Dodged a bullet

mcanderson

mcanderson

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Arrived on our boat last night to a slight smell of burning GRP as we stepped on to the swim platform. I wasn’t too worried as our berth isn’t to have from Monaco Marine. As we unzipped the covers the smell increased. Big worries now!! Quickly found that the grill was on and the cover down in the cockpit and it was all smouldering away.

Turned the grill off and started head scratching. Vandalism or something else.

We had had new foredeck cushions delivered and they were in the cockpit.

Today I went to the company that made th cushions and yes they had used the sink next to the grill. I suggested that they had accidentally turned the grill on and the damage was a result of this. No one else has been near the boat. They agreed and quickly followed me to the boat and have agreed to pay for all the damaged.

Luckily the grill wasn’t on max as it had been on for a week!

I dread to think what could have happened.
 
What do you turn off breaker wise when you leave .?
For what it’s worth
All I leave on is the bat chargers ( they are all singing n dancing new 2015 ) And the 4 bilge pumps .
Passerelle is left on @ the breaker too .

Everything else is off .
 
You would think it would have a safety switch built in to the lid, a little like a fridge light setup that automatically cuts the circuit.
 
mcanderson said:
No breaker or safety switch. I leave the power on for the fridges to keep things cool. A real scare for us.
Click to expand...

Just to be clear
There’s no breaker for the “ cockpit griddle “
Or it’s conected to same circuit as the fridge which you leave on .

If so if the griddle needs changing out are you saying you would isolate it by pulling the shore power plug ( assume it’s on 220 v ) .
 
Playing about today and no there is no direct circuit breaker. The fridges run off one switch and I didn’t check it against the grill or stove which is also electric.
 
Could you retro-fit a squat switch to the lid to cut the power supply when the lid is down? I'm stunned this isn't standard.
 
Fairline have a switch as standard that is pushed in via the lid.

I turn everything off other than the chargers and the fly fridge ( so i have a cold drink on arrival!).

The most amazing thing is that the covers people have agreed to pay!
 
Portofino said:
What do you turn off breaker wise when you leave .?
For what it’s worth
All I leave on is the bat chargers ( they are all singing n dancing new 2015 ) And the 4 bilge pumps .
Passerelle is left on @ the breaker too .

Everything else is off .
Click to expand...

When I leave the boat for some time I turn off the 12v master breaker (bilge pumps work regardless) and leave just the battery charger on.

Overnight, I switch off all 12v breakers except water pumps and lights. Cockpit fridge is switched off overnight as the compressor makes a noise.
 
mcanderson said:
Sorry Pete you are way wide of the mark. The switch is under the cover. There is no breaker for the grill I can find.
Click to expand...

As jrudge says above, on the Fairlines there is a cut-out push switch fitted to the cockpit grill which switches it off when the lid is closed. The grill itself (on my boat at least) is wired to the same 240v breaker as the hob in the galley, labelled 'cooker'.

I'm glad you got away with this, could have been properly bad. Full marks to the cover people for standing up for it as well.
 
Possibly needed to make sure their hands were clean (prior to handling cushions)and hit the switch when wiping splashes off, Have seen it done
 
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petem said:
Apologies. Did they manage to inadvertently open the lid and switch it on then? That is unlucky.
Click to expand...

Yes, to get some water to clean their hands.

Likewise I feel sorry for them. A complete accident that could have been much worse.

Plus side - cushions are great!
 
I don’t know what boat you have but there is a safety switch on most bbq grilles that have a grp lid over them, as the lid closes it pushes on the switch and breaks the contact, over time this switch can melt as I’ve found before some builders fit a cheap one that won’t handle the current , in the end it’s overlooked when you manually switch off the grille so you don’t know it’s failed. I know of a Phantom 40 that was nearly lost some years back in Port Solent because the switch failed then the same thing happened with cushions turning on the grille.
Best isolate everything not in use while your away, I’ve still got a big issue on battery chargers on customers boats when I leave them, quite a few insist on leaving it on , a battery down on water won’t stop charging eventually it gasses creating a bomb.
 
mcanderson said:
Sorry Pete you are way wide of the mark. The switch is under the cover. There is no breaker for the grill I can find.
Click to expand...

I can't believe that either. There must be a breaker somewhere that isolates the grill. It would be unthinkable for any manufacturer to fit any mains powered equipment that isnt protected by a breaker. And yes there should be a switch under the grill cover which switches it off if the lid is closed. I think you have dodged a bullet here

FWIW when I leave my boat I leave all 220V breakers off except for the battery charger and all battery circuit switches off. On my boat the only components directly wired to the batteries are the bilge pumps and the pasarelle. The more components you can switch off and isolate when you leave the boat the better as far as I'm concerned
 
volvopaul said:
I don’t know what boat you have but there is a safety switch on most bbq grilles that have a grp lid over them, as the lid closes it pushes on the switch and breaks the contact, over time this switch can melt as I’ve found before some builders fit a cheap one that won’t handle the current , in the end it’s overlooked when you manually switch off the grille so you don’t know it’s failed. I know of a Phantom 40 that was nearly lost some years back in Port Solent because the switch failed then the same thing happened with cushions turning on the grille.
Best isolate everything not in use while your away, I’ve still got a big issue on battery chargers on customers boats when I leave them, quite a few insist on leaving it on , a battery down on water won’t stop charging eventually it gasses creating a bomb.
Click to expand...

Switch the charger off and you risk running out of charge to drive the bilge pumps if the boat starts to take on water.

Incidentally, unless the cut out switches are wired to a relay, I assume there's 240 volts going through the little switches?
 
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