Cost for 50amp pedestal @ home

[TheArthurs]

wondering how much (guestimate) to budget for us to have at home?
We are not electrical DIYers.

[DavidM]

It somewhat depends on how far the electrician or his helper has to trench to pick up the power source.

If you were a DIYer you could run 20' of conduit, #6 wire and an outdoor cabinet, breaker and outlet for maybe $200 in parts cost. Maybe $500+ if done by an electrician.

[Morich]

No way to make a close estimate as how the house is build is one big factor. Does the current box have capacity for adding more? does it have an open basement to ease simply strapping wire to the floor joists to get across the house? Is the current box on the side you want the power or does it lie hidden way back in the other corner? Do you live in an area where codes require license and how does labor in your area run? High cost area or low?
You don't need a pedestal but something simple for one RV. Something more like this with other supplies depending on the situation.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Eaton-50-Am...B&gclsrc=aw.ds
All factors which make an estimate way out there on the fringe of guessing.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by Morich

No way to make a close estimate as how the house is build is one big factor. Does the current box have capacity for adding more?

I would think that could be a huge limitation. I'm not sure how exactly they calculate the available load you can put on a 200 amp main, even assuming the existing box has the space for a 50 amp 240 volt dual breaker. Assuming the breaker box has the space, it might be more feasible to go with a 30 amp 240 volt circuit (which is twice the power of a 30 amp campsite circuit) and limit what you run.

But the point is we know nothing about the house. If it had an electric stove, dryer, furnace and large air conditioning there might already be a lot of demand on the system, not to mention car charging systems, circuits for welders and other less common stuff. But just to give you some idea, we remodeled our 1970s kitchen and the extra circuits required for the kitchen, even moving the stove to a gas stove, required a new circuit breaker box.

It also might be less expensive to install an outlet on the outside of the house and get a sufficient gauge cord to run the distance.

[Morich]

Too many things we don't know. Maybe the RV is setting right next to a new house with an open basement ceiling and the box is only four feet away from where the outlet is needed. The 6-8 feet of cable and an outlet mounted on the house wall is way cheaper than 50 feet of cable and trenched around three sides of the house on slab.

[ThomB]

How far is your electric panel from where you want your RV power?
Our house has the electric panel in the garage and we had the service upgraded to 200A. I had the electrician wire in a stove plug into the garage next to the panel (It’s not unusual here to have a stove in the garage to keep the heat down in the house). After the inspection I re-wired it to a 30A twist lock (that’s what I use from my generator If the power goes out - poor-man’s transfer switch).
I can plug the RV into a dog bone adapter that works for giving me 30A. I could re-wire it to 50A if I wanted but I don’t need to in the driveway.

You’d first need to know what amp service your house has. If you don’t have at least 200 amp I’d think you’d need to upgrade that first.

[TheArthurs]

Thanks all.....guess I've got some homework ��

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by ThomB

I re-wired it to a 30A twist lock (that’s what I use from my generator If the power goes out - poor-man’s transfer switch).

This sounds very unsafe to the point of being almost certainly illegal. That type of system would require a mechanical interlock so that the main breaker was off when the generator was in use. Those are available for a wide number of breaker boxes, and legal in many places. But with that interlock you wouldn't be able to use the circuit for your RV. You can't have both.

[ThomB]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

This sounds very unsafe to the point of being almost certainly illegal. That type of system would require a mechanical interlock so that the main breaker was off when the generator was in use. Those are available for a wide number of breaker boxes, and legal in many places. But with that interlock you wouldn't be able to use the circuit for your RV. You can't have both.

Not sure illegal but I agree not the best for someone that doesn't know what they are doing. Fortunately, I do know what I'm doing and, also fortunately, I've also never had to backfeed the panel using it. Its only even been used to feed the RV.


If/ when I do it the right way, I'll put the transfer switch in a location where the generator won't be sitting in my front yard where it'd be a target for theft.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by ThomB

If/ when I do it the right way, I'll put the transfer switch in a location where the generator won't be sitting in my front yard where it'd be a target for theft.

My house had a 240 outlet on the back side, apparently for some sort of 1970s electric grill. I used the line for that to create a 30 amp 110 volt generator inlet. And the generator itself sits on my second story deck. Maybe not ideal as far as placement to the house (CO concerns), but it's pretty theft-proof!

