Are you guys aware of the potential of being shocked or electrocuted from a swimming pool if there's mis-wiring with the lights or pump? Instead of an RV hot-skin condition, an electrical failure in fresh water creates a voltage gradient reaching out dozens of feet that will begin to paralyze your arms and legs the closer you get to the voltage source. Many victims of electric shock in water aren't actually electrocuted. Instead, they simply can't swim and slip beneath the surface and drown. The autopsy will show that they drowned, not electrocuted.

This sort of shock-drowning event has also occurred with fisherman who plugged in their trolling battery charger while standing in shallow water. NEVER touch any appliance plugged into a power outlet while standing in water. That's just asking to be killed.  And don't jump into the water for a rescue if you see someone being shocked. Instead, get the power turned off ASAP and then begin rescue. If not, you could be an additional shock-drowning victim. See below for the latest pool shock incident. 

Mike Sokol

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Children get shocked as they swim in Florida pool filled with electricity 

A malfunctioning pump at the Palms West Gardens Condominium complex in Hialeah filled the complex's pool with electric currents. The youngsters became stunned and had to be removed by adults. They were treated at local hospitals and released.

Here's an electrical safety question for y'all. I pump water from rain barrels on my pickup into a large tank at my garden. To do this, I use a submersible sump pump, 120volts, 250 watts. I get the volts from a 1000w inverter that I hook up to my battery via jumper cables. Seems like I have all the ingredients for a good shock if things go awry. What sort of protection should I use? A GFCI on the extension cord enough?

I tried a cheap 12v pump but it didn't move the water (100 gal or more at a time) very fast. I had the sump pump sitting around. Thought the inverter might come in useful someday as well. A good 12v might be the answer, but I'm not ready to give up the sump just yet. If it isn't safe then that's another story.

Thank you. I appreciate the response and explanation. I'll try not to test it out those scenarios though.

I'm not so sure there would be a problem here.  Effectively this system is the same as a house circuit fed by an isolation transformer.  Leakage from the hot leg to the water won't have a path back to the inverter if he's touching the water while standing on the ground.  This would be a problem if the power source is a standard (non-isolated) house circuit.  I agree adding a GFCI would make everything safer overall and many smaller inverters now come with them built-in.