Can I Put an AC Heater in My Boat's Engine Room?
Transcript is auto-generated.
hi youtubers jeff cote here with pacific yacht systems we've got a new question from worley morley asks good morning and happy that i found you in northwest yachting publication so we write every month a column in northwest yard a quick question regarding placing 110 volt ac receptacle in the engine room with gas engines i just purchased a car a carver and would like to place a small electric heater in the engine compartment for the winter season so here in the pacific northwest that makes sense it's not cold really in the winter but cold enough that it makes sense that you might want to have a heater the previous owner ran an electrical cord from the galley i question firstly how safe that is and second only if possible do you recommend for both the receptacle and the wire in the gasoline engine well morally that is a i'm glad you asked that question because there is something to be seriously concerned about doing ac wiring in a gasoline engine we've got to remember boat builders went to great lengths great lengths at financial costs to make sure that that ignit that engine room that has gasoline engines in it was ignition protected and properly vented so it's a huge no-no to actually have an ac receptacle in your gasoline engine room and the way to go around that would be to actually hard wire a ignition protected heater for your engine room but not one that you can actually connect or disconnect via an ac receptacle you simply don't want to have any sparks or the chance the remote possibly of a spark because remember it's possible that your engines are not running and you have a gasoline leak through a fuel filter a fuel line in your engine room and you don't want under any circumstances the chance of having a spark in that space so the way i would do it is i find a ignition protected heater and i would hard wire it in the engine room where you have no ability of disconnecting or reconnecting it so that it's absolutely a hundred percent safe for your boat so good question something to care about thanks for watching everyone and send your questions our way
