Trailer Parking In Yard

[Kevin D Pem]

The breaker protects the wire. Breaker sized according to wire run not load. If you run a sub panel you will run wire size according to sub panel size. Ask a friend electrician to help with local requirements.

 

[sanda]

So, I’m planning to relandscape the front corner of our yard. The basic idea is to move our fence line up to the street (to match the neighbor’s fence on that side), and get our trailer parked behind the fence.

There are two aspects of this project relevant to this forum that I’d like to seek advice on.

1. The ground is currently a bit soft: our trailer has dug into the ground about an inch over the winter. Is there a good resource you know of that does a clear job of explaining how to lay a crushed gravel parking pad that will hold up to use?

2. Is wiring an RV power station reasonably straightforward? It would be about a 75 foot run of wiring from our breaker box. I’m thinking about one of those power posts you see at campgrounds that have 50/30 and household power).

I should add that we’re in an area with few building restrictions since we’re outside the city limits, in rural Boulder County.

I see Boulder County is starting to go the way of Boulder. Good luck with that.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

What would the "regular power" be, is that for your house? 75 feet is 75 feet, no getting around it, you can use larger wire if you like but the NEC does not require it. This table references different voltage drops at 120V and at 240V, so yes, @75' pulling a full 30A, 120V, you will see a voltage drop slightly over 3%. This shouldn't be dangerous to nor compromise the performance noticably of anything in the camper. There are several other calculators available online.

Voltage Drop Tables

Voltage drop becomes important when the length of a run of wire or cable becomes very long. Usually this is not a problem in circuits within a house, but may become an issue when running wire to an outbuilding, well pump, etc.

www.cerrowire.com

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Wire length is measured to and from the panel. At 75 ft, the minimum 15 ft house cord 5 to 6 ft from ground to breaker! Almost 100 ft times 2 = 200 ft if you want to do a proper calculation.

But for a minute let's consider recent brown out posts!! Cutting corners on infrastructure is why people get boost converters. So what to do? Me thinks build for the job.

This is the quick and dirty way to size for this project!!!

50 Amp Wire Size Details: Gauge, Breaker, 220/240V Example

50 amp is one of the most common amperages we need a gauge, breaker, or a wire for. The key questions regarding the 50 amp wire include: What is a wire size for 50 amps 240 volts? (50 amp wire gauge; NEC code applies) Wire size for 50 amp sub panel 100 feet away? (Here ... Read more

learnmetrics.com

 

[Bigblockyeti]

That was a good read right up until guaranteeing a circuit rated for 50A will be fried by 50A. More so discredited by writing "For every 100 feet, voltage drops by 20%."

 

[Kevin D Pem]

That was a good read right up until guaranteeing a circuit rated for 50A will be fried by 50A. More so discredited by writing "For every 100 feet, voltage drops by 20%."

I am sorry. I would have made a dissertation using the 1990s NEC I used when I worked in the trade. But alas that was then and this day I am a little dimmer in my memory.
No more arguing! If the man desires, he can use an extension cord. Hopefully he learned that the only guarantee one has to a circuit being designed for 50amps, is one not designed by a bunch of people on a forum, that may or may not know what they are talking about. He will be the ultimate judge.

 

[Buc]

Yeah, I’ve understood for a long time that guys on forums like to argue amongst themselves. At least I have a good handle on the construction of a gravel parking strip.

Thanks everyone. I’ll share pics when I start building.