My Circuit Breaker Did Its Job

[Harry]

Thought I'd share an incident I had that was a little scary.

I have a 2008 B40 with the 2 shore power sockets.

I lost shore power on the non-air condition 110V circuit. After an extensive crawl thru the boat with a multi meter I discovered melting and carbon black in the area where the shore power wires is attached to the primary breaker. This breaker, on the B40 ,is in the stb aft lazarette. It was obviously from a short and caused considerable over heating. A marine technician told me the cause was a lose wire where it entered the breaker. After replacing the breaker and checking that the wires are all tight, everything is back to normal.

Incase its not clear below is what the breaker looks like once removed from its enclosure. The enclosure hides the wire attaching screws. So the enclose cover must be removed to check if the wires are tight. The lose wire in my instance saw the black wire that attaches on the bottom right of the breaker.

I'm very thankful that the thermo sensor in the breaker did its job. The takeaway for me is to remove the covers and annually inspect the breakers.

Harry

 

[Mike Brown]

Glad to see you caught it before you had a major fire. It's good practice to also check the power cords and sockets whenever you connect or disconnect them as they are another potential fire risk. Black or burned spots at any of the pins or melted rubber are signs of loose connections and overheating. Repair or replace any cord or socket that doesn't look right.
Mike

[James Taylor]

Wow

Glad to hear all is well. I have a 2008 model B43 and will definitely check those wires and the wires in the breaker box behind the port side salon seat (serves heat/ac system) next time we are at the boat. I think the 2nd breaker box was installed to be ABYC compliant, reference breaker box distance from heat/ac unit?)

James

[Mike Brown]

Just to reinforce this topic. A friends power boat just burned badly last weekend. No obvious cause such as burning candles, galley activity, etc. so the suspicion is an electrical fire. Do a search on Baltimore Boat Fire to see the video someone took. Note that there was a woman trapped in the head the entire time the boat was on fire. They were finally able to cut a hole in the side of the boat to get her out. Fortunately she'll be fine physically. How long it will take to recover from this near death experience is another story. The issue that Harry had with his wiring is just what it takes to create such a catastrophe so keep an eye out for strange odors, lights that dim for an unknown reason, or any other strange behavior by an electrical device.
Mike