Posted by Paul McFadden (pwhitmac@…>)
In AC applications, it’s extremely important to adhere to the code, ie; ABYC. you need to know that in AC, black is “hot”, and is switched/breakered, and/or fused, while the white is the common. White is rarely switched, except in pretty esoteric circumstances. The green wire is always used in Marine applications, as it’s improper use can be a major source of electrolysis. Some water heater companies require an isolator on the green wire to satisfy warranty requirements. Unless you have a genset, (a whole other bag of worms) your basic goal is to bring the AC on board and off without compromising the current flow. Black if hot, white is common, and green is basically case and/or chassis ground. You don’t want to be terminating any AC grounds on your boat. do it via the green wire thru the shore plug. One thing to remember, AC is really the opposite of DC. In AC black is hot, while in DC, it’s usually red. In AC,common or Edison
ground, as it’s sometimes called, is always (almost) white. In DC, it’s usually black (look @ your car battery). Generally in DC wiring there is no “green” wire. Obviously a bare wire is used to tie things together, like thru-hulls, and the like.
Hope this is of some minor help, but I’m certain there are some electrical experts out there that can clean this up a bit.
Good luck, electrical stuff on a boat can be a bear!..PWM
“William A. Cormack” <wacormack@…> wrote:
The water heater on my F36 (1986) didn’t work so I checked out the wiring before going looking for a new element. Found the following:
white wire connected to the Black from the panel
Black connected to white from the panel
At the panel both black and white were connected to the Hot (black) side of two breakers, one marked spare and the other marked water heater
At the heater the green from the heater was neatly coiled and hanging in mid air while the green from the panel was cut off shorter than the white and black
Now the question - is connecting the green a no no in marine application? It looks quite deliberate.
The problems on 1 - 3 above are easily fixed and probably something a prior owner did but the green looks like the factory did it. The green wires were not even stripped for connection.
Thanks
Bill
_________________________________________________William A. Cormack, CPAPrincipal and Chief Financial OfficerWhelan Associates, LLC, a Corporate Real Estate Service Firm100 Faunce Corner Executive Center, Suite 150North Dartmouth, MA 02747Voice: 508-984-4100, Fax: 508-984-4101, Cell 508-254-5828MailTo:wacormack@…
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