I just put a full fuse panel in our boat which made somebody say that
they now knew I was nuts.

Why?

I don't trust the 24 year old breaker switches. The labels have all
fallen off so I don't know what amperage each is. The boat is all
wired with #10 so the breakers are probably large but the wiring has
been modified and branches off into smaller wire in places I haven't
found yet. I don't want to deal with the time and expense of
rebuilding the main panel right now and it was only a morning's work
to put in a fuse block. I can now select just the level of protection
I want for each circuit. I also have a way now to disable any circuit
without worrying about someone turning it on again. Our switches are
where they can be easily bumped by people going in and out.

Was this nuts?

--

Roger Long

"Roger Long" wrote in
:

Was this nuts?



Absolutely not. Every circuit, even the house battery banks, themselves,
have proper fusing or breakers in every circuit, including the primary
circuit, in Lionheart. Even when the wiring will handle more, circuits are
protected with 20%-over-load ratings. House batteries are fused in the
jumper links between the 6V batteries in series.

In circuits where light loads, such as electronics, have much lighter
wiring, sub fuse or breaker panels are installed to protect that individual
instrument's wiring from overcurrent conditions. NO wire can be burning
because of a short. I sleep very comfortably, well not worrying about
electrical fires, anyway...(c;

I regularly see stupid wiring in highly flammable plastic boats made of
highly flammable epoxy where dangerous circuits are between where people
are sleeping and their only fire exits. A 20A breaker feeds an unfused
stereo. Someone has cut out the inline fuse from the VHF transceiver so
they could make the wiring look really neat, because the fuse made the wire
too long...hooked to another 20A breaker that will make that wire explode
if the radio shorts it. The fine wires to instruments and the compass
lights is hooked straight to a 15A breaker. None of the individual wires
could ever survive the 18A it takes to trip it, but we used it because the
total load of the 12 gadgets hooked in parallel to it was nearly 12A. They
should have all been hooked to an aux fuse panel inside the helm, fused
independently to protect all these branch circuits, then the fuse block to
breaker in the boat should have had larger wiring rated above 15A.
Dangerous wiring like this is, unfortunately, "normal" when manufacturers
are all cutting corners to see how cheap they can make 'em at maximizing
profit margins. Boat owners exacerbate the problem installing the extra
gadgets with no regard to their own family's safety-at-sea.

Ever ask yourself why there are breakers on your boats mounted in FLAMMABLE
wooden boxes no electrical inspector would allow in your home? Your home
comes under the National Electric Code because it's hooked to the primary
electrical system. All electric boxes must meet the code. Your boat is a
plug-in appliance, and NMMA fights really hard to keep it from becoming an
NEC inspected problem for them. No electrical code would allow them to put
cheap plastic fuseholders unprotected in the engine compartment where the
gas fumes are.....like my Sea Ray came with. The AM/FM radio fuse was 6"
from the CARBS on the Merc 175 Sport Jet! Do you think those cheap plastic
fans pulling fumes out of the bilge are REALLY explosion proof? Explosion
proof motors aren't made out of plastic.....EVER.

Sleep in peace....(c;

Of course you are not nuts. As long as you have appropriate protection
whether it be breakers or fuses is fine. I do not quite understand your
comments though. if you can fit appropriate sized fuses in the
appropriate places, you could have just as easily used breakers. they
serve the same purpose. I just think breakers are so much easier and
even withstanding the fact they may be able to be bumped on or off i
can see a situation where your nav lights or maybe radar develops a
temporary overload etc where it would be much easier to reset a breaker
rather than discover you do not have a replacement fuse.

The "nuts" I think my friend was referring to was having BOTH breakers
and fuses. Larry made me feel a lot better about that, thank you.

The fuse block fits neatly into an unused space just inside the engine
room access where I could easily move the wires over from the main
panel. There wouldn't have been room for additional breakers.

I'll probably replace breakers in the main panel gradually. In cases
where the appropriate wire size runs to all sources and I replace
breakers with the right size, I may gradually retire the fuses one by
one. The fuses will also give me a chance to experiment and find the
lowest workable size for each load. With old wiring and an old boat, I
don't necessarily want to have the standard breaker size if the loads
being supplied don't demand it.

OTOH, the electrical panel is right under the companionway, (don't ask
me why) and I may never fully trust breakers that are exposed to that
much moisture. So far, I don't see a workable alternate location.

--

Roger Long



wrote in message
ups.com...
Of course you are not nuts. As long as you have appropriate
protection
whether it be breakers or fuses is fine. I do not quite understand
your
comments though. if you can fit appropriate sized fuses in the
appropriate places, you could have just as easily used breakers.
they
serve the same purpose. I just think breakers are so much easier and
even withstanding the fact they may be able to be bumped on or off i
can see a situation where your nav lights or maybe radar develops a
temporary overload etc where it would be much easier to reset a
breaker
rather than discover you do not have a replacement fuse.

Roger
Your theory about slowly replacing the fuses seems workable to me
although the circuits should be wired in a manner that enables you to
knnow the total current rating for the cicuit already. If you can
isolate all the gear on a circuit you should be able to calculate the
total circuit load. If you have quite a few appliances connected to one
circuit (not ideal) you then need to calculate what you may have
running at the same time and size your fuses/breakers to suit. this is
called a maximum demand calculation if you want to try and google more
info. I appreciate you are playing with someone elses bodgey work and
a rewire may not be practical though. Can't you install breakers in a
water resistant box though even if they are inappropriately placed
under the companionway. This is just my five cents worth as an
electrician/boater and i do not mean to sound like an Aussie smart arse.

"Roger Long" wrote in
:

OTOH, the electrical panel is right under the companionway, (don't ask
me why)

It was the easiest place to wire the boat from BEFORE they joined the hull
to the deck back in the plant.