Dock Power Pedestals

[scotsohm]

Our Municipal Marina just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to install a new 60 slip saltwater dock that only has 20 Amp GFIC receptacles that are marked “ not for shore power”
They are still charging us for 280 kilowatts of power as a Utility Charge.
This is a 560 slip gulf port marina.
NEC Electrical Code states shore power must be 30 Amo Receptacles at minimum.
Is this a trend to reduce services and costs to provide the more expensive wire and related breakers and devices?
Anyone else seeing this around the country?

[GreenWave]

What they did is idiotic. And gaurantee some will try to use that for powering their boat.
Slips of any decent size in a big marina without proper power won't get many customers.

[Bill Seal]

They're charging you for power that they can't supply?

[Nord Sal]

I take it this is just for the 60 slips on the new dock and that the remainder are 30a, with perhaps a handful with50a services? What size are these new slips by the way?

Are the older slips, presumably with 30a services, being charged for 280kwh of electricity each month? If so, there is clearly a difference in the level of service provided as one has shore power and one does not.

Just what, pray tell, did they think those new 20a services would be used for? It's completely unreasonable to think that people won't power their boat from the pedestal at their slip.

[scotsohm]

Just met with the new superintendent and had to explain the problem to him as he was unaware of the code violation.

[GordMay]

The NFPA updated codes for electrical shore power pedestals requires GFP to trip at 30mA, lowered from the previous threshold of 100mA.

Ground-fault protection requirements, previously located at 555.3, were divided into three parts at Section 555.35(A), Ground Fault Protection, to provide clarity for these important ground-fault requirements.

Section 555.35(A)(1), Receptacles Providing Shore Power, addresses shore power receptacles with individual GFPE not to exceed 30 milliamperes (mA).

Section 555.35(A)(2), GFCI Protection for Personnel, addresses 15- and 20-ampere receptacles for other than shore power with Class A GFCI protection (4 to 6 mA) being provided per 555.33(B)(1) and (B)(2).

NEC 2020 Updates Impacting Electric Shock Hazards
➥ https://iaeimagazine.org/safety/nec-...shock-hazards/

Technical Bulletin: More Electrical Changes in Marina Code
➥ https://www.marinadockage.com/techni...s-marina-code/

NFPA 70-2017 Edition ➥ https://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/Ab...%20NFPA_70.pdf

[Zanshin]

This type of power limit is more common in Europe, which is why the Victron inverters/chargers have a selector to limit the incoming current so as not to trip the shore power and supply the rest, when needed, from the batteries via the inverter.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by scotsohm

Our Municipal Marina just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to install a new 60 slip saltwater dock that only has 20 Amp GFIC receptacles that are marked “ not for shore power”

They are still charging us for 280 kilowatts of power as a Utility Charge.

This is a 560 slip gulf port marina.

NEC Electrical Code states shore power must be 30 Amo Receptacles at minimum.

Is this a trend to reduce services and costs to provide the more expensive wire and related breakers and devices?

Anyone else seeing this around the country?

I always thought the NEC code stipulated 30A receptacles but you actually didn’t have to supply 30A

[scotsohm]

Thanks for all the great responses!

On the topic of pedestals I have another concern.

I see a lot of boats occupying slips with only 50A 120/240v power pedestals available.
Many of these boats have only a single or dual 30A service input receptacles on the boat.
To access the power available the boat owners utilize a single 30A or dual 30A pigtails or cords that are configured 50A 120/240V to 30A 120V.
These 50A to 30A devices do not have current limiting capabilities so between the 50A circuit breaker on the dock and whatever the boat has downstream is rated at only the cords rating in this case 30A.
If the boat exceeds a 30A load, or short, the pedestal will not protect the wiring until the 50A circuit breaker threshold is met.
That leaves many boats with an unsafe condition between the 50A pedestal circuit breaker and the boat’s first downstream over current protection device.
I have seen many Dock cords and pigtails burned up as a result of this undersized 30A rated cord and pigtail. In some instances this has led to boat fires too.
Many boats during the summer have air conditioning units that alone reach above the 30A ratings.
Am I missing something here?
How can 10 gauge wire which the 30A cords are manufactured with be suddenly ok to carry 50A?
Just wondering what part of the code allows for this.

[Statistical]

Originally Posted by scotsohm

Thanks for all the great responses!

On the topic of pedestals I have another concern.

I see a lot of boats occupying slips with only 50A 120/240v power pedestals available.
Many of these boats have only a single or dual 30A service input receptacles on the boat.
To access the power available the boat owners utilize a single 30A or dual 30A pigtails or cords that are configured 50A 120/240V to 30A 120V.
These 50A to 30A devices do not have current limiting capabilities so between the 50A circuit breaker on the dock and whatever the boat has downstream is rated at only the cords rating in this case 30A.
If the boat exceeds a 30A load, or short, the pedestal will not protect the wiring until the 50A circuit breaker threshold is met.
That leaves many boats with an unsafe condition between the 50A pedestal circuit breaker and the boat’s first downstream over current protection device.
I have seen many Dock cords and pigtails burned up as a result of this undersized 30A rated cord and pigtail. In some instances this has led to boat fires too.
Many boats during the summer have air conditioning units that alone reach above the 30A ratings.
Am I missing something here?
How can 10 gauge wire which the 30A cords are manufactured with be suddenly ok to carry 50A?
Just wondering what part of the code allows for this.

If the boat has proper sized circuit breaker there is no issue.

In a hard short downstream of the boat inlet the shorepower inlet will trip. If the boat draws >30a the main AC breaker on the boat should trip.

To give you a comparable equivalent you have a laptop cord it isn't rated for 15A but you plug it into a 15A outlet. As long as there is OCP for the cord you are fine.

[CaptTom]

I've seen that sort of thing in "small boat" marinas where there are mostly small, open boats without the shore power connections we're used to on cruising boats. Or it could be the person who designed it was only familiar with small boats, and this was their first attempt at a layout for larger boats.

I would be interested to hear how discussions with the management go.