Need Help Wiring an Ice House

[wingnutken]

I have a homemade 8x12 ice house. I have an exterior 3 prong male receptacle wired to a junction box with 12x2NMB. From there I have two wall outlets on each side of the house with 12x2NMB. I used 12 gauge instead of 14 gauge because I may be using an electric heater on one of the outlets. From the junction box I also ran 14x2NMB to 2 ceiling lights with pull chains. Today I hooked up an extension cord from a GFI receptacle on my house to the shed. The light bulb worked and I had a small fan plugged in. They both worked for a short period and then the GFI tripped. With the fan unplugged and the light switch off the GFI pops every time I plug in the extension cord. Any ideas or solutions as to how to fix my problem?

Thanks in advance.

[Surface Tension]

You should have a panel and breakers instead of a junction box. This is going to protect the wire inside the ice house and give you a proper way to make connections and distribution of circuits. The neutral and ground should be isolated at the panel.

Next you'll need a heavy duty 10 gauge extension cord to supple power to the ice house.

Your next hurdle is the 15 or 20 amp receptacle. That'll be fine for a fan and light bulb but note RV hookups use 30 and 50 amp service and grounded at the pedestal. A heater on a 14 gauge extension cord will pop the breaker. IMO cheap GFIs don't hold up well under those conditions.

I'd ask the obvious, is this tripping from wet conditions.

Next I'd suspect a bad extension cord, bad ground, reversed polarity somewhere in your icehouse or the GFI receptacle.

[fivebucks]

If you use an electric heater make sure your generator can handle it (I am assuming using the heater when on the ice without AC power). A simple toaster takes alot of juice and a heater may max out your generator. I looked into an electric instant hot water heater at the cabin amd my honda 3500 was way way too small for that.

[wingnutken]

Great advice. I went to home depot and bought a breaker box. I am going to put the 2 lights on a 15 amp and the 2 outlets on a 20 amp. My next purchase will be a 10 gauge cord. The house is going to double as a bunk house at deer camp. It is well insulated and wont need a very big heater. Some day....it will have a gas heater. Not in the budget right mow tho.

Thanks for your help,

Ken