BEST Engineering on Marina Electrical Systems

ON JULY 4, 2012, THE FAMILIES OF A 10-year-old and a 11-year-old boys were celebrating together on Lake Cherokee, located in the small northwestern Tennessee town of Bean Station. The day started like any other holiday on the lake, filled with swimming, boating, and barbecuing. That afternoon, though, they were swimming in a marina when they received an electrical shock. One boy died instantly from electrocution, and the other died in the hospital the next day. Several other people who jumped into the water to save the boys were injured, but survived. An investigation found that the source of the electricity was current leaking from a boat that was plugged into the marina’s electrical system.

Electric shock drowning, or ESD, has gained nationwide attention over the last few years due to high-profile incidents that have led to deaths, mostly among children and young adults. Two children in Missouri died of ESD on the same day as the two boys lost their lives. “This has been a hard thing to process because it could have been prevented,” said one of the Mothers “ People just aren’t aware you can get shocked in the water like this.” Sadly, incidents like this are on the rise, but they can be eliminated with a proper ground fault detection system at your marina.

Ground faults within boats and within the marina wiring system need to be eliminated:

* The National Electrical Code (NEC) requires a ground detection system as of the 2011 edition and later:

Article 555.3: The main overcurrent protective device that feeds the floating structure shall have ground fault protection not exceeding100 mA. Ground fault protection of each individual branch or feeder circuit shall be permitted as a suitable alternative.

* LEAKAGE CURRENT into the water carries grave risks

* WASTED ELECTRICITY IS ELIMINATED…At Heritage Marina we found that we were wasting approximately $70/month from one boat alone due to faulty wiring within the vessel.

* A GROUND FAULT MONITOR detects and isolates bad circuits, and sends a notification via email to the Dockmaster.

* BOATS WITH IMPROPER WIRING may come in at anytime and plug into your system….placing the entire Marina at risk ! You can never know which vessels plugging into your electrical system may have improper wiring, placing electric current into the water around your docks.

Other Marina Safety Requirements:

NFPA 303 Fire Protection Standard for Marinas and Boatyards:

5.20.1 An inspection of all electrical wiring, ground connections, conduit, hangers, supports, connections, outlets, appliances, devices, and portable cables installed or used in a marina, boatyard, boat basin, or similar establishment shall be made at regular intervals to ensure a complete inspection at least annually.

5.20.2 The inspection required in 5.20.1 shall include a test of ground integrity and polarity.

Lighting upgrades

Heritage Marina had a poor lighting system with many non working fixtures. The entire system was upgraded with LED lighting including controls for dusk to dawn, along with fixtures that brighten as they were approached. Each power pedestal was refurbished to include new LED

Heritage Marina Dockmaster House showing new deck lighting

Brian Seley PE of BEST Engineering with new Ground Fault Monitoring Panel at Heritage Marina

Each Power Pedestal was refurbished to include new LED lamps. Power Pedestal upgrades were completed renewing all corroded connections, power sockets and circuit breakers. We have the option of adding metering to each pedestal for billing of individual vessels for electricity in the future.

Heritage Marina hired BEST Engineering to design an upgrade to the electrical and lighting systems. We selected a Bender ground fault detection panel to monitor all the circuits feeding shore power receptacles.

We elected to monitor each circuit separately, because we did not want the whole marina shut down due to one boat connecting up in the middle of the night. When a fault occurs, only that circuit is shut down, and a warning message is sent via email to the Dockmaster.

“Doug Decker, of the Heritage Marina says of their experience: ” Brian Seley of BEST engineering designed a system that greatly increased our safety and utility here at Heritage Marina. His design allowed us to receive multiple bids for the electrical work, thus saving Heritage over $40,000 by using the lowest qualified bidder. If we had just gone to a contractor for this work, I am sure we would have paid much more and not received the quality oversight that an independent engineer allows.”

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843.235.8280