The incoming 110 wire on my Hunter 320 gets so hot as to melt the casing and more recently electrical tape applied temporarily. It's even melted the casing on an adjoing wire. Any explanation for this? Thanks.
Hot wire
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It's like a welder
Somewhere you have a dead short. Whenever wires get hot, it is from current flow. Unless you are using some appliance that draws a LOT of power or your shore power wiring is very small guage you have a short. Shore power wiring should be #10 guage for a standard 30 amp system. Wire sizes get bigger as the guage number get lower #8 for 40a, #6 for 50a, etc. Begin by clearing all loads, check all splices, and add loads 1 at a time. Feel for the warm up, or buy an ampmeter. It's really not all that complicated.
Somewhere you have a dead short. Whenever wires get hot, it is from current flow. Unless you are using some appliance that draws a LOT of power or your shore power wiring is very small guage you have a short. Shore power wiring should be #10 guage for a standard 30 amp system. Wire sizes get bigger as the guage number get lower #8 for 40a, #6 for 50a, etc. Begin by clearing all loads, check all splices, and add loads 1 at a time. Feel for the warm up, or buy an ampmeter. It's really not all that complicated.
Do Not Use
Do not use the shore power system untill you find and fix the problem. Should not be hot enough to melt material, obviously you have a serious problem that is headed for a fire. Hopefully the next posts will help you find the problem.
Do not use the shore power system untill you find and fix the problem. Should not be hot enough to melt material, obviously you have a serious problem that is headed for a fire. Hopefully the next posts will help you find the problem.
Your problem is probably not the wire
The single biggest issue with overheating is usually not the wire itself but connections or conductivity. If you have a 30 amp service, you have to have 10 AWG wire - thats code and you must have this. You also must have a circuit breaker rated for the 30 amps at the shore power plug and also the main breaker in your boat. So, its pretty hard to heat up wire that "should" be protected from passing too much current for it's rating. Copper is an excellent thermal conductor - that's why they use them on good frying pan bottoms. So, if you have a connection thats loose anywhere, heat will conduct along the length of the wire. I would look for a loose connection around the spot that is getting hot. If the heat is around the shore connector, you may need to replace the receptacle. If its around the breaker, replace the lugs and crimp them really good. Current flows through the wire equally - is there one spot thats getting hotter than the other? Then that's your problem area. If the wire is hot from start to finish - then you have an overcurrent issue and possibly a breaker problem. One sure way to find connection issues is a voltage test. Measure the voltage drop along the path of the wires when the circuit is on. Obviously, if you do not have the experience or the knowledge to measure 120VAC circuits(which are lethal!) get someone who does. Don't mess with 120 VAC unless you know what you are doing *yks and get it fixed immediately!
The single biggest issue with overheating is usually not the wire itself but connections or conductivity. If you have a 30 amp service, you have to have 10 AWG wire - thats code and you must have this. You also must have a circuit breaker rated for the 30 amps at the shore power plug and also the main breaker in your boat. So, its pretty hard to heat up wire that "should" be protected from passing too much current for it's rating. Copper is an excellent thermal conductor - that's why they use them on good frying pan bottoms. So, if you have a connection thats loose anywhere, heat will conduct along the length of the wire. I would look for a loose connection around the spot that is getting hot. If the heat is around the shore connector, you may need to replace the receptacle. If its around the breaker, replace the lugs and crimp them really good. Current flows through the wire equally - is there one spot thats getting hotter than the other? Then that's your problem area. If the wire is hot from start to finish - then you have an overcurrent issue and possibly a breaker problem. One sure way to find connection issues is a voltage test. Measure the voltage drop along the path of the wires when the circuit is on. Obviously, if you do not have the experience or the knowledge to measure 120VAC circuits(which are lethal!) get someone who does. Don't mess with 120 VAC unless you know what you are doing *yks and get it fixed immediately!
Something must be shorted or going bad.
This is dangerous and a circuit breaker should have tripped by now. My first guess would be either something in the waterheater or the a/c is bad. Second guess would be the inverter or battery charger. Turn everything off inside and slowly turn things on one at a time while feeling the power cord. The item that heats up the power cord is the bad item. I presume you have the standard yellow 30amp marine power cord. Also, check the connections on the power cord for corrosion.
This is dangerous and a circuit breaker should have tripped by now. My first guess would be either something in the waterheater or the a/c is bad. Second guess would be the inverter or battery charger. Turn everything off inside and slowly turn things on one at a time while feeling the power cord. The item that heats up the power cord is the bad item. I presume you have the standard yellow 30amp marine power cord. Also, check the connections on the power cord for corrosion.
check recepticle & plug
Check out your entire cord (both ends too), then check out the recepticle (remove from the boat). We had a bad situation on our H'31 where the recepticle end was causing high resistance. The wires were nearly burned through.
Check out your entire cord (both ends too), then check out the recepticle (remove from the boat). We had a bad situation on our H'31 where the recepticle end was causing high resistance. The wires were nearly burned through.
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