Plugging into house outlet questions?

[Timo1]

I'm going to be parked at a friend's house in a few weeks. He says he has an electric dryer outlet that is 120v with a 40amp breaker. He says I can plug my 50amp rv into with an 50-15 adapter. Is this right I know I can't plug into a 30amp dryer plug in. Sorry if this has been aske,, but I searched and didn't see it.

I have a 2002 chieftain 36.

[Eagle5]

Hi Timo1,
Something seems sort of odd about a 40 amp dryer breaker. My home dryer runs on the twin-phase 30 amp circuit, the current version of that 30 amp plug looks like this:



The standard Twin-phase 50 amp RV outlet looks like this:

A 15 amp outlet is just a regular household outlet. Do you have one of those adapters?

Eagle5

[Timo1]

Yes I have that adapter. I'm using it right now at my house. My friend says his dryer is plugged into a normal looking outlet not the 30amp outlet you have pictured.

[Morich]

One way this might get done if the drier is gas, it may be a case where somebody lacking knowledge converted a 220 plug to "normal" 110 plug for the electrical supply.

Possible a 15-20 amp outlet breakered to 40 amp?

Aproach VERY carefully!

[Wayne M]

Agree, but not only approach cautiously, meter the receptacle.

[bigb]

Lot's of homes have a 240V dryer circuit in addition to a gas hookup and the required 120V 20 amp laundry circuit. As far as an electric dryer that is 120V, they make them but they are on a 20 amp circuit and extremely rare as they take eons to dry a load. A 15 or 20 amp outlet cannot be on a 40 amp breaker. My guess is your friend is mistaken, either the dryer is gas which also has a 120V plug for the motor & timer or he is looking at the washer plug and missing the dryer plug. Another possibility is there is an unused dryer circuit but it should only be on a 30 amp circuit unless it was installed or modified by a non-qualified person. A career in the electrical trade taught me that more often than not the panel labeling is incorrect and should never be taken as the truth.
If there is indeed a 20 amp receptacle on a 40 amp breaker (which I doubt), even if the wire is sized accordingly the receptacle will easily melt down when overloaded.

[Timo1]

Yep after my friend looked closer after I forwarded this thread to him. His dryer is gas and the 40amp breaker is no longer hooked up to anything(electric dryer was removed years ago). The washer and dryer are plugged into the same outlet cluster that must be 20amps or maybe 15amps.

[Morich]

So many things that are wrong with the info given that there isn't really a place to start on getting it done right.
IF the outlet is a standard 110 outlet, it should be breakered no more than 15 or possibly 20 if the corrrect outlet is used.
But IF it is a standard 15-20 amp outlet and IF the breaker is okay at 15 or 20 amp, that still leaves it true that you can only get 15 amps out IF you are doing it reasonably safe.
That will limit you to Airconditioner being unlikely but "Might" run. I would not plan on it. Lights and battery charging is likely okay. Microwave likely okay but not at the same time as other high currrent uses like a hair drier.

So I might guess you CAN plug in and do a few of the basics but not something I would recommend for very long term and certainly not without checking for sure what they have as what you have told us so far sounds really confused or bad!
The point to look for is what is the lowest rated item and one of those we know about will be the 15 amp adapter.
It can appear to be working fine, but it can just be heating up and getting ready to fail!

EDIT!
Whoops, sorry about my post. I was typing while you were updating the info!

[bigb]

Originally Posted by Morich

IF the outlet is a standard 110 outlet, it should be breakered no more than 15 or possibly 20 if the corrrect outlet is used.

A common mis-conception. An ordinary 15 amp duplex can be legally and safely used on a 20 amp circuit, they are both rated at 20 amps. The only difference is the face configuration, the 15 amp does not allow a 5-20P to be inserted so that a device that requires a 20 amp circuit cannot be plugged into a 15 amp circuit. It is however, illegal to install a 20 amp receptacle on a 15 amp circuit for obvious reasons.

[jerichorick]

Originally Posted by Timo1

I'm going to be parked at a friend's house in a few weeks. He says he has an electric dryer outlet that is 120v with a 40amp breaker. He says I can plug my 50amp rv into with an 50-15 adapter. Is this right I know I can't plug into a 30amp dryer plug in. Sorry if this has been aske,, but I searched and didn't see it.

I have a 2002 chieftain 36.

I'd approach this with great cation. The dryer can not have a standard 15 or 20A plug. The standard dryer is 240V or 120V/120V/30A. This can be 3 or 4 wire. The 4 wire setup provides L1, L2, N and G (120V/120V). The 3 wire setup is only L1, L2 and ground (240V). The 240V outlet will fry your rig. You must have a Neutral for your RV to have proper power with either 30A or 50A service.

I do not recommend using a 15A outlet ever. You can get away with a 20A outlet for charging your batteries but the adapter must be watched for over heating. Because many chargers draw 12 to 15 amps a 15 A circuit would be pushing its limit. 80% load is all that is allowed in code. This is to prevent fires.
Best of luck.
Rick

[Ray,IN]

Everything is explained in detail here: https://www.myrv.us/electric/

[jerichorick]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

Everything is explained in detail here: https://www.myrv.us/electric/

Nice find, Ray. Very detailed by simple explanation of the RV outlets. From some of the sad stories I have see on the forums I think a few electricians need to review there knowledge of RV service before installing a 30A service. Too many, even though few, have wired them for 240V! OUCH!!!!
Happy New Year,
Rick

[Ray,IN]

Jerichorick we refer to that website frequently over on irv2.com and the Winnebago forum.
It's indisputable information for correcting new RVers and some uninformed electricians.


This little-sister website does not usually get the benefit of older members of RV Life, as we are attached to the original website.