110 in the engine room?

S

sdarc

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2010
1,544
Piedmont NC
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This something I haven't seen addressed. Is ok to put a 110 ac receptacle in the engine room to run a bilge heater? With all the other electrics in there 12v and 110 I can't think of any reasons why not.
I know the possibility of spark when plugging and unplugging but that isn't going to happen very often and if precautions are taken when doing it... venting, blowers, turn off shore power and such is it safe enough?
 
why would you need a heater there? If your thinking winterizing you must remember that power sometimes goes out and so does anything hooked to the AC.
 
I would not do it. I have a bilge heater and simply route the plug up out of the bilge to a heavy gauge extension cord in the cockpit.
 
110 Plugs are NOT ignition proof. Whenever a plug is inserted or pulled out, there is a small spark as the contacts between the male and female plugs are separated. If there are gas fumes present in sufficient quantities... BOOM!! Bilge heaters are unlike regular space heaters too - there is no ignition point open to the air and they are meant to be plugged in outside of the ER to avoid potential explosions.

Sure, it's unlikely that anything would happen - but why tempt fate?? It is good for you to ask the question before acting though. That way you can make an informed decision.

Be safe.
 
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On gas boats, bilge heaters should be ignition protected, permanently mounted and hard wired because of the explosive nature of gasoline fumes.
 
I have a "Boat Safe" bilge heater. There is not an easy way to route an extention cord without leaving the hatch open partially. I'll have look into hard wiring or find some path for the extention cord to the cockpit.
I'm leaving the boat in the water this winter because there are days we will be ablr to use it.
 
Find the AC power that enters your boat from the aft hatch. It will probably pass through the hatch receptacle, then through a breaker, and then go through the deck into the engine room, to the AC distribution panel in the ER.

Mount your heater as far aft (the coldest area) as you can in the ER and run the power cord back through the deck hole that the AC power enters the ER through to the AC breaker next to the hatch receptacle. Attach the heater power cord to the outlet side of the main breaker.

When it gets cold, plug your ER vents with foam rubber. Hope you're using the 750W model.

Good luck,

Don
 
I use a Boat Safe heater as well even though the engines are winterized. It helps to keep the humidity down. I had the same problem you described running the wire under a hatch. I didn't want to permanently install the heater so I installed a small deck plate in discreet area. The deck plate http://www.beckson.com/dpinstall.html is 4" and the top unscrews so that you can pass the cord through it.

-John
 
A 110 v outlet in the ER of a diesel boat should not be problem, correct? I'm constantly running an extension cord down there for lights, shop vac, tools, etc. I was thinking about mounting one of those retractable extension cords on a reel.
 
Well here is something strange then, I have an outlet in the engine compartment on my 02 340? It is setup just like the one up on the deck with an outdoor outlet cover on it. I always thought it came from the factory like that because it is recessed into the fiberglass and not in some kind of a surface mounted box with exposed conduit???
I have to leave the outlets breaker on in the panel during the winter to keep my bilge heater operating. After reading some of the "explosive" posts on here I always open the bilge hatch and run the bilge blower for a while before installing the heater at the beginning of the season.

Could this be possible?
 
I have an Xtreme heater in my ER. I found one of the shelves from the fridge fits nicely on top of the inboard stringers. That gets zip tied to the boat. The heater gets zip ted to the shelf. I run the cord out the access hatch to get to the pin release in the event the hatck lift fails. The cord is plenty long enough to reach the outlets under the passenger seat. I need to buy a new plate and drill through it for the plug instead of packing it with old towels like I did last year.

All machinery is winterized. This is just a bit of redundancy.

Works like a champ.
 
Just an idea that some of you may consider. This can be installed anywhere you want, up on deck.

200BBIW-OEM-CMYK-99 copy.jpg
 
Scottzzzy said:
Well here is something strange then, I have an outlet in the engine compartment on my 02 340? It is setup just like the one up on the deck with an outdoor outlet cover on it. I always thought it came from the factory like that because it is recessed into the fiberglass and not in some kind of a surface mounted box with exposed conduit???
I have to leave the outlets breaker on in the panel during the winter to keep my bilge heater operating. After reading some of the "explosive" posts on here I always open the bilge hatch and run the bilge blower for a while before installing the heater at the beginning of the season.

Could this be possible?
Click to expand...


Some pictures with close ups available?
 
Is it OK to use a swim platform generator to power that ER outlet, at night, while I'm sleeping on the boat?
 
Heh heh heh!
 
Must be slow day in the office, huh Doc?
 
Nah. Lunchbreak btwn 2 and 3. LONG day today!
 
Scottzzzy said:
Well here is something strange then, I have an outlet in the engine compartment on my 02 340? It is setup just like the one up on the deck with an outdoor outlet cover on it. I always thought it came from the factory like that because it is recessed into the fiberglass and not in some kind of a surface mounted box with exposed conduit???
I have to leave the outlets breaker on in the panel during the winter to keep my bilge heater operating. After reading some of the "explosive" posts on here I always open the bilge hatch and run the bilge blower for a while before installing the heater at the beginning of the season.

Could this be possible?
Click to expand...

Oh my! To have a 110 volt outlet in that environment would require a class 1 division 2 installation. This installation would be highly unusual in a recreational boat and the parts alone would be several hundred dollars at least. There is no way I would risk having the potential for the big bang theory within the engine room of a gas boat. I would recommend that this is disabled and removed.
 
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