Shorepower or generator power to run water pump?

[sheral]

In order to run the water pump on our 2015 R21-EC during the adding of antifreeze to winterize all of the cabin plumbing (would prefer not to drain down the batteries), is a person better off hooking the boat to:

a) AC from the house, but the run would be at least 150' and the extension cords running to the boat would be 14 ga (I suspect the length of run may not be appreciated by the boat's inverter / pump?) or;

b) a gasoline generator parked close to the boat (not an inverter model).

Any words of advice / caution? Thanks.

 

[Binare]

Running a boat (or rv) with a portable generator that isn't bonded properly (most aren't) is a great way to increase your chances of dying early so I recommend the power cord.

The extension cord should be perfectly fine for your pump, I wouldn't try and run a whole bunch of stuff though. If you come across a good deal on a 12awg cord, I'd go for it.

 

[knotflying]

If I understand you correctly, you are only running the water pump to introduce antifreeze to the system? If that is the case I wouldn't worry about running down the batteries. If you are winterizing it I assume you may be removing the batteries. The minimal drain would be taken care of once you top off the batteries from a trickle charger. Before I was bringing the boat to warmer weather and had to winterize the boat, I would remove the batteries and once a month apply a trickle charge to keep them topped off while they sat on the bench in my garage.

 

[sheral]

Thanks guys.

I do have two 12 ga extension cords but the third is 14 ga and all would be needed to reach the boat. I will start the run with the 12 ga cords and use the 14 ga last.

I am hoping to leave the batteries in the boat this fall / winter as they are and will be connected to a 50 watt solar panel / controller trickle charger.

I figured there was some type of grounding issue with using a gen so thought I had better ask... I will never pretend to understand the bonding differences.

 

[Scuffy]

On our previous boat we ran a generator (Honda EU2000) via and standard duplex out outlet on the generator using an adapter and the boats regular 30 amp power cord to the boat shore power system when on the water. That allowed us to run roof top A.C., 120v percolator, hair drier, induction hot plate and the boats battery charger. I never saw any problems. We used the same power cord with a 120v adapter that plugs into a standard duplex outlet in our garage all winter to power a small heater, the boats battery charger all thru the boats shore power system. Six years no issues. I would borrow an amp probe and try to figure out how many amps you are actually drawing. The homes circuit breaker rating would some what of dictate what type of extension cord to use. I would check with someone more knowledgeable than myself but I think 14 gauge wire should no be on a breaker rated for more than 15 amps. 12 gauge I believe would be required by code for a 20 amp breaker. The idea is that the breaker should trip before the wire heats up to the point it could catch fire. Happy Winter

 

[Binare]

I never saw any problems.

Famous last words 🙂

 

[CAPTCRUNCH]

Happy Winter

Did I miss something? What happened to Fall?

 

[Scuffy]

The original poster was wintering up. We are still going to do some fall boating. For those of you not throwing in the towel the fall is the best time to be on the water. Happy Fall see you next trip!