Electrical Safety Office Inspections and Boats

[Alchemy]

Was sent the following today. I'm curious to know how relevant this is to the average boater with 12VDC electrical systems. I know 240VAC would be an issue if not installed as per AS/NZS 3000:2000.

Regards,
Dave.

Media Release

15th February, 2007

Boat Owners and Vendors Risk Hefty Penalties

Queensland’s Electrical Safety Office Targets Non-compliant systems

Queensland’s boat owners, boat brokers and new boat dealerships risk hefty fines and possible gaol terms for operating or selling vessels with faulty or non-compliant electrical systems.

One of Queensland’s leading marine surveyors, KPS Maritime said the Queensland Electrical Safety Office has commenced a program to randomly inspect boats to ensure that they comply with Australian standards for electrical installations.

KPS Maritime managing director, Nick Lockyer believes over 25 notices have been issued for breaches following on-board electrical inspections and that these recently resulted in at least two significant prosecutions under the Queensland Electrical Safety Act 2002.

“Many people are unaware of their legal obligations and responsibilities in relation to marine electrical installations and maintenance,” he said.

“These regulations are not restricted to commercial vessels. While the criteria for commercial vessels may be stringent, recreational boat operators are also held responsible for boats to comply with the Australian Standard AS/NZS 3000:2000.

“This long ignored and often overlooked area is often the cause of many marine incidents,” he said. “The excuse “I didn’t know” or “No one told me” is no longer considered an acceptable reason for a vessel to have non-complying electrical systems.

“The onus for enforcement also occurs when a vessel is sold. If a vessel is sold that is non-compliant, the Vendor is deemed to be in breech of the Act.”

Mr Lockyer said the provisions of the Act also include new boats imported from overseas manufacturers.
Under Section 33 of the Act importers of electrical equipment have an obligation to ensure that their boats’ electrical equipment is electrically safe, is designed to be electrically safe and is tested and examined to ensure that it is electrically safe.

He stressed that all appliances such as microwaves, cooktops, sound systems, etc, imported with vessels must also comply with Australian standards. It is the importer’s responsibility to ensure that they have the relevant information about the equipment from the manufacturer to comply with local Legislative requirements and that the appliances are approved. Foreign approvals (eg. CE marking), do not count as approvals for Australian Standards.

Penalties for breaching the Act are substantial, with fines of up to $150,000 for an individual, $750,000 for a corporation and gaol terms included.

In an increasingly litigious society, these are just two examples of the risks run when owning, or offering for sale an electrically non-compliant vessel:

* If an electrical fault causes a fire on board and the insurance assessor is able to determine that the fault was caused by a non-compliant electrical system, the insurance may be voided and no payment will be received.

* Where a person is injured by an electrical fault while on board a commercially operated vessel, the owner/operator and all directors of the company operating the vessel may be held liable for the injury if the vessel is found to be non-compliant. In turn, if the vessel was imported or sold to them in a non-compliant state, the importer/vendor may be held responsible.

The possibility for injury or negligence claims is endless.

Mr Lockyer stressed that a surveyor’s first priority is safety. Reputable marine surveying companies are not there to offer their own electricians to service the vessels they inspect; rather to ensure that everything on board complies with the Australian Standards and is as safe as possible. Accredited electrical surveyors should be engaged to inspect a boat to ensure that all safety requirements are being met.
Following the inspection, a list of non-conforming items will be supplied. Vendors can then engage a licensed electrical contractor of their choice to have any rectification work undertaken.

KPS Maritime is actively involved on a daily basis with the design and surveying of vessels from many countries. The company is well placed to assist owners and vendors to comply with the relevant Acts, to limit their liability and hence their exposure to prosecution and as far as may be expected, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those enjoying their time on the water.

