www.iFourWinns.com

Picked up my boat from its winter storage and am getting some projects done today.

Sanitizing the fresh water system and I have shorepower plugged into the house. When I turn on the hot water heater, it trips the GFIC on the house where its plugged in.

Any ideas?

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

You didn't power up the water heater without water in it, did you?

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Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

I believe I had turned it on and then realized the fill valve was still thrown to bypass it. It was staying on and then I realized it was off shortly after it had filled with water.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

I'm no expert about the resultant effects, but I do know that you will quickly fry the heating element if there is no water present.

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Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Thanks. My gut tells me that's what happened.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

Element checks out fine. Easy to get to and check, but if you have to remove you need to take out the front hold down bracket which looks to be a pain.

Of course it tripped while I wqas messing with it and the heater was off so I have an issue with my extension cotd hopefully as that's the cheapest fix!

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

You didn't mention the extension cord. Be VERY careful you're not overburdening whatever you're using - household extensions cannot handle the current you're demanding of it. That's how fires start. Glad your GFCI was working (and that your element is still good).

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Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

definitely make sure your cord is rated for amperage. Those heaters are power happy. And if you have other things on as well - that could make it much worse

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

What's odd is all last year and the year before that it was fine. Ill just pick up a new 10 gauge cord and be done with it. That heavy duty cord is a fair chunk of change!

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

Not sure how to explain it. Tried it with the boats shore power hooked up with the new extension cord and still same issue.

Decided to fire up the genset, and it worked. For the hell of it I switched it back to shorepower and it stayed on. Now its fine. Not sure what caused the issue.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

What tripped it was a short between hot & ground. What ground is the question? Now your saying, tell me something that I don't know!! It just could be moisture from the winter months between the connections at the panel. Was it damp in side the boat??

Just a thought, since it works now.

On the cords, use the heaviest cords starting from the GFI and make the run as short as possible.

Whats weird is it tripped, 5 minutes later it ran off the genset, and 5 minutes later it ran off shore power.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

GFCI does not work off of the ground side. What it does is measures the load imbalance between the hot and nutral. If these are out of the ranges it will trip.

What I am saying, if there is a leak from hot to ground it will trip. Which is is that " load imbalance between the hot and natural." More current is being pulled from the hot side than the natural side which will cause that imbalance. Forgive me, thats why it is a ground-fault circuit interrupter. It only takes about 5 milliamps for this to trip, so the leak could be small.