Deep End light repair - help!

[robrinker]

As I enter into my 2nd year of (new-to-me) pool ownership, both my wife and I thought it would be nice to have our deep end light working this year. I have no idea when this light was last replaced, but I've read up on the forum about doing this and it seemed straight forward enough, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I'll try to keep this as brief as possible.

With a bit of a struggle, I was able to get my light housing out of my pool. Unfortunately, the original installer didn't install enough wire to lift the housing completely out of the water and onto to the pool deck (which I understand to be the norm). Also, the screw that holds the housing to the pool wall seems to have rusted completely away (the housing was siloconed in place). Attached is a pic of the light housing.

My questions:

1) Is it possible to lenghten the wire that goes to the housing? If so, what kind of wire should I use and how do I ensure it is waterproofed at the point where I splice in the "extension" wire?

2) With the shape my light housing is in, is it possible/likely I could find a replacement housing, and if so, where might I find it?

3) This light looks like is uses one of the old style round car headlights, except that it had 3 places to attach wires to the back of it that were held in place with small screws. Is this normal?

Any help anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. I had to lower my water level to below the light to get this thing out and having the water that low is making me incredibly nervous. I'd like to get this fixed and the pool refilled ASAP.

Thanks,

Ron

 

[duraleigh]

Ron,

Your repair is beyond my experience level. I can only help by saying the splice won't work. The wire must be continuous from the light back up to the junction box so you'll have to pull new wire (I'm almost sure). Sorry I can't offer more info.

 

[JasonLion]

The wire has to be a single continuous run from the light to the junction box above water level. If you are lucky you can use the existing wire to pull a new wire through the conduit.

 

[robrinker]

ack. that's what I was afraid of. Considering the age of my pool (built in 1969), I'm almost certain they just buried the wire instead of using conduit.

I suppose my options at this point are try to dig up the wire (20-30 feet at most) and replace the whole run, or unhook the wire from it's power source (that should be safe, right)?

On a separate note, is low water level a concern with a plaster pool like it is with a vinyl liner?

 

[JasonLion]

Yes, a concrete/plaster pool can float if you have a high water table just as other types can. The chances of it floating are a little lower, but the damage that can occur would be much more expensive to fix.

 

[robrinker]

Thanks Jason.

I put a voltmeter on the wires for my light and it doesn't have any voltage on it at all, regardless of if the switch is on or not. I think I'm just going to put this thing back together and revisit the issue when I get a replaster next year.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[HarryH3]

A possible solution to get you through this summer... I have a halogen floodlight that is pointed towards the pool. The pool lights up pretty well when that floodlight is on. Perhaps you can set up a temporary floodlight until you can repair the pool light? It doesn't quite have the same ambiance, but at least swimmers can see each other. A dimmer and a colored bulb might help with the ambiance part. ;-)