30amp vs 50amp, What do you need?

Wiring and electrical issues can be overwhelming to someone who doesn’t have experience installing wiring in a tiny house.  We recommend you use only experienced and licensed electricians who have experience wiring a tiny house and knowledge of the NEC (national electric code) guidelines as well as local regulations.  Local regulations will come into play if you are planning on having your tiny parked in one spot all the time.  Tiny home policies and regulations are not the norm yet but have been adopted and put in place in some areas for your safety.  So make sure you do your homework and know all the necessary policies regarding your home.

30 to 50 amp adapter

When you are building a tiny house, you need to thoroughly communicate with your builder what your needs are as far as appliances and what types of things you will be operating that will draw electric.  Most good and well-seasoned builders are going to know what amp service you will need for your house, or will contract an electrician to that part of the build.  Most of the time, you may not know about your electrical service. But for those looking for basic information, maybe some of our tips will help.

Most houses are going to have a 30amp service.  This is normal, but what might not be normal to someone going tiny is that you might not be able to operate your mini split, run a space heater and vacuum at the same time.  Much like a regular size home, you sometimes may trip your breakers if you are demanding too much electric at one time.  It’s common practice that you will have to adjust to, turning off one thing to use something else.  Most of the time it won’t be an issue and shouldn’t be a deterrent from running a 30amp service to your house.

There is an equation to help figure out the available wattage you will have in your tiny home.
3 amps x 120volts =3600watts of power.  This will be enough to power up most RV's and tiny homes. This would include the usage of potentially one heating/cooling system, microwave, smaller appliances and a few plugin outlets throughout the home.

To put 3600watts of power into perspective, let's take a look at a list of typical home appliances and the watts they require to operate.

Washing Machine         500watts
Clothes Dryer                800-1400watts
Coffee Maker                800-1400watts
Hair Dryer                     1800-2500watts     
Vacuum Cleaner            200-700watts
Oven                              2150watts
Microwave                    600-1700watts
Toaster                           800-1800watts

You can see that it wouldn't take but to operate a few things at once to maximize your wattage.  This is why I mention, you may need to get used turning off one thing before using something else.  Again, most of the time, you will function just fine with 30amp service.

The other option is a 50amp service.  If you are parking in campgrounds, you are going to usually find either of those available or both.  If you plan to use two heating or cooling units, larger household appliances, radiant floor heating or even a clothes washer and dryer or combo unit, you will need to have a 50amp service installed. The 50amp service equation is 50amps x 120volts = 6000watts x 2 (2-120volts) =12,000watts of power.  The 50amp service actually has two separate 120volt wires which are 240 volts total, much like a full-size home would have. This is a substantial difference from the 3,600watts of the 30amp service.  With 50amp you will have more power than you will ever need to use.

If you are traveling to a campground or a place where your connection is 50amps but the connection is for 30amp service only, you will need to have a 50 to 30amp adapter.  The 30amp plug has 3 prongs and the 50 has 4 prongs. You can attach your adapter to your power cord and into the pedestal.  You will, however, have a reduced amount of power available, you will only have 3600 watts, so you will have to operate your tiny house with less electrical demands.

If you have a 30amp service and need to use an adapter from 30 to 50amps you will still only get 3600 watts of power.  You will not have any more power available because of the adapter, it is simply to adapt to not having 4 prongs on your plug.

At TE we have mostly 30amp service available.  We are in some areas able to upgrade those existing pedestals to 50amps for potential owners homes, but this does require an upgrade fee.

You may not ever wire your own tiny home or know what electric you service you currently using, but I hope in some way you find this information to be helpful.  We meet people every day at TE whose dream it is to build a tiny home of their own someday.  Many of them have hopes to build their house on their own with no prior building experience.  I think it's great for people to tackle such an amazing task of building their own home.  I think you have so much more appreciation for something you've created with your two hands.  However, we will always tell people to consult with professionals for guidance.  NOAH is a good place to start for people wanting to do their own build with little to no experience. If you are not familiar with NOAH, look them up online.  They are a great guideline for building tiny homes, they teach classes and will certify your house too.