A Good Extension Cord

[Skillet]

As a member of Boondockers Welcome I will stay in people's driveways. Sometimes they have an rv hookup and sometimes not. I've used a cord before but I'm realizing now that it's not the right gauge. Would this one be strong enough for the a/c? https://www.amazon.com/US-Wire-65050-50 ... dpSrc=srch

[SMan]

I carry a 25 foot 12 gauge cord. Most homes have 12 gauge wiring anyway. Most garages have either a 15 or 20 amp 110v circuit to plug into. I have always been fine with a 25 foot 12 gauge extension cord. (It also depends on anything in the home also using that particular circuit). My .02 and I'm no electrical genius.

[Skillet]

Makes sense and works for me. Thanks!

[pdemarest]

I'm not sure you could run the A/C along with any other appliances since the cord will only carry 15 amps. I bought one of those "marine" cords that can handle up to 30 amps and use a converter to allow it to plug into a 15 amp outlet.

[b6fischer]

I have a 12ga extension cord and use them, but be careful. After a few days I went to unplug and found the end of a cord burnt and partially melted. Could have lost my Chinook!! Obviously it was arcing some so to cause that. So my lesson is worry about the quality of the whole thing not just the ga of the wire. This was a contractor grade cord.

[chin_k]

The weakest link is the one that you need to worry about. Even if you have a thick cord, if the circuit only can handle 15 A on the house, you going to heating up the wiring in the house if you are pulling that much current and assume there is nothing else on the circuit. Sometimes circuit breaker does not trip when you pulling 15 A on a 15A CB. I would only turn on AC or the microwave if I am on a 30A dedicated circuit like what Skillet installed. The house going to burn down before the Chinook, so I guess it is alright if you are on someone else driveway....

[Kirah]

Does the roof A/C unit pull so much more than a home window unit? It's such a tiny space to cool, I guess I always assumed it was basically just a re-organized window unit, and those just plug into a normal wall socket.

[Blue~Go]

I think a "typical" window unit is 5,000-6,000 btu. Whereas the roof unit on the Concourse is 16,000 btu. So that's three times more cooling capacity and must use about that much more power.

[chin_k]

If I remember correctly, my roof unit was pulling 400Watt just on fan-only mode. I don't remember if it was hi or low, but I think it was several hundred watts for either settings. That is already like 4 Amp. With the AC on, it popped my 10 A inline circuit breaker. I would not want to run the AC on a 15A house wiring for more than a few minutes esp. unattended. 20A or 30A is surely the way to go if you want to run the AC on a more regular basis, IMHO.

[Scott]

Hi Kira, An easy way to tell is with a plug-in meter like a Kill-A-Watt. With everything else off, you can isolate the exact value for each appliance.

My 6000 BTU window unit draws ~6A on high.