T&T: Debugging an electrical problem

[JSpence47 at aol.com]

We 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.
 
I had a  similar problem with my stove when I bought my boat. It would take a 
long  time to heat up and the lights would have a long delay before coming 
on. In  addition when I ran off the main gen set I would get a reverse shore 
power  alarm. (was ok on smaller gen set and shore power) I finally started  
tracing all the wiring and found that some one had wired the stove under the  unit 
and reversed the power and neutral wiring. The only reason it didn't blow  a 
breaker was because the ground wire was hanging by a thread. I fixed  all the 
above and have had no further problems.
 
Jim
Aboard  M/V Sea Eagle, 50' Californian
"Semper Fi"



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