BTW, one other reason not to use it without an interlock, I'm not sure what would happen to the generator when the power came back on! It would seemingly have to be perfectly in phase with your utility's power to be unaffected, which is unlikely, and if perfectly out of phase you'd have an overload or worse.

Also not sure what would happen if whatever was causing the outage was causing a ground condition on that line. The reason for the transfer switch is to prevent the workers from being electrocuted by your generator, but I could also see it creating an overload.

[ThomB]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

BTW, one other reason not to use it without an interlock, I'm not sure what would happen to the generator when the power came back on! It would seemingly have to be perfectly in phase with your utility's power to be unaffected, which is unlikely, and if perfectly out of phase you'd have an overload or worse.

To use this method the first thing that I'd do is turn off the main from the street. That would have to stay off for as long as the generator was running. I know that has to happen, but I don't think I'd trust anyone else to know that even after I've explained it to my wife and adult kids many times.

I've said since we bought this house I have an "escape pod" (RV) and if there is a storm I fully intend to use it to bug out. I bought a generator when we moved here and have yet to even put a gallon of gas through it. I probably should do that one of these days if I ever expect it to do anything other than take up garage space.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by ThomB

To use this method the first thing that I'd do is turn off the main from the street..

That's what the cheap interlock [relative to transfer switches] requires.

Here's a rather expensive example. $69 for a small piece of sheet metal.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GE-3-Genera...-/172244594598

[Morich]

Wiring is only as safe as we make and that includes how it is wired as well as how it is used, so this method works well if the person doing it knows enough. It sounds like Thom does fit that. Whether it meets code is often not a factor when we are living in the house ourselves and exempt. There is always the question of what the local code says or if there is a code. After all there are houses less than twenty miles out of Austin that have no running water! Local folks have talked about running water lines out there but that is mostly because somebody keeps cutting the hose they use to fill their barrels when they truck it in.
Codes are just political animals and depends on who wants what from the codes.
When I set my generator, I did very much the same by rewiring the box so that the circuits I wanted were on one side and those which I did not consider critical were on the other. Very simple, safe, and cheap to use without going to a lot of trouble for a temporary hookup. It was set for ice storm use and we never had that much ice while we lived there.
Sometimes the best way to head off trouble is to prepare for it!

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by Morich

Wiring is only as safe as we make and that includes how it is wired as well as how it is used, so this method works well if the person doing it knows enough. It sounds like Thom does fit that. Whether it meets code is often not a factor when we are living in the house ourselves and exempt. There is always the question of what the local code says or if there is a code.

This is by far the most dangerous of the items we've discussed here. Compared to an open ground, reverse neutral or even using a 3 prong 240 volt dryer connection, those are nothing. This is serious. This is putting third parties living and working off-site at serious risk of injury or death if proper procedures are not used by mistake.

[Goodspike]

BTW, I would add that the person at issue seems to not have it always wired for a generator input, but instead for an RV connection. But if he did leave it wired for a generator input and the breakers were not put the correct way when on utility power, that you'd have a live exposed connection at the generator input. That would be dangerous, particularly if you had children around.

I'm not a big fan of these circuit breaker interlock systems, instead of using an actual transfer switch, but not installing an interlock if you have your generator system set up that way is dangerous. About the only thing worse would be this!

http://electrical-contractor.net/BCodes/shower.JPG

[Wayne M]

Why not call an electrician and get an estimate. Most, if not all, estimates are free. That would take all the guess work out of the equation.


It cost me around $300 in labor. I already had the wire.

[TheArthurs]

That sound entirely reasonable

[AlanO]

I recently installed a 50 amp service for my son for his Tesla. Total cost was less than $100 and 3 hours of work. When we visit him with our RV we plug in to that outlet to run the A/C and refrigerator.

[Deny]

Best to call an electrician, get an estimate.

[jbrattain]

We used to have a hot tub. I had to get 50 amp service installed to run it's pump and heaters. We sold the hot tub and later we bought the Winnebago Sightseer. I just plug into the hot tub 50 amp outlet. Lucky me.