At my slip or any marina when i plug into shore power 50/60 AMP and turn on 1/2 of the devices in the boat, I trip the breaker. Even if I am running 2 AC's and turn on the hot water heater, it trips. I understand that the HW heater draws 15 amps, but I am told the boat draws too much power. Any thoughts?
Scott
check to ensure your power stanchion is truly 50 amp or two 30 amp services in separate phases. I had the same problem at our yacht club and we found that the two 30amp plugs were in the same phase and not delivering 60amp of service when combined. I am not an electrician, but our electrician quickly identified the issue when he took the stanchion apart.
So you have traveled to multiple marinas and seen the same problem? And you are tripping the pedestal breaker and not be ships inlet breaker? If so I would first suspect your cable end and or receptacle (depending on whether you have a cablemaster). If There isn't a good connection, arcing will occur between the cable end and receptacle creating a much higher amp draw (and fire hazard). If the prongs in the cable look burnt or the cable ends get hot After a sustained medium load then you may want to put a new end on or get a new cable. .
Do you know if your ship is equipped with an isolation transformer? If so I wouldn't be surprised if a short in the transformer windings can cause the same problem.
if your not experienced with AC electrical gettting a professional to help may be money well spent. Most boat fires are due to shore power connection issues, not to mention the inherent danger of electrocution from high voltage.