[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by some_other_dave

True, but electrical connections and components multiply the number of failure points, and anything that moves or vibrates is liable to problems from that (e.g., fatigue). There is pretty much just one failure point for the drive on a conventional water pump--the belt. There can be quite a few for an electrical pump; every connection, the relays, the switches (if any), whatever controls you have on the system, etc.

You won't damage the engine if you notice that the pump is no longer working. Most people (including me!) are going to miss that for a while at least. So you need to rig up some sort of very unambiguous signal, like a loud chime or a big light, when the temp gets to a certain point. If you rely on a gauge, the one time you will need to pay attention to it you will miss it. (Murphy's law.)

An electric pump could be a win, but you would need to make the system at least somewhat fail-safe. And you'd need to pay close attention to the design and fabrication of the electrics.

IMHO.

-soD

I run electric pumps and don't see much benifet over belt driven ones.
The only time the electric pump would shine is if you had an alternatorless power system that provided all the free electrical power you needed.

So unless you have a really good alt delete setup already well tested, up and running don't bother with an electric pump.