Marina Voltages

[augie47]

A E/C posed a question to me concerning marina wiring. He works at numerous marinas and his observation is that he has more problems with cord and receptacle damage apparently from overheating at marinas with a 208/120v system than ones with a 240/120 system.
One question he had was as to an increase is current when equipment rated at 240 v is operated at 208. Is been a long time since my "schoolin'" but my thoughts were that with resistive loads the current would be less where as with inductive loads such as motors the current could be more.
Is that correct ?
Has anyone experienced a similar situations at marinas ?

 

[charlie b]

You have it essentially correct. I have done some design work with marinas. I even did a world-wide survey of boat manufacturers (OK, I looked up a few of them and sent them an email) to ask whether their boats would be adversely impacted if the power source was 120/208 instead of 120/240. They all said they wanted 120/240, and thought the other voltage would cause problems. So when I laid out the design for the power to the slips on the long floating piers, I brought 480V, three phase along the pier, and picked of two phases every so often (alternating which ones I selected) to step down to 120/240 single phase.

 

[augie47]

I would say his situation supports the wisdom of your design. This particular marina has docks with 240/120 & with 208/120. The failing cords/receptacles/HVAC units are far more prevalent on the 208 system.