On Feb 2, 6:23*am, Larry wrote:
"Steve Lusardi" wrote in news:fma6k9$ijg$00$1
@news.t-online.com:

People will not invest a dime to
correct a problem they do not understand. Stupidity has its just rewards..
Steve

This is absolutely true. *Trying to explain it to them only makes them
angry. *Unlike usenet, I keep it shut on the docks...(c;

Just a comment/question about GFCIs.

The typical North American GFCI operates when there is an unbalance
beteen the amount of AC flowing in the live and flowing in the neutral
wire. That unbalance may be due a potentially dangerous leakage to
ground (or in this case the boat/water) but not necessarily. That
unbalance operation is the reason that GFCIs are not recommneded for
use in domestic situations for fridges and freezers. You can come home
to a fridge of bad food!

Not that we should not use them and also understand how and why they
operate to provide safety, but it's almost as if the designation
'Ground Fault Current ...... ' is a misnomer. In Europe and elswhere
understand they are called RCDs.

I liked the discussion about isolation transformers. What sort of
wattage ratings would be typical; realizing that when the boat is at
the wharf unused there may be a minimum load, due to a little bit of
battery top up, maybe a fridge and a small bilge pump (itself often on
12 or 24 volt DC boat supply) that may cut in occasionally. Perhaps
intermittently 500 watts?????

We have on hand, for example several hefty transformers (basically one
to one ratio, with a few extra volt taps) each capable of at least 250
watts or more. Have often considered using them as isolation and minor
voltage adjustment devices. Also as mentioned, properly arranged,
transformer/transformers can be used to 'match' land voltages of
around 230v OR 115v to the boat.