- ENDS -

[wessel]

This should help explain a few things to the un initiated

ELECTRICITY

A GUIDE FOR MECHANICAL FITTERS

Why this guide is needed

More and more these days, Mechanical Fitters are expected to be able to:
· Change light bulbs
· Tune in transistor radios
· Change TV channels via remote control
· Operate microwave ovens
· Replace car batteries
· Maintain hand torches
As these skills are foreign to Mechanical Fitters’ training and competence, a few hints are recorded here for their guidance

Hints for Fitters


1. Most electricity is manufactured at Power Stations where it is fed into wires which are then wound around large drums.
2. Some electricity, however, does not need to go along wires. For example, that used in lightning and portable radios is not generated, it just lies around loose.
3. Electricity makes a low humming noise; this noise may be pitched at different level for use in doorbells, telephones and electronic organs.
4. Electricity must be earthed. That is to say it has to be connected to the ground before it can function, except in the case of aeroplanes, which have separate arrangements.
5. Although electricity does not leak out of an empty light socket, that light socked is, nevertheless, live if you happen to shove your finger in it when the switch is on (so if it is not leaking, what is it doing?).
6. Electricity is made up of two ingredients- Positive and Negative. One ingredient travels along a wire covered in brown plastic, and the other along a wire covered in blue plastic. When these two wires meet together in what we call a plug, the different ingredients mix together to form electricity.
7. Electricity may be stored in batteries.Big batteries do not necessarily hold more than small batteries. In big batteries the electricity is just shovelled in, while in small ones the electricity is packed in flat.
8. With the invention of coloured electricity, so also came a great easing of the traffic problem. Before this, policeman had to be used at road junctions.
9. An even bigger breakthrough came in 1929 with the invention of negative electricity; this resulted in the invention of the electric refrigerator.


Electrical apparatus


A few notes on the function of various Electrical Apparatus for Mechanical Fitters:
1. The light switch- The lever controls a small vice or clamp which grips the wire very hard thus prevents the electricity from passing that Point when the switch is in the ‘OFF’ position.
1. The light bulb- This is one of the few times when electricity can actually been seen. This takes the form of a tiny spark which is magnified many hundreds of times by the curved glass of the bulb. Unfortunately these bulbs have a limited life because, as anyone can tell you, the heat generated by the magnified spark causes the oxygen in the bulb to condense into moisture and this moisture then quenches the spark.
2. The fuse box- This is where all the wires in a house come together (or fuse) with the wires from the power station. It is prone to failure due to the fact that manufactures of this service put in wires that are far too thin.
NOTE: There is a brand of chicken wire that is an excellent substitute for fuse wire and is much more reliable. Use this and even though your spin drier may bust into flames your fuse box will still not let you down.

The smoke discovery


The big lie from when Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity, has finally been made public by a few turn-coat Electricians. These Electricians have since been ex-communicated from their colleagues in the Electrical Trades Union. This information on what electricity really is, would be of considerable value to Mechanical Fitters:
· Computers, electric lights, stoves, electric motors and all other electrical and electronic equipment run on smoke.
· All the smoke is generate at power stations. It can be stored at a local level in batteries and capacitors.
· All those overhead wires, house wiring and printed circuit boards can all carry smoke from the power station to the fuse board to the appliances and electrical equipment. If one of the wires or components break or become damaged, the smoke escapes and stops the equipment from working.
· The bigger the appliance is the thicker the wire is needed to carry the smoke, or, in the case of a complicated device, many thin wires carrying a small amount of smoke.
· The severity of an electrical problem (when the smoke starts leaking from the equipment) can be judged by the colour of the escaping smoke. Heavy black smoke is the most serious, with lighter grey smoke usually not as bad.
· Just how the smoke works can be easily explained. When you turn on a light switch, the smoke flows into the light bulb with such a force that it gets excited and glows. This sucks up all the dark in the room and turns the smoke black (in the return wiring) This black smoke is used in your toaster, where it falls onto the bread to make it darker. Sometimes when two much smoke is used it will escape out the top of the toaster.
· The first industry to cotton onto the smoke theory was the Railways. They noticed that a lot of smoke was escaping from their steam locomotives so they switched to diesel. These also leaked a little, so the trend today is towards the almost leak-proof electric trains.
Mechanical Fitters should understand this smoke theory, to become proficient in their goal of achieving some of the competencies of their electrical worker colleagues.

