Leaving boat plugged in and power on when leaving boat

[boatpoker]

Insurance statistics show most boat fires start in the DC wiring in the engine compartment ... Disconnect batteries when leaving the boat ?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by steve77

To the OP's question, for short trips away from the boat, I would agree you should be fine leaving AC power on. For longer trips away we unplug shore power and put the cord away out of the weather.

You don't find your position mixed? It is either safe to leave plugged in or not. What does the time matter?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Insurance statistics show most boat fires start in the DC wiring in the engine compartment ... Disconnect batteries when leaving the boat ?

Had a near lightning hit the other day while on the boat with SP plugged in and the air conditioning running, but battery charger off.

The DC system spiked high setting off battery monitor alarms, burning up a fan and the voltage regulator. The AC power didn't even appear to flicker. On my boat AC shorepower has to go through 4 breakers to get to a load. That is a lot more protection than a house.

[Cheechako]

I'd leave it if you mean you are living aboard. If just using the boat occasionally I'd turn off the fridge.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

You don't find your position mixed? It is either safe to leave plugged in or not. What does the time matter?

No it's correcting misleading info.

Your house sits stationary (short of earth quakes).

A boat is constantly shifting and moving in the slip. That applies forces to electrical connections.

But just because the analogy isn't correct, doesn't mean you can't safely leave the boat plugged in.

It's balancing risk vs reward.

We generally turn off everything but the fridge and battery charger. For the circuits that are off, the risk is reduced but turning the fridge off would result in having to do something with the food and keeping the batteries charged means the bilge pumps have near limitless run time.

[wingssail]

We have always left the AC power cord connected and AC breaker on, meaning that the Inverter/Charger was powered up, during short periods away from the boat. (Usually that would be the only AC device energized.)

All DC circuits switched off except the refer and bilge pump.

We have confidence that the Magnum inverter/charger will manage surges and high/low voltages (as it does when we are aboard).

The only issue we've had was when the powercord became dislodged and the batteries ran down, the refer shutoff, and food was spoiled while we were gone for two weeks.

If we planned longer absences I think we'd empty the refer and disconnect the AC, leaving the solar to keep the batteries up and power the bilge pump.

BTW: All thru-hulls are closed every time, excepting the above waterline bilge pump outlet and cockpit drains.

[Shrew]

When we leave...

1) Shore Power Plugged in

2) Main Breakers ON

3) Batteries set to HOUSE

4) Fridge on on both AC and DC

5) Battery Charger ON

6) Air Conditioning OFF

7) We don't connect shore water, however if we did it would be turned OFF.

8) Everything else we turn off.

[OS2Dude]

We have SmartPlugs for our shorepower cables and have no qualms about leaving the boat plugged in. I may think twice with an old fashioned 1930-era design plug though.

[dave907]

In Florida, unfortunately, it's a good idea to leave the power on and the Air Conditioning going (set to 78-80 degrees) when not onboard. If I don't, the inside of the boat gets so hot it starts melting things (like the glue of the head liners, etc.). Also, the AC keeps the humidity down.

I've had the raw water intake clog before, but the units shut down automatically when this happens.

Dave

[sailorboy1]

you miss the point of the mystery time frame.

But I don't care, just read bottom of this post

[sailingchiro]

Shore power stays plugged in. The only items I run are the dehumidifier and stand alone battery charger for house bank.

I don't use the inverter charger or leave anything else turned on. House bank runs low voltage alarm, high water alarm, and bilge pumps.

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by wingssail

BTW: All thru-hulls are closed every time, excepting the above waterline bilge pump outlet and cockpit drains.

Is this the generally accepted practice?

I started out doing this, but have not done it last 2 weeks away from the boat.

All my throughhulls are in one place and all close except galley sink drain (which I'll replace when hauled out this summer).

[basssears]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

If having your boat plugged in is eroding anodes you’ve got a real problem that needs to be addressed, or one of your dock neighbors does and you need a galvanic isolator.

As far a anodes go, this.


Boat is 750 miles away... we leave it plugged in with charger on to keep the batteries continuously charged in case the bilge pump needs to run extensively. We turn outlets off (in winter we'll leave them on and run a 100w heater/fan but nothing bigger), fridge is off just because we're gone for weeks and weeks. Hot water heater is off. All DC systems other than the bilge pump are off, including water pressure.


Investigate your wiring and make sure it's in good condition and properly sized. I'd read horror stories about shore power cables so we bought a nice new Smartplug cable thinking we were dialed now, when I went to replace the inlet on the boat discovered the wiring from inlet to breaker is BADLY undersized, so now we will be replacing that as well. Once you go start to finish through your wiring you should feel pretty comfortable leaving the boat plugged in.



We close all below waterline through hulls anytime we leave the boat overnight and we're not on it. When she broke off her mooring last fall I was pretty happy to know the through hulls were closed.

[tarian]

Nonsense to assume their will be a fault , as usual the fear mongers are waiting in the wings with the doom stories. It is not uncommon especially in Europe to keep a dehumidifier and battery charger going from the pontoon, or on the hard,. A good marina will have decent eletrical breakers feeding into a boat which should have An RCD fitted with quality cable and fittings and good earth's then no problems , just llike a dodgy house wiring as with a boat it can all wrong,. But if the boat is well set up for shore power then their is no problems at all . I have left shore power on my boat for six months on the hard running a dehumidifier, when periodically inspecting the yards trip switch had tripped or my trip switch. Which protects the. The. Boat
The issue traced back to water entering the extension sockets under the boat causing a surge but both RCDs did their job
And so did my wiring
Eletrical current in the water would have been noticed on your anodes if your regularly at one dock. If no anode deterioration is noted then no issues ,. Your eletrical set up should ground and if worried about electrical leakage , fit a galvanic isolator .
Do you switch of your fridge , fish tank, cable TV to record when your Away nope
To be prudent check the shore power breaker. Check your breakers and inspect your cables it all fine then boat is fine
For the record my boat is on shore power , and I'm at home for four weeks now and no tripage so no hassles

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by s/v Moondancer

We left the boat plugged in in the US but not in Latin America after two incidents...In Panama, a power surge cooked the A/C control panels, and in Columbia, poor wiring at the dock box set the 50amp power cable on fire!

Yep, the answer to this question has a lot to do with venue. Here in the lightening prone W Caribbean a connected shore power cord is providing another possible path. And the often flaky power here can be a problem too.

Leaving most cats plugged in worries me due to the potential for disasterous galvanic corrossion to the sail drives. In my case, I usually avoid the issue altogher by storing at docks w no power or on the hard.