How to wire a double pole single throw 110 30amp breaker?

[PKomrowski]

I bought a new to me pannel on ebay, right price in great shape, and im real happy with it. But there is something I am unsure of, and since I know nautical wiring has some different quirks I thought some one could help.

The main breaker is a 30 amp just like I want, but it has 4 connections on the back like you would expect to see on a 220 application. But it only has a 1 switch on the front. So it looks like a double pole single throw breaker.

Im wiring it for 110 30 amp, so how is this wired, Im assuming that the poles should be combined.

The picture of the back of the breaker is on the upper left, with the meter on the right of it, and the appliance breakers below them (the picture got rotated).

Im a very experiences electrition in residential, and commercial, and have alot of experiance in DC wiring as well so Im not a novice.

Any advice would be appricated.

 

[ONERCBOATER]

Re: How to wire a double pole single throw 110 30amp breaker?

I am no electrician....nor nautical electrician, but if i were wiring that switch i would assume double pole single throw...and wire ea side independently of the other... in a wet enviroment, i would really be happy if both legs of a 110/120 vac breaker were able to be sensed and broken.... i suspect that is the case here.

Sean

 

[jhebert]

Re: How to wire a double pole single throw 110 30amp breaker?

I suspect--I say that because I am not an expert--that in marine wiring both the neutral conductor and the hot conductor of a 120-VAC circuit are fed through a main circuit breaker or disconnect. This is because it is rather common to find that the wiring in marina dock panels is backwards. So both neutral and hot are disconnected when the breaker is OFF. If you depended on the normal residential wiring, where the Neutral is never broken, you could easily have a big problem if you connected to a dock with inverted wiring. You'd have the boat powered even with the breaker in the OFF position.

Before doing any 120-VAC wiring on a boat, I recommend you obtain the American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) recommended practices, and use them as a guide for your installation. If you were not aware of this practice, there are likely more recommended practices that you are not aware of, and if you continue your installation you could easily create a dangerous hazard which could kill someone.

If you don't get the ABYC recommendations--and they are expensive--at least buy a good book on marine AC wiring. I would not take casual and random advice from someone on an internet forum on this topic. There is too much risk of death involved in 120-VAC wiring on a boat to do it in ignorance.

 

[ONERCBOATER]

Re: How to wire a double pole single throw 110 30amp breaker?

"I would not take casual and random advice from someone on an internet forum on this topic. There is too much risk of death involved in 120-VAC wiring on a boat to do it in ignorance"----jhebert

that is likely the best advice you could get.
glad to know i was on right track though.

Sean

 

[Unleadedaddict]

Re: How to wire a double pole single throw 110 30amp breaker?

Get a volt ohm meter and check it first just to be sure. But it sounds like it is breaking hot and neutral, like the above stated

 

[Don S]

Re: How to wire a double pole single throw 110 30amp breaker?

The double throw, single pole breaker on your panel if for the main AC breaker which is also used as the AC On and OFF switch.
On boats, both the Hot (Black) and neutral (white) wires need to be shut off when the main power is off.