Bilge Pump Breaker Lesson

[Vincentc]

One more chance for you all to learn from my mistakes.

My aft bilge pump started tripping the breaker, so I bought a new one and an electronic switch. Since I changed brands I had to sqeeze down behind the aft tank to change the mounts. After all that contortion, the new pump also tripped the breaker.

I switched the pump wire over to the breaker for the bilge blower, which I never use, and the new pump works fine. I suspect that the old pump would too, with a functional breaker.

Any thoughts on how one replaces one of the 12 v breakers at the bottom of the electrical panel?

Regards,

 

[bigbill]

vincent, if yours is like mine, it is a pain in the butt. all of the breakes are fed power through an aluminum bar, so, you have to unbolt the feed side off of all of the breakers in that row to get the bad breaker out of the panel. bigbill

 

[ohiohatteras]

Ditto on the PITA job to swap out a breaker. I just went thru the same thing over the weekend....long and tedious process to figure it out due to it's intermittent problem!

 

[Vincentc]

Thanks for confirming my fears. I believe my breakers are the same, with the aluminum bar, no simple way to remove one breaker.. It may be kind of tacky, but I put an "aft bilge" label next to the blower breaker.
Like the fellow said in "Oh Brother" about selling his soul to the devil, " I wasn't using it."
What is the point of a bilge blower on a diesel boat.?
Regards,

 

[yachtsmanbill]

More heat removal and battery fumes than anything else. Does the blower trip the pump breaker? ws

 

[jim rosenthal]

I think you have to have one per CG regulations, don't you? I'm not certain. Every boat I've ever owned has had one. Not that I use them much on diesel boats.

 

[REBrueckner]

Old tripping breakers have been identified as an issue in this forum before....many of us fall victim to replacing an appliance and then discover the tripping remains due to a faulty ciorcuit breaker. One thing I do not recall reading here is whether periodic manual exercise of circuit breaker switches, switcing breakers on and off a few times say once or twice a year, helps forestall this problem. I used to do that on my 1972 Hatt twice a year...but have no idea if it did any good. I don't recall if we ever decided the type of circuit breaker Hatteras uses..magnetic, thermal, or possibly a combination....or something else. I always meant to take an old breaker apart to see what's inside but never got around to it.

One thing you can do to keep breaker contacts good, and this probably has little to do with false tripping, is NOT normally shut circuits on and off via the breaker..arcing will cause pitting in the contacts, like old style breaker points in a car. Always shut the load (appliance) off first, then shut off the circuit breaker.

My home is the same vintage with circuit breakers and I don't have such false trips there, so I suspect it's either the marine environment or the circuit breaker design or a combination that causes this problem.

Hatteras uses that flat single aluminum piece as a supply side bus....If you are in the "mood" once that is off to replace a breaker, you could make up a number of identical copper wire jumpers...that way next time you have to change a breaker, you only need to remove the two wire ends on that breaker.

I chose NOT to make that change: I figured a single piece of conductor, even though (undesireable) aluminum, would ikely be more secure than 12 or 15 wire loops each with a crimp connection on each end. I would have liked to make a replacement bus with copper but never came across the appropriate size piece of copper.

Aluminum wiring in homes was tried and found wanting...here in NJ I understand it's no longer allowed by code,. I'm unsure exactly why but rumor has it the aluminum connections in outlet receptacles tend to come loose.

There is a nice home in my area with aluminum wiring....and home inspectors for buyers REALLY trash the arrangement according to my broker who is trying to handle that sale...without success.

So Hatteras did not do such a good job on salon window cutouts and window frame caulking...nor in my opinion on this aluminum bus in the electric panel.

 

[Vincentc]

Thanks for the additional input.
So far the pump has not tripped the "blower" breaker.
With or without a blower breaker, my blower was not functional when I bought the boat and it passed survey.
I wonder about, but do not believe there is any requirement for a blower with diesel power.
Regards,

 

[sgharford]

I wonder if this problem is exclusive to the AirPax Magnetic Breaker? I've been there on numerous occasions too Vincent (see http://www.samsmarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12968&highlight=airpax ). Alls I can add is I’m glad to see I'm not alone.