Shower pump safety

[James86004]

We have a Zodi Hot Tap Series #6189 shower, and the pump has failed us. After numerous repairs, I decided to scrap the pump.

I took the high pressure headlight washer pump from the Range Rover I am parting out, wired it to a cigarette lighter plug, epoxied the connections, and have used that with great success. The only thing is, I am a a little nervous about all that electrical power around water. Do I need to worry about it?

 

[ntsqd]

It is pretty hard to hurt yourself with 12 volts DC. Not that it can't be done or that one shouldn't be careful, but it will take either a lot of current at that voltage, or a lot more voltage to be generally dangerous.

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/4.html

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/10.html

Particularly informative:
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/construction/electrical_incidents/eleccurrent.html

 

[Travelmore]

You should be fine. A short will cause the fuse in the power/cig to blow before you feel more than the shock you would from putting your fleece jacket on.

 

[James86004]

Thanks. I dropped a long screwdriver across the battery posts once, and it melted into two, hence my caution.

 

[ntsqd]

Thanks. I dropped a long screwdriver across the battery posts once, and it melted into two, hence my caution.

That screwdriver had about 10,000 times less resistance than you do, so the current was very high.
Voltage = Current/Resistance