T&T: Electrical Issues - Solved?

[Greg Bradley]

You may all recall that I asked several months ago about an electrical
problem I was having with my stove.  I described the issue as follows:

----
When we are on shore power (50A), we get enough power to power
everything on the boat (including dual air conditioners at the same
time) except the electric stove.  The electric stove will sort of power
on, but the burners never get very hot and the LED "On" light does not
light.  This is the first marina where we have had this issue.  The
stove has worked fine in other marinas on shore power.  If I switch to
generator power, the stove works just fine.  I have tried two shore
side outlets (both in the same box) and both inlets on the boat (one on
each side).  There are no other 50A shore side boxes close enough to
reach.  My multimeter doesn't have prongs long enough to measure
voltage at the box.  I'm not sure what else to test.
----

After I posted that note I got several people offering help.  Nothing
worked.  I did find out some additional information.  The entire port
side of the boat was affected.  My wife's hair dryer would not work
well on the port side outlets, but worked fine on the starboard side
outlets.     However, the port side outlets would power small loads
like clock radios, my laptop power supply and the like without
problems.  I tested the shore side power at multiple marinas with the
same results.  I tested the shore side power with dual 30A power cords
as well as the 50A with the same problems.  I poked around in the power
panel with my multimeter and could not find anything out of spec.

I finally broke down and decided to hire someone to take a look.  We
made it to Dog River marina and I described the problem with the marina
office.  One of their workers asked me to check all of my GFCI outlets
on the port side.  I thought that was a little weird, but I came back
to the boat and looked at the GFCI outlet in the head.  It appeared
normal, but we hit the TEST and RESET buttons anyway.  I can't believe
it but it worked.  The stove works fine now.  The hair dryer works fine
now.  

Can someone help me understand what happened?  Why were just the larger
loads affected?  Why did everything work fine with the generator
running?  I'm still baffled, but at least things work now.

Thanks...
Greg...
----
CHARLIE RAY
1977 Thompson Trawler 44'
currently at Dog River Marina - Mobile, AL
 



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