Leaving boat plugged in and power on when leaving boat

[Tillsbury]

Originally Posted by StuM

I'd never leave water connected and turned on whether the boat is occupied or not.Water is never connected except when filling tanks
Worst case several hundred litres of water transferred from tanks to bilge(s).

I'd never connect water in the first place, and certainly not leave it so.

I think the post you're referring to was talking about ac, which in a boat involves pumping seawater into and through your boat continuously. There are way too many potential failure points in that route for me to ever leave it on unattended (and of course you can bet that the water pump will be the thing that doesn't fail)

[mglonnro]

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?

I have the boat constantly plugged in but I usually go down to check it every day. Reason: a while ago the breaker on the shore outlet had disconnected (maybe someone hit it by accident, don't know) and I ended up with empty batteries.

A battery alarm would help

[Jolly Roger]

If you want to learn a cautionary tale of leaving the shore water on, and leaving the boat, read here:
www.schooner-britannia.com/shore_water.html

[steve77]

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?

My position is absolutely not mixed.

You are misunderstanding what failure modes are. A failure mode does not have to result in a fire, it can also result in a loss of power. In this case I am referring to a loss of power from any number of sources.

My point remains, the power to a boat plugged into shore power is subject to many more failure modes than a permanently wired house ashore. To equate the two is gross oversimplification.

Cheers!

Steve

[steve77]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

you miss the point of the mystery time frame.

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

Sailorboy,

I apologize if my first post in this thread was a little hastily written and not as clear as it should have been. If I understand your posts correctly, to you it seems I was saying that it's okay to leave the boat unattended and plugged in for short periods, but not long periods. Thus your focus on time frame.

My first paragraph said nothing about time frame, it said a house is not the same as a boat. Electrically, that is absolutely true, and that's one reason there are different Codes for the two as pertains to the electrical installations.

The only place I mention a time frame is to give the OP my opinion that she's okay to leave the boat plugged in for a few days while she leaves if she wishes. The "few days" is from her original post.

I then went on to give my personal practice of disconnecting AC power when leaving. I then expanded on why that is okay for me but possibly not for the OP. That being that we have DC refrigeration and solar power to keep it running even if shore power fails. I probably should not have combined the last two points into one paragraph, and I can see how that lead to misunderstanding my intent.

I hope this clears things up.

Cheers!

Steve

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by StuM

Only at ±39.5° latitude

And to be more specific, only the surface at that latitude at sea level is moving at 800mph.

MPH is not a measurement of rotational speed.

Rotational speed is a measure of angle turned per time period...RPM, radians per hour, angles per day, etc...

[Ericson38]

I don't think my boat's marine air AC units (water cooled with 110V pumps) would work well at brownout voltages, and I don't want to experiment with them either. Same goes for water cooled (110V driven water pump) sea frost fridge-freezer units.

Brownout warnings are out now for Cal and Tx.

As far as tolerance to low voltage goes, battery chargers are most likely tolerant and won't get damage from low voltage, but anything with a spinning electric motor certainly can. Low voltage means lower spin rates and that means lower back emf and that means higher current through the windings.

[dblanken]

I leave mine plugged in for weeks at time when I'm not there. I only leave the fridge, battery charger and either a small space heater (winter) or dehumidifier (summer).

As for the A/C, I always turn that off, even if just going away for an hour. I think it's too risky to leave that running as it could quickly sink your boat if the inlet hose pops off.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by dblanken

As for the A/C, I always turn that off, even if just going away for an hour. I think it's too risky to leave that running as it could quickly sink your boat if the inlet hose pops off.

My A/Cs are only 3/4" thru hulls about 18" below the waterline for the intakes. If one fails, the pumps and battery charger will have no trouble keeping up long enough for someone to notice there's a problem and notify me or the marina. If you don't have enough pump to keep with a failed A/C intake, you need a lot more pump capacity.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by chrisr

we're very rarely on a marina but when we are, have no hesitation to leave boat plugged in and everything on - although we only leave the boat for 1-2 days so it's a bit academic
,

why is 1-2 days academic????

does something happen on day 3?

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

why is 1-2 days academic????

does something happen on day 3?

imho risk of failure is a function of time. iow, everything will fail eventually, if you leave it long enough

i see risk of failure in 1-2 days as still there, but miniscule, and thus our acceptance of the 'risk' is really only academic. risk of failure in say 1-2 years would be much higher and acceptance of such risk is a more serious undertaking

anyway, that's our point of view...

cheers,

[LauraleeG]

Re: Time Frame
See the thing is, there could be brown outs and power surges and electrical malfunctions if I am there or not there. If it is going to happen, it will happen regardless of where I am.
However, if I am THERE then I can deal with it--if I am not there, then I cant deal with it.

Leaving it plugged in and just the fridge on, works for me -otherwise going to the boat is too much work--always lugging food and groceries.

Yes, I have solar panels and Yes, the batteries can keep the fridge running but I dont like stressing the batteries when there is another way.
I guess I will trust that my electrical system, cord and plug are all Ok.

[Sailing Wx]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

My A/Cs are only 3/4" thru hulls about 18" below the waterline for the intakes. If one fails, the pumps and battery charger will have no trouble keeping up long enough for someone to notice there's a problem and notify me or the marina. If you don't have enough pump to keep with a failed A/C intake, you need a lot more pump capacity.

I power off the A/C and close the seacock when away from the boat. My concern isn't the battery charger, it's the bilge pump.

What if the output from the A/C raw water pump pops off? Now you have a pump actively pumping water into the boat. Your bilge pump may keep up for a while, but which will give out first: the A/C pump or the bilge pump? One of those is designed to run continuously, one isn't.

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by Sailing Wx

I power off the A/C and close the seacock when away from the boat. My concern isn't the battery charger, it's the bilge pump.

What if the output from the A/C raw water pump pops off? Now you have a pump actively pumping water into the boat. Your bilge pump may keep up for a while, but which will give out first: the A/C pump or the bilge pump? One of those is designed to run continuously, one isn't.

If the hose “pops off”, that is more likely a result of inadequate inspection and routine maintenance or lack of redundant hose clamps, all of which are easily avoided.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

If the hose “pops off”, that is more likely a result of inadequate inspection and routine maintenance or lack of redundant hose clamps, all of which are easily avoided.

Agree after 30 years and 7 boats hoses don’t just “ pop” off.