We have four Jandy 120V color-changing lights with burned-out bulbs that I'm having replaced with Jandy Watercolor LED lights. Three of the swaps went well, but the fourth large light is a good distance from the box. It appears the electrician that installed it back in 2006 did something goofy because the 100ft cord didn't reach to the control box, so there's a junction box behind my grill where it comes out of the ground, into a box, goes back into the ground and to the equipment.
It appears that wasn't even long enough so the electrician did something like add a splice just a foot or two from where the junction box is located. When they disconnected the light from the junction box and pulled the light in the deep end, something got stuck just a few feet from the junction box. Try as they might, they couldn't pull the light and cable. It's just stuck, so they put the disconnected dead light back into the niche and try to come up with a plan.
My task was to dig up as much of the conduit as I could access to see if we can get closer to where the end of the cable that's stuck is. It's only a few feet before it goes under the walkway that surrounds the pool (I have photos of conduit locations during construction). When the pool guys come back, the idea is to cut the plastic conduit as close to the walkway as possible and hope that exposes whatever is at the end of the line that's caught. However, I'm pessimistic that the blockage -- where the end of the light cord is caught is further down in the conduit. Plus, if we cut it in the hole next to the walkway, I'm thinking water might gush out because at that point, it's below the water line and might siphon water.
The pool maintenance techs probably know how to deal with this (can it be plugged at the other end) but I suspect that might make the cable even harder to pull.
They have a light with a 150ft cord that was ordered for us -- I guess the pool builder misjudged and 100 feet was just too short so they did this jury-rigged thing. Another possibility is to break a section of the concrete decking over the conduit closer to where the light cord is stuck (again, I have photos and could find a spot), but I'd prefer to not do that, especially since it probably runs adjacent to return lines and we've never had a leak -- don't want to do anything that might introduce one, like crack a pipe.
Any suggestions? Are there grabbers that could be fed into the conduit to try to grab the end? Cut the pipe and use something to push the cable? According to the photos, the only serious bends are at the light itself (another place we would break the concrete) or near the junction box where I've already dug the hole.
It appears that wasn't even long enough so the electrician did something like add a splice just a foot or two from where the junction box is located. When they disconnected the light from the junction box and pulled the light in the deep end, something got stuck just a few feet from the junction box. Try as they might, they couldn't pull the light and cable. It's just stuck, so they put the disconnected dead light back into the niche and try to come up with a plan.
My task was to dig up as much of the conduit as I could access to see if we can get closer to where the end of the cable that's stuck is. It's only a few feet before it goes under the walkway that surrounds the pool (I have photos of conduit locations during construction). When the pool guys come back, the idea is to cut the plastic conduit as close to the walkway as possible and hope that exposes whatever is at the end of the line that's caught. However, I'm pessimistic that the blockage -- where the end of the light cord is caught is further down in the conduit. Plus, if we cut it in the hole next to the walkway, I'm thinking water might gush out because at that point, it's below the water line and might siphon water.
The pool maintenance techs probably know how to deal with this (can it be plugged at the other end) but I suspect that might make the cable even harder to pull.
They have a light with a 150ft cord that was ordered for us -- I guess the pool builder misjudged and 100 feet was just too short so they did this jury-rigged thing. Another possibility is to break a section of the concrete decking over the conduit closer to where the light cord is stuck (again, I have photos and could find a spot), but I'd prefer to not do that, especially since it probably runs adjacent to return lines and we've never had a leak -- don't want to do anything that might introduce one, like crack a pipe.
Any suggestions? Are there grabbers that could be fed into the conduit to try to grab the end? Cut the pipe and use something to push the cable? According to the photos, the only serious bends are at the light itself (another place we would break the concrete) or near the junction box where I've already dug the hole.
