We had friends arriving in September who would “Moochdock” in our driveway. They needed 30 amp power because they had to run the air conditioner and other power at the same time. I had always wanted to install a 30 amp outlet for our RV and their visit was my opportunity.
I bought outdoor #8 power cord to install the circuit and a 30 amp GFCI. I also bought 30 amp 110 breakers to have on hand for future extension of the outdoor electrical system. Unfortunately I realized I bought the wrong kind of 30 amp GFCI but I had the other breakers. I also bought the wrong kind of wire. It is outdoor wire but is made for extension cords not permanent wiring.
I looked into my stash of wire and I already had #8 2 wire sheathed wire and extra 1/2″ conduit and connectors from the remote controlled shade project. We were able to insert the wire into the 1/2″ conduit but had to leave the ground wire out. The conduit was too small for three wires. My solution was to run the ground separately. Of course this looks amateurish but it is actually all to code. NEC permits a separate ground wire that does not have to run with the power cable and it allows up to three #8 wires in 1/2″ conduit.
We really enjoyed the visit from our friends. We hung out and played the Trekking the National Parks board game and had a great side trip to the Garden of the Gods and the Pikes Peak railway. It was a perfect day trip and a perfect visit.
