AC breaker on CHB

[davechili]

I need to replace/ increase size of a couple of breakers on my 1985 CHB Senator. They are marked Nikki. Any idea on source or substitute? What has anyone else done.

 

[The Other Gary]

Custom Marine Services, Quick Source, Nikko, Circuit Protector, Type IM-1, IM-2, IM-3, Nikko Electric Mfg Co Ltd, Nikko Circuit Breakers, Marine Electrical Parts

 

[wwestman]

I am sure that someone with more knowledge will speak up BUT never increase a breaker unless you increase the wire size ( that is what I have been told) Supposedly the breaker was sized based on the wiring and is supposed to be the weakest link so that it goes before the wire gets hot and does damage. I would get a marine electrician to look at things before increasing the breakers.

 

[DavidM]

Wwestman is absolutely right. Make sure that all wire including branches served by the breaker meets these minimum gauge requirements:

15 amp breaker 14 gauge wire minimum
20 amp breaker 12 gauge wire minimum
30 amp breaker 10 gauge wire minimum

These are National Electric Code requirements.

David

 

[The Other Gary]

The breakers can degrade after many trips.
I suggest you replace with the same size and if that does not do it look at why it is tripping. You may need a soft start kit for your AC compressor.

 

[rwidman]

I need to replace/ increase size of a couple of breakers on my 1985 CHB Senator. They are marked Nikki. Any idea on source or substitute? What has anyone else done.

DO NOT "increase the size" of the circuit breakers. They are there to protect the wiring from overheating and starting a fire on your boat.

If you think you need higher capacity circuit breakers, you should tell us why.

If you think they are defective, either measure the current flowing through them or replace them with "known good" breakers. If the good breakers trip, you are drawing too much current and need to move some loads to different circuits or install additional circuits. For that, you should consult a qualified marine electrician.

 

[DHeckrotte]

Lots of folks have (rightly) warned against up-sizing breakers. True for both AC and DC circuits. Wire size is certainly the determinant for ampacity. However, you may very well luck out and find that the wire size is already good enough because the builder was simply using the wire from the spool in his hand rather than switching from spool to spool. Most of the circuits in our FuHwa are run with the same wire, unhelpful when tracing circuits(!). (As an example, I wired all the typical branch circuits in the house with #12 AWG even though the breaker suitable for a particular circuit was 15 amp.)