Trips, Ground Faults, and Why “Reset and See” Is a Dangerous Habit
Introduction — faults are messages, not inconveniences
Electrical faults onboard ships are often treated as obstacles to be cleared so operations can continue. Trips are reset. Alarms are acknowledged. Systems are restarted. This mindset assumes that faults are temporary inconveniences.
In reality, faults are early warnings. Most major electrical failures were preceded by smaller faults that were dismissed or misunderstood.
Trips — protection doing its job
When protection trips, it means:
- a limit was exceeded
- a condition became unsafe
- damage was imminent
Resetting a trip without understanding why it occurred removes the last barrier before failure. Protection rarely trips “for no reason”.
Ground faults — the most ignored alarms at sea
Ground fault alarms are often tolerated because:
- power remains available
- no immediate damage is visible
- the ship keeps running
This tolerance is dangerous. A single ground fault in an IT system is survivable. A second ground fault is a short circuit — often without warning.
Ground faults are not urgent because they are harmless.
They are urgent because they are countdowns.
🔧 Regulatory anchors (explicit)
IEC 60092-201 requires monitoring and management of earth faults.
SOLAS II-1 Regulation 45 treats electrical faults as fire and shock hazards.
Class guidance explicitly warns against operating with unresolved earth faults.
Ignoring faults is a regulatory and safety failure.
🔻 Real-World Case: Generator Destruction After Repeated Trips — Mediterranean Ro-Ro Vessel (2016)
A Ro-Ro vessel experienced repeated generator trips due to overcurrent and earth fault alarms. Each time:
- the generator was reset
- load was reapplied
- no root cause was identified
Eventually, a stator fault escalated into catastrophic generator damage.
The protection worked.
The response philosophy failed.
Nuisance alarms — symptom, not excuse
Alarms become “nuisance” when:
- thresholds are poorly set
- systems are poorly understood
- crews are overloaded
The correct response to nuisance alarms is system improvement, not alarm suppression.
Professional ETO mindset
A professional ETO asks:
- What changed just before this fault?
- Why did protection act now and not earlier?
- What would happen if I reset this again?
- What fault would this mask?
Troubleshooting is about pattern recognition, not button pressing.
Knowledge to Carry Forward
Faults are the ship’s way of communicating stress. Ignoring them trades short-term convenience for long-term failure. Every reset without understanding removes one layer of defence.
Ships rarely fail suddenly.
They fail after being told not to — repeatedly.
Tags
ETO, Electrical Troubleshooting, Generator Trips, Ground Faults, Marine Electrical Safety, Fault Analysis, IEC 60092