A few 460 problems

The circuit that the GFCI receptacle is protected by is a 125v 15a circuit breaker. If you were to disconnect the wires from the back of the GFCI receptacle and short them to each other it would be that breaker in the salon panel that should trip. Not the breaker in the tower.

Think of your house. It's a 225v system. If one of your receptacles in your house shorts out the breaker in your panel that protects that circuit trips. Not your main breaker to the house. And it doesn't bring down your neighbors house either.
 
....When I turn it on, after about 4 hours, it blows the trip on the pontoon and in the engine room, and sometimes also the trip that supplies power to the whole length of the pontoon, about 20 boats.

I can not find anything that is not working with it turned off, but I guess it supplies to something, and that must be where my problem lies....

All good points above, but I'll share my thoughts FWIW.

I'm looking at this as 3 separate issues:
1. "....When I turn it on, after about 4 hours, it blows the trip on the pontoon..." - this most likely a dock power issue, not your boat.
2. "....I can not find anything that is not working with it turned off...." - you need to spend some time to find what else is on the same line. Perhaps this is a clue "...and in the engine room...", but I doubt that GFI is related to anything in the ER.
3. Chances are when dock power is lost you loose the power in the ER, not b/c of GFI.

I would do the following basic steps trying to isolate the issues:
1. Buy GFI tester from HD (it's only couple of bucks). OR simply replace the GFI in question, it's no more than $10 item.
2. Unplug your boat from shore power, go on a day trip or something (as long as you're out or unplugged for over 4hrs) and coordinate with dockmates or marina management to monitor the dock power. I would do it more than once if nothing happens (first test could be a coincident, if there's no power lose at the dock).
3. I think it's best to time this with your trips, but the idea is to test your GFI functionality (preferred with new GFI) to have generator running for the same 4-5hrs and see if any breaker or GFI trips.

The GFCI should only trip the breaker in the boats panel. It is of less rated amperage than the 30 or 50 amp breaker at the tower. It should not trip the towers breaker and definitely not bring down the entire dock.

I agree 100%.

....Third question, can anybody make a suggestion as to why the Black water tanks always show as empty on the light readouts in the Heads and on the DB Board? No matter how full the tanks are, they always show empty, and I was hoping for some guidence before I start "digging around" down there....

As was advised earlier, there are 4 sensors (Empty, 1/2, 3/4, Do Not Flush) on your holding tank cap that is threaded right on the top of the tank. I'm willing to bet that something made the "Empty" sensor freeze in open position, so the logic of the system ignores other sensor's signal. Open the cap and clean/grease all the sensors. I did the same thing last fall. A word of caution, those sensors and the the arms they slide on are plastic and break very easily. So, don't use too much force.
 
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All good points above, but I'll share my thoughts FWIW.

I'm looking at this as 3 separate issues:
1. "....When I turn it on, after about 4 hours, it blows the trip on the pontoon..." - this most likely a dock power issue, not your boat.
2. "....I can not find anything that is not working with it turned off...." - you need to spend some time to find what else is on the same line. Perhaps this is a clue "...and in the engine room...", but I doubt that GFI is related to anything in the ER.
3. Chances are when dock power is lost you loose the power in the ER, not b/c of GFI.

I would do the following basic steps trying to isolate the issues:
1. Buy GFI tester from HD (it's only couple of bucks). OR simply replace the GFI in question, it's no more than $10 item.
2. Unplug your boat from shore power, go on a day trip or something (as long as you're out or unplugged for over 4hrs) and coordinate with dockmates or marina management to monitor the dock power. I would do it more than once if nothing happens (first test could be a coincident, if there's no power lose at the dock).
3. I think it's best to time this with your trips, but the idea is to test your GFI functionality (preferred with new GFI) to have generator running for the same 4-5hrs and see if any breaker or GFI trips.



I agree 100%.



