When you’re dealing with marine electricity, encountering a problem with something like your marine power pedestal can cause you a significant amount of worry and stress. If you don’t pay attention to potential warning signs, you could end up with a lot of damage or losseven a fire. Dockside Power Inc. in Hollywood has a team of professionals and experts that can provide you with tips and information that will help you keep your power on and safe. Keep reading to find out more!
Avoiding Power Problems and Keeping Your Marine Power Pedestal Safe
When you’re trying to prevent complications with marine electricity, there are warning signs that you should be paying attention to and looking out for. Things like outlets with heat damage or any cords with burnt and melted plastic could be problematic. In fact, shore-power cords have been the cause of several marina fires throughout the years. These fires have caused the most damage during the winter months when the heating puts a significant amount of pressure on the marina electrical systems. These major issues occur when contacts aren’t tight, and there is resistance in the circuit, which will create an enormous amount of heat. As more heat is generated, the plastic begins to loosen, burn, and melt. If this happens without anyone noticing the heat will continue building up until the outlet bursts into flames.
Although most of these fires happen in the wintertime, the damage starts during the summer months. When you drop an electrical cord, you’ll typically shake off the water and plug it in anywhere, which is where the problems start. Especially when you’re on a boat, the saltwater that is leftover on the blades will enter into the power receptacle leaving behind salt crystals after the water has dried. This will also leave corrosion, which is friction in an electrical circuit. Ultimately corrosion causes resistance and resistance creates heat. The first initial sign that something is going wrong is if the end of a cord begins to feel warm when you touch it. If there is no corrosion and the connections are clean, the end of a cord should remain cool. Having an infrared thermometer onboard is a fantastic way to monitor the connection. These tools are easy to find online and only cost about twenty dollars. If you aren’t monitoring the temperature of your cord the corrosion can continue to worsen, making the resistance grow as well ultimately resulting in the receptacle overheating and becoming damaged.
The best way to avoid these problems and issues you want to make sure that every time you are going to plug a cord into your power pedestal turn off the breakers at the shore power posts as well as on your boat’s AC panel. Once the power is cut off, take a look at the blade sockets to see if they look burned or melted if you notice anything that doesn’t look right take to the dockmaster or someone at the marina about connecting to another pedestal.
Contact Us for Tips on Avoiding Problems with Marine Electricity
Dockside Power Inc. is a leading marine equipment company in Hollywood. Whether you’re looking for a marine power pedestal or just advice on avoiding issues and staying safe on your boat, we have what you’re looking for. Call or visit us today to learn how we can help you.