Glad I checked the old breakers on the boat

[sdowney717]

found 2 were defective.
They are 40 years old.

I went thru and tripped each one.
One refused to reset
another refused to trip. The one that refused to trip was also running forward bilge pump, so it is a good thing in a way, because if it tripped then you got no pump.
Really I think the original electrical designers should have made them auto reseting. Still, the boat has 3 bilge pumps and I am adding another.

The new 12 volt breakers are much narrower like less than half as wide, so I can put in more to the same panel. So this makes it easier to add circuits.
I decided to change out 4 of them and add 4 more circuits which I had wired up with a fuse holder.

 

[RPH]

When one finds manual reset breakers it indicates the designer wanted you to know the problem exists. Automatic ones could continue to reset until the protected device fails completely. In the this case you could be up **it creek with out a bilge pump.

 

[sdowney717]

David Pascoe at yachtsurvey.com suggests that too many boats have gone down due to defective breakers wired to pumps.
He even suggests wiring straight to the batteries the automatic switches.

Frankly, he is likely right on with that suggestion.
I know if that pump had gone dead due to a bad breaker, wire connection, the boat would have sunk, BUT due to the other backup pumps it would have been ok.
typically, you have a lot of different wire connections in a boat circuit. It is not one wire to pump.

For example, my boat has around 5 wire termination connection points for the bilge circuit wire before it reaches the pumps.
battery to battery selector switch to positive terminal gang block to breaker to terminal block to long wire run to pump terminal block in bilge to pump float switch to pump and back again.


http://www.yachtsurvey.com/bilge_pumps.htm

Wiring Pumps The common mistake in wiring pumps is to wire them after the shutoff switch or the main circuit breaker on the panel. It happens often that someone turns off the main power without realizing that he is also shutting of the bilge pumps. To test whether your boat is wired wrong (and many are) turn all the power off and then test the pump by lifting the float switch. If it doesn't go on, then you know what the problem is.

I do not agree with the ABYC standard that bilge pumps must have circuit protection. Far too often, the circuit breaker or fuse is the cause of a boat sinking. If you want to eliminate circuit protection, try to keep the wire run as short as possible. While its not good practice to wire anything direct to the battery, I'd say the lone exception would be bilge pumps. If there's no other practical way, go ahead and do it. This applies to submersible pumps only. These pumps have no history of burning up and starting fires.

 

[redsky49]

Actually, fire pumps (for commercial fire sprinklers or hose connection risers/standpipes) are wired the same way - unfused. It is more important for the pump to operate than to try to protect the wiring and have the building burn down.

That being said, I would be extremely cautious about wiring any device contrary to standard practices, let alone contrary to code.

Those old style push-button breakers are really, for lack of a better term, ****! I would recommend Blue Sea Systems:

http://bluesea.com/category/3

for a typical thermal/magnetic breaker. Blue Seas have in the past manufactured a push-button type breaker ( BSS # 7052 thru 7059, 5- 30 A) if you insist, though I am not sure if they still catalog this item.

Ancor also makes a quality line of marine circuit breakers:

http://www.marinco.com/productline/circuit-breakers-switches-and-accessories

Being also the owner of an older boat, especially one that has seen a lot of sea miles and salt air, I would guess that a few bad breakers are only the tip of the iceberg.

The wiring in older boats is typically un-tinned (sometimes even solid core) and more susceptible to corrosion, particularly the wicked type of moisture corrosion that travels up the core of the wire. Soldered joints are likely to have deteriorated due to moisture and vibration, and mechanical crimp terminals should also be checked for damage from heat, corrosion and poorly made crimps. Likely the resistance of all your wiring has increased over the years. Increased resistance means more heat, and that leads to fires.

Main disconnects tend to have burned and/or corroded contacts after extended use, and are frequently not of the "make before break" type and are not alternator field disconnect protected.

Electrical demands on boats have increased over the years, and many circuits are now overloaded, and not in compliance with best standards and practices, as well as being increasingly more complicated.

Batteries are frequently not fused per AYBC, too many wire terminals are located on a single mounting post, too many cables are bundled together, unsupported wires, improper color coding, etc. And that is not to mention the use of residential wire nuts, zip cord, etc., etc.

I would recommend three things based on your abilities and experience:

1. An electrical survey by a good marine electrician. An hour at $75 will pay itself back many fold.
2. Boat Owners Mechanical and Electrical Manual by Nigel Calder, an excellent reference book.
3. American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) Standards as applicable for your particular electrical requirements.

You might be surprised what an electrical survey turns up - often things you would never have thought of!

Be safe. Any voltage can cause a fire, and 120/240 V can kill. And you will benefit from any optimizing of your system by better equipment performance, improved battery capacity/life, etc.

As always, offered only as opinion