As was advised earlier, there are 4 sensors (Empty, 1/2, 3/4, Do Not Flush) on your holding tank cap that is threaded right on the top of the tank. I'm willing to bet that something made the "Empty" sensor freeze in open position, so the logic of the system ignores other sensor's signal. Open the cap and clean/grease all the sensors. I did the same thing last fall. A word of caution, those sensors and the the arms they slide on are plastic and break very easily. So, don't use too much force.

There he is! Where have you been Alex? Its been a little quiet lately!
 
I would think that even if the GFCI presented as a dead short that the circuit breaker at the panel inside the boat would trip before either the circuit breaker in the transom tripped or the circuit breaker in the pedestal tripped and certainly before the entire dock lost power.

Have not had any trip outs on the main distribution board in the Saloon, always just the trip in the engine room..

Graham
 
All good information for which I thank you....... however I must clarify that I just spent 5 days on the boat in the Marina, with the GFi turned off, and no problems at all, so I do not think it is a Dock problem.

Graham
 
The circuit that the GFCI receptacle is protected by is a 125v 15a circuit breaker. If you were to disconnect the wires from the back of the GFCI receptacle and short them to each other it would be that breaker in the salon panel that should trip. Not the breaker in the tower.

Think of your house. It's a 225v system. If one of your receptacles in your house shorts out the breaker in your panel that protects that circuit trips. Not your main breaker to the house. And it doesn't bring down your neighbors house either.

Many here are missing the point. If the dock main has a GFI trip, it will trip if a boat is not protected by a GFI. This is not an overload condition. A standard break is there to protect the wire it feeds but a GFI breaker is life safety.
 
A properly wired Tower at the dock should only ever have a convenience outlet that is GFCI protected. The Tower should NEVER have GFCI protection on the circuit that the vessel plugs into. Nothing is being missed.
 
There he is! Where have you been Alex? Its been a little quiet lately!

Running around like crazy trying to catchup on things and getting the boat ready to splash. To make things worse, got sick with high fever for few days.

Have not had any trip outs on the main distribution board in the Saloon, always just the trip in the engine room...

Can you clarify what's tripping in the ER? When does it happen? What events take place (anything turns ON manually or automatically)?

....... however I must clarify that I just spent 5 days on the boat in the Marina, with the GFi turned off, and no problems at all, so I do not think it is a Dock problem.

I'm getting two things out of this:
1. There's more evidence that something is wrong with GFI or another component on the line that's making the GFI trip.
2. Even if your boat is a problem on properly wired dock just a breaker on your tower should trip. If you're taking out a potion of a dock, it's pretty good hint that there's something wrong in the way your dock is wired.

Have you tested GFI or replaced it?
 
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There are two gray boxes in the engine room mounted about the Genset, inside each box there is an on / off switch that controls the power to each side on the Distribution Board in the Saloon (Line 1 and Line 2), through the two ISO BOOST transformers that are also in the Engine room. The Starboard box/switch is always tripped into the off position when the problem occurs, Line 2.

I have tried identifying what is turning on automatically that may cause this, the only common occurrance I can identify is if the GFI under the cockpit sink is is on, the trip happens within about 3 - 4 hours. If this GFi is left off for 5 dayus, the problem does not happen.

This was the reason for my first post under this topic, what is powered by this GFi? I am starting to suspect that the GFI in question is only for the 220 outlet plug next to it under the sink, I have never plugged anything into it but I do wonder if it is faulty or has damp in it. I will be back on the boat next week, and will try and investigate further using all the suggestions here.

Graham
 
Do you have manual with electrical diagram? If not, try to get it from SR site. If no luck just email SR and they'll send you one. From the diagram you should be able identify what components are part of the line the GFI is on. BTW, don't hesitate to ask SR what's on that line as they may know the answer very quickly and it'll save to good amount of time.

I'm thinking what electrical component triggers on a 3-5hr cycle. Items like HWH, bilge pumps, battery charger, etc. immediately come to mind, but the conflicting part here's that none of them should have anything to do with an GFI, IMO.
 

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