Can I Plug My 30 Amp RV Into My House – Electrical System (Best Tips!)


Can I Plug My 30 Amp RV Into My House

Do you know if you can plug your 30 amp RV into your house electrical system? this is one of the questions our readers ask a lot. Well, we´ve got you covered.

Whether you are using your RV only occasionally, or it doesn’t have a generator, its batteries can hold only so much power.

But, for various reasons, you may want it to be powered when you are away from campsites and their 30 amps outlets.

Especially when your RV is parked on your driveway or in the garage, you may ask yourself can you connect it to your house outlet?

Maybe you want to keep the fridge running, or to power cleaning tools, it can be convenient to have power in your RV.

So, can I plug my 30 Amp RV into my house? A quick answer is yes, you can connect your 30 Amp RV to your home outlet, but there are some limitations.

Before going deeper into this matter, let’s cover some basics of your RV’s and home electrical systems.

What Is The Voltage Of My 30 Amp RV?

To understand whether you can or can not plug the 30 amp RV extension cord in your home outlet and why it is so, it is important to understand the basics of the RV’s electrical systems.

The electrical system of a 30 amp RV uses two voltages for powering various appliances.

Those are 120 volts alternating current for larger appliances, such as the AC, refrigerator, electric ranges, most TV, and so on.

It also uses 12 volts DC for powering lights, some audio systems, and similar small consumers.

All these various appliances are either wired directly to the RV’s battery which is 12 volts DC if they use it or through the transfer switch which converts 12VDC to 120VAC for appliances that use it.

The transfer switch converter can also work in the opposite direction and converts the 120VAC from 30 amp shore power to 12VDC for charging the battery.

Read also: How Does A 50 Amp To 30 Amp RV Adapter Work (Explained!)

What Is The Amperage Of My Home Outlets?

All homes have various electrical circuits, but the majority use the 120 volts alternating current.

When it comes to the amperage of the household power outlets they are either 20 or 15 amps.

If everything is done by the code, the way to recognize the amperage of any outlet is relatively simple, by their shape.

Household outlets can be divided into three types by their slots’ shape: 

  • Non-polarized 15 amp – they have equal slots
  • Polarized 15 amp – the right side slot is slightly larger than the left one
  • Polarized 20 amp – the right side slot is slightly larger than the left one and can accept T-shaped prong

One thing to keep in mind is that non-polarized cords, with or without the ground prong, can be plugged into both polarized outlets, and polarized 15 amp cords can be in the polarized 20 amp outlets.

But polarized 15 amp cords do not fit into non-polarized outlets, and 20 amp cords with T-shaped prong fit only into polarized 20 amp outlets.

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Is It Safe To Connect My 30 Amp RV Into My House?

In short, yes, it’s perfectly safe.

But there can be certain issues under certain conditions.

The first thing you should understand is that your 30 amp RV can draw 30 amps from the outlet.

And, that needs to be emphasized, it can, but it doesn’t mean it always will.

If you are making sure that it doesn’t pull a too high current, everything will be OK and there will be no surprises for you.

But, if for some reason your RV does pull more than 15 or 20 amps, depending on what rating has the outlet you have plugged it in, the circuit breaker for that outlet will be tripped.

And that’s all that will happen, you will have to reset that circuit breaker after disconnecting the RV or turning off the appliance in your RV which causes such a high draw.

How To Connect My 30 Amp RV Into My House?

There are two ways to go about this, to either use existing 15/20 amp outlets or to have an electrician rig you a dedicated 30 amps outlet just for plugging the RV.

The second option is extremely convenient, and it frees you from any worry about whether or how you could overload a circuit breaker.

It can cost $200 to around $1,000, but you are buying a carefree experience of connecting your RV to your home outlet.

Plus you can position it where it is the most convenient to park your RV and remove the need of using an extension cord.

For the first option you will need an extension cord for RV that is rated to 30 amps, and a female 30 amps to male 15 amps converter.

Read also: Are RV Outlets The Same As House Outlets

These converters do not convert the current from 15 to 30 amps, but the shape of the outlet allows you to connect a 30 amp RV cable to a 15 amp household outlet.

When connecting the RV to the house outlet you have to first turn off all appliances in the RV, then connect the extension cord to RV, then converter, and lastly connect it to an outlet.

In this situation, you should be aware that if your RV has two AC units, you will be able to either have only one of them running or all other appliances.

The ACs are the biggest consumers in any RV, and each usually draws close to 15 amps leaving no available current for powering other things.

In case you do turn something on, the circuit breaker for the outlet used by your RV will be tripped.

Final Thoughts

To repeat, you can plug your 30 amp RV into your home outlet and you have two ways to do this.

Either to have a dedicated outlet rigged up for it, which is a more expensive but more convenient option.

Or to use an extension cord with a converter.


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References

https://www.rvingknowhow.com/hooking-rv-into-home-electric-system/

Mike Gilmour

Hi, I'm Mike, co-founder, and editor of RV and Playa. My passion is traveling (with my RV) and enjoying the day at the beach (Playa)! Well, I originally created this blog as a way to share what I've learned by experimenting with the RV lifestyle, and I want to help others develop in life through new skills and opportunities.

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