Rookie at light replacement.....looking for guidance.

[bubba263]

Have a broken lense cover on my Pentair Amerlight. I'm confident on the basics......Have thrown the breaker, pulled the fixture and replaced the bulb and lense including a new gasket. Retorqued ring on back per instructions. Ready to reinsert into niche in wall.

Next the plan is to throw the breaker again to cut power, reinstall the fixture in the niche using the same speciality screw in the 12 noon position while winding the excess cable around the back of the fixture.

This is where I get nervous. With noone in the pool I have no problem throwing the breaker back on....and I assume the light will work. What about testing the water to make sure there is no electrical hazard after the work is done? I know the pool was safe before so the niche was most likely installed and grounded correctly......but this is eating at me.

Do you just let the kids back in the water......I'm thinking "no way". Am I paranoid? How could I check and make sure the pool is safe?

Bubba263
1 year in and getting the BBB method down
continueing to learn

 

[JasonLion]

Modern light fixtures are very good. About the only thing that can go wrong is if the new gasket doesn't seal completely. That will be obvious, because the light will slowly fill up with water.

There is no easy way to check for current leakage. If you have a multi-meter and are feeling adventurous, you could verify that the retaining ring is connected to the bonding system.

 

[duraleigh]

I am not an electrician. Nevertheless, you made NO changes whatsoever in your system.....all you did was change the bulb. I would feel very confidant. One of the more qualified members could probably say it better.

 

[jblizzle]

You would also likely see air bubbles coming up from the light if the water was entering the fixture.

 

[waste]

You would also likely see air bubbles coming up from the light if the water was entering the fixture.

On that same line of thought, before you throw the breaker back on, submerge the light for 1 minute and see if water enters the housing. As long as it doesn't, you should be all set to install the light and power it up

Welcome to TFP!!

 

[bubba263]

Thanks for the feedback. Re-installed it in the niche last night. Not as easy as I anticipated though. Bouyancy of the light enclosure made it a bit tough to catch the bottom clip on the niche and keep it in place while inserting the top screw.

Once installed I decided to connect a wire to my house grounding rod and tossed the other end in the pool. As expected no problem.

We learrn from experience. Understand there logically should not be a problem.....but as an experienced DIY guy but new to pools, I have seen the unexpected happen before, especially when dealing with new tasks.

Thanks again for the feedback.