lot of power and sometimes pop the breaker. The newer ones seemed to work better, but the cord would get warm. Again, I don't normally plug mine in while at the house until a day or two before we get ready to head out, BUT, last year I got sick of having a cord run under my garage door and the door not shut the way it was supposed to. So I was debating of installing a 30A or 50A. I was already spending $200 to do it, what's another $20 to go to 50A. Go big or go home. Well, its paying off. Thursday before Easter the nuke box in the house crapped the bed. A white over the stove one is like toilet paper right now. People must be hoarding them because I couldn't find one within 500 miles of my house. So I plugged my trailer into the 50A plug that I installed last year on the side of the house and nuke my stuff in there. DW doesn't like anything out there so we are getting the old one fixed. Waiting for parts, thanks China!
I will say it's nice to be able to plug it in and do anything I want without having to deal with power management. Worth every cent!

[Shoman04]

Originally Posted by pward

Wondering why you need 30a just to park an rv at home? Other than running a small electric heater in winter, keeping the house battery charged and keeping up with parasitic draw, what else would need that much amperage if you weren't living in it?

My wife uses the 21cube residential fridge (in our A class) for Thanksgiving and other family holidays. The grand babies love come to the house sleep in the coach for the weekend. We also use our RV about once a month and twice a month doing foot ball season. My oldest stepson died and his two daughters live with us and my sister-in-law so sometimes I just get a date night and go stay in the coach just to get away from the house. So that why I have a 30amp at my house and I'm a Electrician.