exciting day ... electrical meltdown

[OBXTucker]

This will be a short message, as I'm on my PDA.

I was cruising/fishing today with my brothers in law when I smelled an electrical fire in the pilothouse.
Looked down and saw smoke coming out if the main breaker panel.
Shut everying down except the engine, grabbed a couple if fire extinguishers and headed for port. Had everyone grab a vest, just in case. While heading back, my BIL's opened up the cabinets (both have significant electrical experience) and smoke started rolling out, but it was apparent that nothing was on fire (yet) and it quickly went away.

The cruise back was uneventful and thank goodness for natural engines!

Back at port, we turned everything back on and found the culprit. The main wire #904 from the generator to the panel had overheated and melted the covering at the lug. Once disassembled, it was found to have melted back about 6". I have pictures and will post them tomorrow nite.

We got the wire pulled back about 6' and replaced it, along with the 2' section on the other side of the bar that was also overheating. Both we obviously weak lug joints that had worn down over time. The culprit was the stove and CruiseAires creating a heavy load that gave way at the lugs.....

All is fine now. Ended up fishing/cruising until 8:00 tonight. Headed back out tomorrow.
Scary event that I've been replaying in my mind all afternoon. We acted quickly and efficiently. Probably could have put the CG on notice, but I didn't feel it had progressed to that stage...

Thoughts on how this could have been handled better?

 

[captainwjm]

Other than not immediately contacting the Coast Guard, it appears you handled it correctly, and had a lot of good luck. Congratulations on keeping your head!

 

[bobk]

If this was related to a loose screw or corrosion, it probably would have shown signs of impending melt down. Best way to check is with an IR thermometer. I used to do that annually or so on the trawler, but I keep forgetting on the Hatt. Thanks for the reminder.

Bobk
Chateau de Mer
working my way through 'the to do list' at Port St. Lucie

 

[q240z]

Nobody got hurt and you made it back to port under your own power...I think you handled it perfectly. The goddess of the seas obviously wanted you to give us all a reminder to put "check all electrical crimps and lugs" at the top of this winter's honey do list.
Thx!

 

[Will]

Your experience speaks well for your judgement in an emergency. It also points to an advantage of our old Detroits which once started need no electrical power to operate. Also, there's an advantage to having mechanical engine controls.
Will

 

[lumina]

Hi All,

I think you handled it in a calm way with clear thinking....I probably would have panicked first and then come to my senses......which could have made all the difference in getting through it or not.

 

[OBXTucker]

If this was related to a loose screw or corrosion, it probably would have shown signs of impending melt down. Best way to check is with an IR thermometer.

Bob, this was definitely a progressive issue, not a sudden meltdown.
Terminal connections were tight, but the crimps on the #4 AWG wasn't as tight as it should have been. Loading up the #2 genset over heated this connection. We actually went around turning on the CruiseAires until we replicated the event.

All is well. Kismet took care of us. We fished all morning today and are on the way home with our limit of nice sized rockfish.

 

[OBXTucker]

Hi All,

I think you handled it in a calm way with clear thinking....I probably would have panicked first and then come to my senses......which could have made all the difference in getting through it or not.

Thanks Gene. I spent about 6 years as a volunteer paramedic and specialized in vertical/tactical high rise rescue. Probably ran 2,000 calls over the years. Since that time, nothing really rattles me. I've helped life coming into this world and seen it slip away. It's definitely too short!

 

[Avenger]

The only thing I might suggest is a periodic inspection behind the electrical panel which may, not would but may, have picked up signs of the impending failure. Other than that, it sounds like it was well handled.

 

[OBXTucker]

Here's a picture of the panel. The port side "wire" is totally melted back about 4-6" (although not clearly visible). The starboard side crimp was already fried. I tapped it with the back of a screwdriver and it shattered into about 8 pieces!