Short version of problem
Tab that light fixture screws into in niche broke off. Fixture kind of stays in the niche, but it is loose and floats out if someone bumps into it. Any easy fixes that don't require the water level being dropped below the light?
Complete story
The underwater light below my diving board burned out just before I closed the pool in the fall. I decided to hold-off on replacing the bulb until this season and for an assortment of reasons only got around to doing so this week. I actually was going to do it several weeks ago, but was having trouble getting the screw to loosen so I put it off for a while. Anyways, after struggling with it for a few hours I finally got the screw to loosen up and the socket finally came out of the niche. I got the fixture up onto the deck and opened it up to see what was in it for a bulb (500W halogen flood). I went off the the store and purchased a new bulb. Once I got it installed and closed up the fixture I turned on the light to test it before placing it back in the niche and it did not light up. Took the bulb out and noticed the part where the bulb screws into was cracked. Tried pushing it back together (yes the breaker was turned off 1st) and part of the inside of the fixture broke off. It was a hail mary to be honest, but figured I would try fixing it anyways. The pool store was closed for the day at this point so the project had to wait until morning. Luckily I already had an electrician on site working on wiring up my new shed/pool house so I went to the pool store the next morning and purchased a new fixture. I re-tasked my electrician to this project and we snaked the new light. I decided to dig up the deck junction box because I didn't like how it looked and had the conduit extended to the new shed. I had my electrician make up a new junction box inside the shed, moved the switch inside the shed, and moved the power source to the new sub panel there as well. All is going well and the light turned on without incident. I dive into the pool to install the new fixture in the niche and immediately noticed a problem. The tab the the fixture screws onto in the niche is nowhere to be found. The reason I was having trouble unscrewing the old fixture was likely because the screw was rusted solid to it. Matter of fact I later discovered the the screw and the tab it screws into was connected as one piece on my old fixture sitting on the deck. The buoyancy of the fixture is holding it in place (kind of) in the niche, but if someone bumps into it the fixture will come loose. Anyone know of any easy fixes for this.
Tab that light fixture screws into in niche broke off. Fixture kind of stays in the niche, but it is loose and floats out if someone bumps into it. Any easy fixes that don't require the water level being dropped below the light?
Complete story
The underwater light below my diving board burned out just before I closed the pool in the fall. I decided to hold-off on replacing the bulb until this season and for an assortment of reasons only got around to doing so this week. I actually was going to do it several weeks ago, but was having trouble getting the screw to loosen so I put it off for a while. Anyways, after struggling with it for a few hours I finally got the screw to loosen up and the socket finally came out of the niche. I got the fixture up onto the deck and opened it up to see what was in it for a bulb (500W halogen flood). I went off the the store and purchased a new bulb. Once I got it installed and closed up the fixture I turned on the light to test it before placing it back in the niche and it did not light up. Took the bulb out and noticed the part where the bulb screws into was cracked. Tried pushing it back together (yes the breaker was turned off 1st) and part of the inside of the fixture broke off. It was a hail mary to be honest, but figured I would try fixing it anyways. The pool store was closed for the day at this point so the project had to wait until morning. Luckily I already had an electrician on site working on wiring up my new shed/pool house so I went to the pool store the next morning and purchased a new fixture. I re-tasked my electrician to this project and we snaked the new light. I decided to dig up the deck junction box because I didn't like how it looked and had the conduit extended to the new shed. I had my electrician make up a new junction box inside the shed, moved the switch inside the shed, and moved the power source to the new sub panel there as well. All is going well and the light turned on without incident. I dive into the pool to install the new fixture in the niche and immediately noticed a problem. The tab the the fixture screws onto in the niche is nowhere to be found. The reason I was having trouble unscrewing the old fixture was likely because the screw was rusted solid to it. Matter of fact I later discovered the the screw and the tab it screws into was connected as one piece on my old fixture sitting on the deck. The buoyancy of the fixture is holding it in place (kind of) in the niche, but if someone bumps into it the fixture will come loose. Anyone know of any easy fixes for this.
