GFCI + Pigtail = Mystery

The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I am a QCYC member. A couple things: our VESC (Vessel Electrical System Committee) inspectors are fellow members who volunteer for the job, they are not paid. To my knowledge, none of them are surveyors. I'm sure that all of you are aware that all marina's are now required to have pedestals that have ground fault breakers. We rewired our marina in 2015 (250 slips) to meet the new standards. I seem to remember that was $1.2M. Most of our members boats do not require 50A, so we tried to save money and installed 30A pedestals.. The area he mentions is actually a loading area for members only, it is not open to guest or transient moorage. They test there because it is available. The very few slips that do have 50A service are occupied, and those members paid extra to have 50A pedestals installed at the time. To complicate the issue, the company that made the pedestals, went out of business. The Electrical Contractor that installed them is no longer in business. Also, moorage is assigned by seniority. This member is a new member, can be tested at anytime, and after passing his VESC test and getting measured, will be put on the list according to senority. With the size of his boat, he has about a 5 year wait. I know the VESC folks are aware of the situation, and as time and money allow, will be putting in a 50A pedestal in our loading area, to facilllitate testing. In my 25 year experience with QCYC, our volunteers try to do the best job they can to help fellow members enjoy our club. Perhaps he would like to make a donation to buy the 50A pedestal to be installed in the loading area so all members can use it when being tested.
All understood and appreciate the work of the VESC and volunteers. And thanks to everyone who has helped me to learn a little bit more about how these things work in responding to this thread.
 
While the new standards suck, they are really an absolute necessity in fresh water. For years we have been reporting accidental drownings in fresh water lakes only to find out that many of these were not drownings at all. They turned out to be fresh water electrocutions.

While it annoys me that the same standard is applied to saltwater it will actually become a non issue once most marinas meet the standard.
 
While the new standards suck, they are really an absolute necessity in fresh water. For years we have been reporting accidental drownings in fresh water lakes only to find out that many of these were not drownings at all. They turned out to be fresh water electrocutions.

While it annoys me that the same standard is applied to saltwater it will actually become a non issue once most marinas meet the standard.
I agree... the whole point is for safety...and its boater safety as non- boaters aren't hanging around marinas & docks.
I consider this move to safety am inconvenience that boat owners need to understand, appreciate and seek help from knowledgeable professionals when faced with "nuisance" trops... to find out the root cause of the trip.
I also believe that the newly rebuild marina owners need to take an active role in sorting out whether it is the marina or boat causing the problem.
Our home port marina basically blamed every transient trip on the transient boats until they realized & acknowledged there were problems with the breaker settings.
At least some of the new ELCI breakers ( ours included ) required set-up / programming by a kniwledgable tech using a laptop. It's not only the milliamp leakage that is adjustable /settable but the delay time until trip is also settable. To further complicate matters... as far as Ive been able to decifer... there are 3 levels that need to adjusted... the pedestal, the branch circuit breaker and the main breaker. These need to adjusted so there is a cascade where pedestal breakers are the first to trip, branch circuit units next and ultimately the main marina breakers.
A best practice I have read about is marinas investing in the equipment / ability to measure a boat imbalance to determine its ability to meet the new codes. Simply having boats connect, trip and blaming it on the boat is far from a realistic solution.
 
Last edited:
For years we have been reporting accidental drownings in fresh water lakes only to find out that many of these were not drownings at all. They turned out to be fresh water electrocutions.
I must remember to ask my diver if he feels a tingle in the water. Any TF drivers care to comment?
 
Most of my life has been spent in saltwater. Its just not an issue in saltwater.

During my fresh water days I only once dove a marina. Tingle was not my issue. Getting Silted out was my issue.
 
I must remember to ask my diver if he feels a tingle in the water. Any TF drivers care to comment?
My marina hasn’t been upgraded yet. I’ve asked my diver if he’s ever felt any tingle at ours and the nearby marinas and he says nope.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom