# The old water & electricity thing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 15, 2001, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-water-electricity-thing/58090 "2001-03-15T14:30:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joehyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@joehyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joehyman)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-water-electricity-thing/58090/1 "2001-03-15T14:30:11Z")
It’s standard swimming pool design to have lots of electric lights embedded in the walls, below the water line. If one of these were to become waterlogged, would the swimmers be electocuted? If so, why hasn’t our liability-crazy culture eliminated these lamps? If not, why not? ---
**Author:** ![PeeWee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@PeeWee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeeWee)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-water-electricity-thing/58090/2 "2001-03-15T16:56:52Z")
Welcome to the boards Joehyman! Not sure here, but my guess is that the lights in question are 12V lights for safety - hard to kill yourself that way. Also they are undoubtedly hooked up similar to a GFCI (ground fault circuit interupt) outlet like you find in kitchens and bathrooms. These circuits will stop the flow of electricity as soon as they detect a “fault” or a short in the system, thus preventing you from electrocuting yourself. Hopefully someone else has a more detailed answer, but I didn’t want your first post to go completely unanswered! ---
**Author:** ![Mikahw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mikahw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikahw)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-water-electricity-thing/58090/3 "2001-03-15T21:43:38Z")
I have no idea about the conductivity of pool water, not that it matters that much though. Anyways, almost all of the electricity wouldn’t actually get to the swimmers. There is a much easier path for the electricity to take, And that is going from one pole of the bulb to the other. You _might_ see a spark where the light is though. Again, I don’t know the conductivity of pool water. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-water-electricity-thing/58090/4 "2001-03-15T23:00:18Z")
You can get low voltage lights or specially manufactured fittings are available for this purpose. Light fittings in Europe have Index of Protection (IP) ratings which indicate the applications to which they are suited, regulations state that swimming pool lights must have the higest ratings, can’t remember the number code exactly, IP-88 or some such the first nuumber refers to mechanical protection the second to resistance to ingress of moisture plus there are a few other letters to show resistance to vibration, chemicals, explosive gases and so on. I’d imagine that there are similar methods of denoting light fittings in most parts of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Catenary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@Catenary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catenary)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2001, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-water-electricity-thing/58090/5 "2001-03-17T18:49:39Z")
They really are 110 volts. It’s a special water-proof enclosure and water-proof cable. It should certainly be hooked to a GFI to prevent accidental injury from someone touching the metal frame around the light.