Corrosion on pool light

[Flboy44]

My daughter’s pool. concrete , salt system 12k gallons. Built in 2004, salt added sometime after. Commercially maintained,- or ignored!!
We dropped water level because of high salt, 4300.
While the water was lowered, I pulled the light for a new bulb/gasket/trim and found this corrosion! Wrong unit for a salt pool?
It‘a a Hayward unit, I haven’t broken it open yet because I have to cut the collar screw.
Update: Not corrosion! PB actually sprayed everything while building pool! My guess is, the lights got pulled through before the spraying and they were too lazy/rushed to cover the lights! Same scenario for the spa light!

 

[ajw22]

She has a fresh water pool and not an ocean salt water pool.

Every pool has a salt level in it since all chlorine chemical products as well as acids add salt to the pool.

That is a typical condition for a 20 year old light fixture.

Nothing to blame on the SWG system.

 

[Flboy44]

She has a fresh water pool and not an ocean salt water pool.

Every pool has a salt level in it since all chlorine chemical products as well as acids add salt to the pool.

That is a typical condition for a 20 year old light fixture.

Nothing to blame on the SWG system.

I was not blaming the salt system, I was concerned that possibly it was the wrong fixture! I believe I have the identical unit in my pool, and mine is even older! I had it out last year, and it still looks like perfect stainless steel! Well, almost. But my pool fiberglass, if that’s the difference!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Is the bonding wire still attached inside the niche?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Also, you said this pool was maintained (ignored) by a service company. Given the high salt reading, who knows what chemicals they were throwing in the pool and what the chemical balance was. So it’s not very surprising that the light looks that way.

You’re going to have cut that light off and then pull a new luminaire in using the old wire as the fish-line. Obviously the new light needs to be compatible with a slightly-more-salty-than-regular-chlorine pool.

 

[1poolman1]

My daughter’s pool. concrete , salt system 12k gallons. Built in 2004, salt added sometime after. Commercially maintained,- or ignored!!
We dropped water level because of high salt, 4300.
While the water was lowered, I pulled the light for a new bulb/gasket/trim and found this corrosion! Wrong unit for a salt pool?
It‘a a Hayward unit, I haven’t broken it open yet because I have to cut the collar screw.

That is the result of very poor water chemistry, particularly in a fiberglass pool. The pH and alkalinity tend to be lower in a fiberglass shell and need to be watched more carefully, especially if tablets are used. I've seen that kind of damage in many fiberglass shells but only two plaster pools, both that used tablets exclusively and even the plaster was ruined because of that.

 

[Flboy44]

Update: Not corrosion! PB actually sprayed everything while building pool! When chipped off, perfect underneath! My guess is, the lights got pulled through before the spraying and they were too lazy/rushed to cover the lights! Same scenario for the spa light!
My daughter also dodged another bullet. There was water in the fixture, but it never reached the socket. New bulb and gasket is all that’s needed! Hayward also has a nice replacement face rim.