Bordercollie
Garden Grove, CA, USA
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Ditto all the cautions above. Get a licensed electrician to install a proper 120v box outide wall of your garage, with receptable that mates directly with your RV shore cable plug. Electrician should make sure that wiring polarity in box and RV is correct for your safety. Your shore cable should be long enough to reach without extension cable. Install a simple plug-in line voltage meter inside your rig to keep an eye on line voltage with your rig's AC running. In hot weather, when neighbors are running their central AC's etc, line voltage may drop below 110vac and your RV's AC unit may be damaged if left running. If line voltage drops below 110, when you run your microwave and AC at the same time, don't run both.
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smkettner
Southern California
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Even if you hire an electrician make sure the NEMA 30-TT outlet is wired to one breaker and make him show you 120 volts on his meter.
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lanerd
Newport, OR
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j-d wrote:THANK HEAVEN you asked first! We just had a case where an OP hired an electrician to wire a 30A outlet and he made it 240VAC. Quite a bit of damage...
I'm not sure how you could wire a 30amp, 3-prong connector to have 240vac...unless he did away with the neutral and wired another 120vac leg to it.
They use to wire 240AC plugs without a neutral, but I think that is no longer the case and all require one now. I assume that electrician was an older guy who was use to wiring that way.
Ron
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j-d
Sunny Florida USA
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Yep, just two hots and either ground or neutral on the ground pin. I just pulled our drier plug and it's only three prongs and 240VAC.
Never mind the plug and socket both have 120 (maybe 125) VAC molded into them...
God Bless, jd
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wolfe10
Texas
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As suggested if this is older 240VAC wiring with 3 wires, it can not be "converted" to 30 amp RV.
If it is newer 240 VAC wiring with 4 wires, it can easily be converted.
You want ONE hot, one neutral and one ground. The other hot will not be used.
Could you "patch together" a three wire-- yes, but wire color at the house breaker box would be incorrect, as it would require you to change one hot to a neutral, retaining the original ground and one hot.
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smkettner
Southern California
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A 3 wire NEMA 10-30 can be changed to a NEMA 30-TT. Changes need to be made in the breaker box so you have one each; Hot, Neutral, Ground. Then connect same to the new outlet.
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RonR2440
Foxfield, CO
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Your outlet might be wired to a 15 amp circuit breaker. The air conditioner might require more amperage at startup. When I wired our home, I wired the outlets to 20 amp circuit breakers (different size wire). I have hooked up my RV to a garage outlet and can run the AC without a problem. Good luck.
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ron.dittmer
Northern Illinois
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I plug my 30A/110v motor home into a 25A/220v in my garage all the time. That outlet is not shared with any appliance in the house. I simply use the adapter pictured which utilizes only one of the two hot 220V wires which is 110v on a 10 gauge wire. I don't get full 30A service, but rather 25A. So I just won't run the a/c and the microwave at the same time. But I am at home without a need to run both simutaneously.
I did have to replace the 25a/220v receptacle in the garage with a 50a/220v to match the adaptor. It is pictured farther below. I placed a label on the receptable cover plate stating the 25A rating for the motor home only.
Does anyone see a problem with what I did? I'd like to know your thoughts about it.
 
2007 Phoenix Cruiser model 2350, with 2006 Jeep Liberty in-tow
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enblethen
Moses Lake, WA
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Ron:
That is not a 220 receptacle. It is a 120/240 volt four wire.
Depending on wire size, your installation is sound. You have pistured a fifty amp 120/240 four wire range receptacle which is the same as the 50 amp RV receptacle.
Bud
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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JC435 wrote:The last time I plugged our MH in at home in a 110 outlet, when the AC came on in the MH it tripped the breaker. Not knowing a thing about this stuff, would it help and is it OK to plug the MH into a 220 outlet in our garage? Thank you for any help you can give. Per several posts above don't plug into 220V.
Only a small AC can run on a 20A plug. Plus most household circuits share multiple plugs on a 20A CB so other plugs will also be drawing current.
You may/may not be able to run the AC on a dedicated 20A plug. Best bet is to install a 30A or even 50A plug. Be VERY sure that the 30A plug is a RV plug and wired for 110. The 30A RV plug is similar looking to the older 3 wire dryer plug and some electricians wire it with 220 and then the rig gets fried.
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Bob
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