Lakeside Electrical

[lakngulf]

I have been reading about major problems with electricity on piers and near water. While I think my setup is good and has worked for years I think I want to install a complete shut off switch where wire leaves house and heads toward the water. What is a good switch to accomplish this?

 

[s219]

How often will you switch it off? Can you just use a breaker?

For the power to my pier, I have a series of breakers. The first breaker is in my main panel in our house, a 30A double pole breaker. Wiring runs from there under the house, then underground to the top of the stairs to my pier, about 200' away. There, the wiring goes into a weather resistant main lug panel with a 30A double pole GFCI breaker -- so everything downstream of that is GFCI protected. Wiring then runs down the stairs another 50' or so, into another weather resistant panel on the pier. That contains a 15A single pole breaker for a receptacle, and a 20A double pole breaker for my boat lift.

When I stop using the pier in early winter, I will shut off the 30A breaker up inside our home. Or if we will be out of town for more than a few days I will shut it off.

For routine use during the boating season, I switch off the 15A and 20A breakers on the pier when power is not needed. I don't want power going to the boat lift control unit unless I am down there actually needing to use the lift.

 

[EddieWalker]

Any of the outside AC switches should work fine if you just want a way to turn off the power. I would also have everything on the pier run through a GFCI outlet before it gets to the pier if possible.

 

[kcflhrc]

We had some children get electrocuted at the :Lake of the Ozarks last year because of faulty wiring. Look here for some good information from the Power Company that owns the lake.

Dock Electrical Installations | Ameren Missouri

 

[buickanddeere]

How often will you switch it off? Can you just use a breaker?

For the power to my pier, I have a series of breakers. The first breaker is in my main panel in our house, a 30A double pole breaker. Wiring runs from there under the house, then underground to the top of the stairs to my pier, about 200' away. There, the wiring goes into a weather resistant main lug panel with a 30A double pole GFCI breaker -- so everything downstream of that is GFCI protected. Wiring then runs down the stairs another 50' or so, into another weather resistant panel on the pier. That contains a 15A single pole breaker for a receptacle, and a 20A double pole breaker for my boat lift.

When I stop using the pier in early winter, I will shut off the 30A breaker up inside our home. Or if we will be out of town for more than a few days I will shut it off.

For routine use during the boating season, I switch off the 15A and 20A breakers on the pier when power is not needed. I don't want power going to the boat lift control unit unless I am down there actually needing to use the lift.

How are you preventing the 30amp two pole line to line GFI from tripping when using a single pole likne to neutral load downstream?

 

[CobyRupert]

How are you preventing the 30amp two pole line to line GFI from tripping when using a single pole line to neutral load downstream?

Perhaps it's a " single phase, 3 wire" GFI breaker (i.e. GFI breaker has a third line side (neutral) terminal) ?

(e.g. Like a Siemens QF230-30)

 

[milligjg]

We had some children get electrocuted at the :Lake of the Ozarks last year because of faulty wiring. Look here for some good information from the Power Company that owns the lake.

Dock Electrical Installations | Ameren Missouri

This is a big issue at the Lake of the Ozarks lately.:thumbsup:

 

[s219]

How are you preventing the 30amp two pole line to line GFI from tripping when using a single pole likne to neutral load downstream?

I read up on this many years ago -- most dual pole GFCI breakers are setup to handle this. They are able to sum all current from both legs and the neutral, and if it's not a net zero, they trip. So it doesn't matter if the imbalance is between the two hot legs, or one of the hots and neutral.

 

[Qapla]

I have been reading about major problems with electricity on piers and near water. While I think my setup is good and has worked for years I think I want to install a complete shut off switch where wire leaves house and heads toward the water. What is a good switch to accomplish this?

How many amps are you sending to the pier and is it 240v or 120v

Home Depot and Lowes both sell cutoff switches commonly used for A/C units.

For a "complete shut off" the two best choices would be a Knife style pull switch or one where you "pull" the cutoff out - they both ensure "NO power" when they are in their "off" position.

 

[lakngulf]

How many amps are you sending to the pier and is it 240v or 120v

Home Depot and Lowes both sell cutoff switches commonly used for A/C units.

For a "complete shut off" the two best choices would be a Knife style pull switch or one where you "pull" the cutoff out - they both ensure "NO power" when they are in their "off" position.

It is a 120V 20 amp. I know of the AC cutoffs you mention. I will look for the Knife style pull, I like that idea.