Thread: Electrical at RV sites

Have an unusual request to inspect an RV park/campground with 60 pads for RV with electrical hook ups and septic, not sure if they have facilities (but likely) for the RV to dump septic but my questions are what type of hook up should I expect to find for each RV, what should I look for as far as potential problems on each site a swell as the main panel. Any thoughts would be appreciated, I have not inspected a campground before and I am doing homework.

Originally Posted by Jeff Zehnder

Have an unusual request to inspect an RV park/campground with 60 pads for RV with electrical hook ups and septic, not sure if they have facilities (but likely) for the RV to dump septic but my questions are what type of hook up should I expect to find for each RV, what should I look for as far as potential problems on each site a swell as the main panel. Any thoughts would be appreciated, I have not inspected a campground before and I am doing homework.

The typical RV service is going to be one of a couple of combinations:
- a service panel with with a 30 amp 120 volt receptacle and a 20 amp 120 volt duplex receptacle which is/should be GFCI protected - these are protected with a 30 amp breaker and a 20 amp breaker
- a service panel with a 50 amp 120 volt-240 volt receptacle which in only used as a multiwire branch circuit as the RV does not have/should not have any 240 volt loads, a 30 amp 120 volt receptacle and a 20 amp 120 volt receptacle which is/should be GFCI protected - these are protected with a 50 amp breaker, a 30 amp breaker, and a 20 amp breaker
- the pedestal or pole is a structure and therefore there should be a grounding electrode system consisting of 2 driven rods (which you may not see)
- there should be a conduit coming up out of the ground that the feeder conductors/cable is run in, this conduit should be rigid metal conduit, intermediate metal conduit or Sch 80 PVC (Sch 40 PVC is not permitted for this use), the conduit entry into the panel should be sealed with duct seal
- everything should be securely mounted and attached to to the pole or the pedestal should be securely held in place so it is not easily moved around in the ground
- some may have a meter and some may not, depending on if they include the electrical cost into the fee or (as some do) rent monthly and charge extra for the electricity used

There are other things, but that should get you started.

Jerry,

Thanks for your help...
What would you expected the primary panels or disconnect to look like?

The primary service equipment will likely be 3-phase, other than that, their configuration, size, etc, will depend on various local conditions.