A Women's RV Forum run by Women RVer's!

This has probably been asked and answered many times before but I can seldom remember things that don't affect me at that moment. Can we plug our RVs into household power receptacles? Do we need some kind of adapter? I've been offered a place to park at my niece's house in NY but I don't know about the power situation.Sorry if this is redundant.

Here's what I've found out. Regular household current is 120 and that will run your lights and fridge, but not AC, furnace,TV (?), hair dryers, plug in heaters. (and I'm assuming crockpots, electric skillets and coffee makers).

And assuming they don't have a rv plug, you'll need an adapter/reducer.

and a dryer plug isn't the same thing even though it looks like a 50 amp, its not.
Now, if you had an electrician put in an rv receptacle, properly, then you could
have it all, including ac. My sister did that at her house in Wisconsin, so when I
get a chance to go visit she said she has all the hook up for me, including water
and sewer. (sewer is hooked up through an exterior clean-out)

To put it simply - you need a converter from 30 amp to 110. Many campgrounds, when you plug in - have 50, 30 and 110 in the hook-ups - so you can plug in something else there if need be. I always ran the trickle charge to my scooter directly from the cg 110. You really should have this converter anyway - like how I needed it below.

I have plugged into many friends and families houses. And you can run the micro or hair dryer - but ONLY one of them at a time - and I wouldn't try the air conditioner, although it might work. It will all depend on what else they may have on that circuit. If nothing else, you can do more - like here, when my 30 amp went out at this cg, I had the rv plugged overnight into the 110. I did make popcorn, but otherwise, didn't use anything but fridge, lights and tv. If I'd wanted to use my hair dryer, I could have, but wouldn't have used the micro at the same time.

What Lenora says is basically true - but you can use your heater if it's gas with blower - but I don't recommend using an electric heater. You can use the skillet, crock pot, etc - just like you could in a house. Again, just be careful because you're running everything off ONE circuit (you know how your house has many) and otherwise, you could blow your fuses in the rv and you could blow their fuses in their house.

This is sounding complicated, it's not. Plug in - enjoy. However, if it'll be super hot there - you won't have your air conditioner.

She beat me to the submit button. Okay, my post will just confirm what BPC says

I have run AC off of house current but "what Beth said".....you have to be careful. Here at home, I have also run the small cube heater, which when you think of it would be running off of the 110 circuit if I was using it back in my office in the winter to heat up my feet...which I have done. It may depend on how the circuits are wired. If it is a circuit that isn't trying to power much of anything else it seem to work fine. At my daughter's the fuse blows so it is a no go....... The BluePineCone RV Resort and Dog Park in Huntsville was able to provide for my AC when I stayed there.....then again, Sarah may not have gotten her electric bill yet! I just know that when I have limited power I use limited power. When necessary and I have to have AC and microwave...there is always the generator (as long as I have remembered to fill the gas tank sometime shortly before I stop....

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50 AMP plug



30 AMP plug




20 AMP plug




All three can run off your household (110v, 15-20A) current, with the proper adapters for 30 and 50 amp. But you must remember that house circuits are usually wired for 15 or 20 AMP service. So you have to be mindful of what you have running at the same time in your trailer (i.e., a/c and microwave - NO), and what's on the same circuit in the house. And no cheesy household extension cords, either.

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Bethers wrote:To put it simply - you need a converter from 30 amp to 110. Many campgrounds, when you plug in - have 50, 30 and 110 in the hook-ups - so you can plug in something else there if need be. I always ran the trickle charge to my scooter directly from the cg 110. You really should have this converter anyway - like how I needed it below.

I have plugged into many friends and families houses. And you can run the micro or hair dryer - but ONLY one of them at a time - and I wouldn't try the air conditioner, although it might work. It will all depend on what else they may have on that circuit. If nothing else, you can do more - like here, when my 30 amp went out at this cg, I had the rv plugged overnight into the 110. I did make popcorn, but otherwise, didn't use anything but fridge, lights and tv. If I'd wanted to use my hair dryer, I could have, but wouldn't have used the micro at the same time.

What Lenora says is basically true - but you can use your heater if it's gas with blower - but I don't recommend using an electric heater. You can use the skillet, crock pot, etc - just like you could in a house. Again, just be careful because you're running everything off ONE circuit (you know how your house has many) and otherwise, you could blow your fuses in the rv and you could blow their fuses in their house.

This is sounding complicated, it's not. Plug in - enjoy. However, if it'll be super hot there - you won't have your air conditioner.

Think you meant 50, 30 and 20 Amp, Beth. They're all 110 Volt. And yes, she'll need a 30 to 20 Amp adaptor to use unless someone is nice enough to install a 30A rv outlet. I plug into the 20A here at the house any time I'm leaving on a trip or getting home to run the vacuum cleaner, precool the fridge and make icecubes.

Yep, I meant 20 amp - thanks for catching that, Sharon. And I kinda figured Mitch would chime in with pictures.

I do need to use an extension cord often when at friends - just get a decent one - and be careful.

I have a 30 amp extension cord & 30 to 20 amp adapter. I learned a lesson when I plugged in a (not-so) heavy duty cord into what must have been a 15 amp outlet at my sister's last summer. The cord plastic melted, and could not run AC without blowing a fuse. Works fine on 20 amp though.

50 amp is 110? So.. in order to run your a/c off the house current,, you have to get another breaker just for that rv plug?

im a little confoosed here... help me out, you smart gals! Please?

thx....

Question (taken from the internet)
If you could help me understand the difference between the 50 amp and 30 amp outlets I would appreciate your advice. Is the 50 amp a 220 line ? with a 20 and 30 amp or is it a 50 amp at 120 ? To add to the confussion is the 4 prong plug 50 amp ? Thank you for your help ! Larry

Answer
One supplies up to 30 amps of voltage, one supplies up to 50 amps of voltage. 30/50 amp outlets are usually always 220 volt. The 220 volt plugs are configured as to not to be confused or interchanged with the standard three prong 110 volt plugs . A 220 plug has two hots, a neutral and a ground whereby a 110 volt plug has just one hot, one neutral and one ground.

Janet, hope this helps.

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Well, I knew I could count on you ladies. I am planning to go in September and it's northern NY near Rochester for only 1 or 2 nights. Shouldn't need either AC or heat and it's likely she'll even feed me. I have an adapter of some kind in the rig - was included in dealer's welcome kit - never needed it so I'll check and see what kind.

mitch5252 wrote:Question (taken from the internet)
If you could help me understand the difference between the 50 amp and 30 amp outlets I would appreciate your advice. Is the 50 amp a 220 line ? with a 20 and 30 amp or is it a 50 amp at 120 ? To add to the confussion is the 4 prong plug 50 amp ? Thank you for your help ! Larry

Answer
One supplies up to 30 amps of voltage, one supplies up to 50 amps of voltage. 30/50 amp outlets are usually always 220 volt. The 220 volt plugs are configured as to not to be confused or interchanged with the standard three prong 110 volt plugs . A 220 plug has two hots, a neutral and a ground whereby a 110 volt plug has just one hot, one neutral and one ground.

Janet, hope this helps.

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EXCEPT RV 30 and 50 Amp outlets....they are ALWAYS 110 volts. Do not confuse this...I know folks that didn't know the difference, put in a 50Amp-220Volt outlet in their garage and burned up everything in their rv. And I mean everthing...all appliances, all electronics...had to have their rv's completely rewired to the tune of thousands of dollars. If you should have an electrician put a 30 or 50 Amp outlet in your garage make sure that they wire it for 110 volts and use an rv outlet, available at any trailer or rv supply and some hardware stores.