2015 C30 S oven trips breaker

[Godspeed]

We have s new to us 2015 Cutwater 30S. The former owner never used any of the galley appliances. We for the first time this weekend tried. Our stove and oven. At first the stove tripped the main breaker on the panel but then after a couple of tries the breaker did not trip. Than Sunday night we tried the oven and again it tripped the main for that bank every time we turned on the oven. We finally gave up. We did again try the stove and it worked fine.

Any thoughts on why the oven would trip the main breaker and any thoughts on resolution.

Thanks

Brian Hinrichs
Godspeed

 

[Connerkip]

I had a similar, if not the same problem. On my 2014 C30, the factory had undersized the breaker. They changed it out under warranty. Check with the factory or dealer to see what the correct size should be.

Once corrected, I could run two of the three heating elements, but not three, without tripping the breaker.

 

[Godspeed]

Thanks.

I will call the factory rep when they open on the west coast.

Was the breaker change difficult? Could you do it yourself?

Thanks for your help.

Brian

 

[Connerkip]

Very straightforward. Easy to do on your own.

 

[Boatagain]

On our ‘16 C30 we can’t have anything else using AC running at the same time as the oven or the stove, and there’s no way we can run the stove and the oven at the same time.

It never occurred to me that the breaker may be undersized. Let us know if that resolves your problem.

 

[Godspeed]

After discussion with Cutwater and the now owner of the defunct Seaward/Princess it appears that the issue is likely. A short in the oven element or wiring leading to the element. I purchased anew element and control wire for the stove. Hopefully that will take care of the issue. I will let a know the outcome.

 

[boatbrain]

Mr. Godspeed
There are two reasons a circuit breaker will trip. Overload or short circuit.
A circuit in a overload situation would take a few seconds or longer to trip depending how much the circuit is overloaded. A circuit breaker that is under sized, would act similar. Just remember the wire that is served by the circuit breaker must be sized properly. (not implying the wire size is wrong, just saying when you put a larger size circuit breaker, make sure that the wire size is appropriate for the new breaker)
In a short circuit situation (sounds like you have in your oven) the breaker will trip instantaneously once the short is present.
(in a 60 hz system that would be 1/60 of a second). Sounds like resetting the breaker a few times blew out (open) the short circuit situation. Of course this circuit (oven) had issues and the short circuit occurred again.
Have you pulled out the element does it look burnt?
One could test it with an ohmmeter but perhaps that's a different topic.

 

[Godspeed]

I have come to same conclusion. There must’ve a short either in the oven element or a lose connection. I won’t be at the boat this weekend however the following weekend I will have received a new element from the supplier as well as a relay for the oven. I will start with the element and dismantle the stove from there to find and address the issue. What is odd is that the stove had never been used by the former owner, the first time it was ever turned on was last weekend.

I will get back to all after I resolve the issue.

Thanks

Brian

 

[Connerkip]

Kevin Lamont refers to a change from 15 to 25 amp breakers in a post titled “ problem with electric stove”.

 

[Katmat]

Check the wattage of the element. Divide the wattage by the voltage & that should give you the amperage. Usually take the amperage & multiply by 120%. Breaker should be this size or the next size up. A electric oven will not draw the full amperage at start up, it is a resistance load & will take a little bit to get to it's full load.

 

[Martin610]

I also saw Kevin's post. One concern is the gauge of the wire use in the electric line. A 15 amp circuit could be run with 14 gauge. A 25 amp circuit calls for 12 gauge. Anyone know what was used? We don't want to over heat the lines, that's real trouble.

 

[Connerkip]

One way to know the gauge of the wire is to pull the panel and look what size is attached to the breaker.

 

[Martin610]

I did just that this morning. Was gratified to see 12/3 ABYC certified cable for everything, except the generator. That was 10/3. Nice neat work, everything labeled. So many boats have just awful electrical work. Not these boats! Hats off to Fluid Motion.

-martin