Main 30 amp breaker blows

[S. Todd]

Our 2015 R25SC has been sitting in its temperature controlled garage for about 5 weeks since we came home from the lake, except for last Saturday when it came out the door to get washed and dried and returned to its parking spot. I have a dedicated 30 amp outlet in the garage to plug the shore power cord into to keep the batteries charged. I typically run the charger for about 1 week per month. It has worked fine until tonight when I went out turn on the power to that 30 amp circuit. No operational battery charger, no power to the main AC panel by the helm. 🙁 The Blue Seas main 30 amp circuit breaker located in the port side cockpit locker had blown. I reset the breaker and within 3 seconds it blows again. I turned off the battery charger and the main breaker up by the helm (everything else has been off since we left the lake where and when everything was working fine). I reset the main breaker in the cockpit locker and turned the power back on to the shore power cord. Within 5 seconds the Blue Seas Main breaker blows again. I am baffled. :?: Has the Blue Seas 30 amp breaker failed and does it need to be replaced? (It is conceivable it failed 2 weeks ago the last time the charger was running, but if so I was unaware of it until now.) If it is not a bad breaker, does that mean a have a short somewhere between it and the main panel? If the short is not there, why else would it trip when the breaker coming into the main panel by the helm is off and all the switches there are off? Is there any way to test the breaker without buying a new one and replacing it? Has anyone else experienced a failure of this breaker? I intend to change oil tomorrow and trust everything else will perform properly.
Todd

 

[NorthernFocus]

Sounds like something got wet. Breakers don't typically fail when sitting idle. Unless they get wet... When a breaker trips immediately like that it usually indicates a dead short somewhere. Like maybe something got wet.

If you have reasonable DIY skills you could do a simple test on the breaker by hooking it up to power on a bench.

 

[knotflying]

There have been instances of breaker failure. Have you tried turning all your 110 circuits off as well as the charger circuit and then turning them on one at a time to see if a particular circuit is causing the issue? Who knows it could be a bum charger. I would check each circuit individually first. If a particular circuit trips the breaker you have isolated that circuit as the issue. The charger circuit is most likely the culprit because that is what you have been using when it tripped. However the 30 amp breaker itself could be the issue. Next pick the easiest. Can you disconnect the charger easy enough and temporarily plug it directly into your outside 30 amp circuit and see if that blows? If that does not blow can you go to home depot and pick up a single pole 30 amp breaker (only $6.00, cheaper than a Blue Seas for testing purposes) and temporarily bypass the panel 30 amp breaker using the standard house breaker and see if that trips? By doing these two things you will have ruled out a bad charger or a bad blue seas breaker. If the temporary breaker trips after you confirmed the charger was good then you probably have a short in the circuit feeding the panel. A lot of work, but at that point running a new feed will be faster than trying to find the short. I would bet and hope that if it isn't the charger it is the breaker.

Let us know how it works out. I feel the pain!

 

[NorthernFocus]

...If it is not a bad breaker, does that mean a have a short somewhere between it and the main panel? If the short is not there, why else would it trip when the breaker coming into the main panel by the helm is off and all the switches there are off? Is there any way to test the breaker without buying a new one and replacing it?...

Your logic is sound regarding isolating the problem. If you don't want to set up a bench test for the suspect breaker you could disconnect the load side and connect the charger directly to it. Or something with a heavier load like a space heater, hair dryer, etc.

 

[HRowland]

That breaker is likely an ELCI, not a regular 30A circuit breaker. It is likely tripping due to excessive current leakage to ground, the ELCI trip threshold is 30 ma. (note, a GFCI trip threshold is 5 ma to protect a branch circuit).
It is possible something got wet during the boat wash and is causing a bit of leakage. Make sure the inside of the ELCI enclosure is dry.

If it is tripping due to exceeding 30A you might hear a hum for a few seconds and lights on other circuits may momentarily dim, particularly if well over 30A is flowing prior to the trip.

https://www.bluesea.com/products/310210 ... 20V_AC_30A

Howard

 

[Dale777]

I suspect HRowland is spot on with his diagnosis. I had that very condition when I was over zealous in my washdown of the cockpit. I had to open the stern seat area to expose the ELCI breakers to reset one.of them, then let the entire cockpit electronics area dry out.

 

[knotflying]

Yep, It did not register with me the age of the boat and that it had an ELCI. I would say Howard may have hit it on the head.

 

[S. Todd]

Howard & Dale & Knotflying get an A+ for their helpfulness and accuracy. Apparently because the boat sits slightly bow down on the trailer a slight amount of moisture was in the ELCI. I opened it up. dried it out, put it back together and let it sit in the heat and sun for the entire day while I changed oil, transmission fluid, and antifreeze. When I backed her back into the garage last night she worked properly. I have been in much worse rain downpours than my wash down was, but apparently because of the way the boat sits on the trailer the breaker ELCI was able to take on just a little bit of water that did not see fit to dry out in the garage. Thanks for all your help! I guess I will try a little Saran wrap before I do that type of wash down again.
Todd