Bilge Heater

chaslanier

chaslanier

Member
Mar 7, 2017
34
Lake Lanier GA
Boat Info
2006 Sundancer 320
Engines
Twin 350 MAG w/V Drives
Does anyone know where the bilge heater would be plugged in on a 320 Sundancer? Can see the cord but cannot trace it far.
 
I run my plug up from the port salon seat and plug it into the outlet in the cubby next to the cockpit refrigerator(closest outlet).
 
If it was done correctly, it was either hard wired or the cord was routed/extended topside somewhere. In other words, the cord end should NOT be in the bilge. Try looking in the transom locker or any of the topside storage/cubbies - it might be laying loose there. I don't recall this being a Sea Ray option, so maybe the best person to ask is the previous owner, if you can't find it. But it shouldn't be too hard - it's gotta be somewhere.
 
Mine is plugged into the outlet under the cockpit passenger seat. I route it up through the access port for the hatch lift pin release. The cord is plenty long enough.
 
just be careful about which outlet you plug it into.....you have to plan for the worst case scenario where the bilge heater kicks on at the same time another electrical item is also running on that same circuit.....

the bilge heater will likely pull 10 - 12 amps when it is running.....most circuits on a boat are 15 amps.....so when the bilge heater is running that only leaves 1 - 2 amps to power other items on that circuit....

if you plug the bilge heater into the same circuit as a refrigerator or freezer that can potentially be a problem....if the bilge heater and the fridge or freezer were to try to run at the same time the breaker for that circuit would pop and render both items useless....not good if the boat is out of the water and unattended for long periods of time and temps dip below freezing for a while and/or you have perishable items in the fridge or freezer....

it looks like you boat in GA so even if your bilge heater does not work as expected it is very unlikely you will get freeze damage to your engines as long as the boat stays in the water....the water temp of your lake will keep the temp in the engine room high enough to keep engines from freezing....the water temp probably does not get below around 45*F......

cliff
 
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Wow, 10 amps for a bilge heater? That's like 5000 BTU. You would think a continuous 250 watts in the bilge would be more than enough to keep stuff from hard freezing in marginal subfreezing temperatures.

I can raise the temperature of my garage (5000 cubic feet) by 30 degrees in about 2 hours with a 10000 BTU heater in less than 2 hours when it's -10 F outside.
 
mobocracy said:
Wow, 10 amps for a bilge heater? That's like 5000 BTU. You would think a continuous 250 watts in the bilge would be more than enough to keep stuff from hard freezing in marginal subfreezing temperatures.

I can raise the temperature of my garage (5000 cubic feet) by 30 degrees in about 2 hours with a 10000 BTU heater in less than 2 hours when it's -10 F outside.
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you know what?.....you are absolutely correct.....I just looked on the net and found a large Xtreme bilge heater will pull around 6 amps at normal operation....so my numbers were exaggerated....I wrongly expected a bilge heater to put out around 1500 watts of heat like most small portable heaters....those heaters do pull 10 -12 amps while running....

thanks for calling me on this....I don't like to mislead people.....and I learned something....

but the idea of knowing the total amp draw of everything on a specific circuit still applies to determine if there is a chance of popping the breaker if the items are all running at the same time...

cliff
 
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CliffA said:
you know what?.....you are absolutely correct.....I just looked on the net and found a large Xtreme bilge heater will pull around 6 amps at normal operation....so my numbers were exaggerated....I wrongly expected a bilge heater to put out around 1500 watts of heat like most small portable heaters....those heaters do pull 10 -12 amps while running....

thanks for calling me on this....I don't like to mislead people.....and I learned something....

but the idea of knowing the total amp draw of everything on a specific circuit still applies to determine if there is a chance of popping the breaker if the items are all running at the same time...

cliff
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Cliff,

Your point is a good one. I popped my main 30 amp breaker when running the heat pump, bilge heater, a ceramic heater and the hot water heater. When I turned off the hot water heater everything else was handled.
 
When I installed mine, I routed the cord to the rear where power enters the boat. I attached to the terminal on the boat side of the main breaker.

Don
 
Thanks all! Spent some time this afternoon and traced it to a junction box under the the port side lounge seat. it is hardwired into a juctionbox with the electrical to the GFC outlet in the head. It appears the unit is toast. Good to know so i can replace before next winter.
 
CliffA said:
thanks for calling me on this....I don't like to mislead people.....and I learned something....
Click to expand...

It wasn't about calling you a liar as much as it was surprising to me that a bilge heater would pull so much power. I would have assumed its job was just to keep the temperature some safe amount above freezing, not to a comfort temperature. Doing the latter requires space heater levels of energy.

But there could have been confounding factors I didn't take into account in my comparison. Water is a huge heat sink and if the hull is a poor insulator, then maybe it takes a lot of heat just to keep the temps safely above freezing with the hull and conductive drive components leeching heat.
 
I had a wire for my cockpit icemaker that I wasn't using so I ran a pigtail down into the bilge and installed an outlet near the port engine. I wish I could dedicate plugs for the heaters. To live on the boat we need to run 6 electric heaters during the winter to keep warm.
 
mjmason1 said:
so I ran a pigtail down into the bilge and installed an outlet near the port engine.
Click to expand...

please rethink this....you never want to have an outlet in the ER.....this presents a potential spark hazard.....and the coast guard will likely fine you if they see the outlet.....

cliff
 
CliffA said:
please rethink this....you never want to have an outlet in the ER.....this presents a potential spark hazard.....and the coast guard will likely fine you if they see the outlet.....

cliff
Click to expand...

A lot of diesel boats come from the manufacturer with 110 volt outlets in the engine rooms. As far as I can tell there is no problem. Gas engines are a whole different animal!
 
mjmason1 said:
A lot of diesel boats come from the manufacturer with 110 volt outlets in the engine rooms. As far as I can tell there is no problem. Gas engines are a whole different animal!
Click to expand...

ah, my bad....failed to see you have diesels.....

cliff
 
Southpaw II said:
When I installed mine, I routed the cord to the rear where power enters the boat. I attached to the terminal on the boat side of the main breaker.

Don
Click to expand...

Not a good way to do this. The main breaker will be way over sized for the wire you have from it to the heater.
 
Irie308 said:
I run my plug up from the port salon seat and plug it into the outlet in the cubby next to the cockpit refrigerator(closest outlet).
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Hi there, I currently run my cord up through the circular access hole in the deck but would love a cleaner solution (and I am not interested in hard wiring at this time). My hope was to run the cord from the cubby next to the cockpit fridge. You mention running up from the port salon seat. I looked under that seat and I don’t see a pass through to the engine compartment. Any advice on a good way to route a cord from the engine room up to the outlet in the cubby next to the outlet fridge? Thanks!
 
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