[Greg P]

PMSL


Very good Wessel lol

[Shanoss]

Thats about the funniest thing i've read in awhile. Nice one mate

[Angla]

Wessel, You obviously spend too much time at work and should go fishing more.

LMAO

Chris

[finga]

yeah, that's good Wessel

But to a more serious note though.....
12Vdc installations are covered somewhat in AS3000:2000 and also AS3112 under Extra low voltage (ELV) and the values of the voltages vary depending on who you talk to as by AS3000 it's up to 50Vac or 120Vdc ripple free or if it's work cover the values are 32Vac and 115vdc. So in short a lot of pleasure boats are only 12-24Vdc and classed as ELV.
Some of the things I've seen in boats is horrendous if you take the requirements of AS 3000 and AS 3112 into consideration. Some of these boats have been brand spanking new from bigger boat factories.
Some of the information I've seen given by a few here directly contradicts AS3000:2000 and AS3112. (namely fuses for things like bilge pumps and the such. Stuffs me why anybody would not put a fuse in )
If you have any 240V ac stuff then there's a whole new ball game...AS3004 as well.
If anybody has any more up to date information please, please post here as I've been out of the game for a little while and may have missed an amendment or two.
But I think the boys in blue are only interested in the 240 Vac and above stuff.
If they're looking at the ELV stuff then they better bring lots of books.

[PADDLES]

it's on page 199 if you've got a 2000 model wiring rules.

basically it just talks about segregation of different voltages and protected and seperated circuits. max voltage drop of 10% (except in the case of equipment designed to withstand this and also motor starting conditions).

interestingly it says that a main switch must be used for an elv installation and it must isolate ALL live conductors. the only time this doesn't apply is if a main switch isolates the supply to a transformer supplying an elv circuit.

ALL elv circuits must be protected by a cb or fuse. The exception to this is where the short circuit output of the supply doesn't exceed the current carrying capacity of the cable.

plugs/sockets must be different for different voltages. ie. if you use a household gpo as a 12vdc plug/socket combo in your boat it's illegal.

possibly most of the boat installs in australia wouldn't comply with the wiring rules. this is just a basic overview, there's a bit of other stuff worth reading in there about protection from touch etc.

this could open a pandora's box

[skippa]

Wessel,

ROFPMSL ....

needed a good laugh 2day too

[FNQCairns]

They probably should look at those chinese generators also, I have an inverter one and while I dont have the knowledge to understand the electrics, if the electrical side is of the same quality as the most basic of fuel systems used on it (no way aust standard) it should not be sold in Oz.

cheersfnq

[steveg1100]

They seem to be targeting the 240v side of the installations which by law can only be carried out by an electrician and yes have to meet the standards quoted. The elv (extra low voltage) side does not have to be carried out by an electrician as would be better covered by an auto electrician...

[murf]

Just opened up my latest wiring rules 1986 model Must be the first time I have opened it in 6years by the amount of silver fish

is there any mention directly about boats (small pleasure craft) in any rules?

there would be a large # of manufacturers that are sending out boats that don't comply. never mind the thousands of home jobs, like finga said bring lots of paperwork.

I couldn't find any reference to the smoke theory as well good one wessel

Cheers Murf

[Reel Hard]

Gee wizz Wessel and for all these years I didn't think electricians could read.

[PADDLES]

you don't have to know how to read real good, colouring in comes in pretty handy though

yeah, nice work wessel, forwarded your lecture notes on to the mech boys here

murf, they don't mention boats specifically but cover everything as an "installation" in general.

[wessel]

Sorry if I hijacked your post Alchemy.

The average person on this website is not going to pay money to get a copy of a referenced standard, but by law I have no excuse if I am not in compliance to that standard....

I have never understood the logic behind that one?

Wessel

[Jekyll]

So if I understand all this correctly, I have to get a bloody marine electrician to check the wiring for the microwave, dishwasher, stereo and 72" Plasma TV on my 5m bowrider before I take it out on the bay again?????

Damn!