Hi. This is my first post and I am a complete pool novice so please bear with me.
Two years ago we purchased this house and this is my first pool, although my husband had several growing up. There are two lights, one for the spa and one for the pool. When we turned on the lights this spring, neither worked. Three pool companies later we found someone who seemed to know what they were doing and they were able to get the spa light going by doing some rewiring. The pool light, on the other hand, had been flickering at times last summer, and when we tried it this spring it was completely non-functional.
After doing some troubleshooting, pool company #3 told us we needed to replace the pool light and the wiring because it kept tripping the GFI (this was the same thing pool company #1 told us, except they said both lights were bad. Because pool company #3 got the spa light working and no one else could, I feel like they are the most knowledgeable of the 3 companies we've had out here).
Fast forward to this Friday; they come out and start draining the pool to below the light housing. Saturday morning they come back to replace the light and run new wiring. According to records we looked through at the HOA office, the pool was built in '88. I would not be surprised if this is the original light and wiring. The distance between the electrical panel and the pool light is easily 50'. Pool company #3 said it's one of the farthest distances they've seen. ANYWAY, after two hours on Saturday they tell us the conduit is stuck. No matter what they try they can't budge it. They're afraid to pull too hard because they don't want it to just snap somewhere in the channel.
Pool company #3 had their staff electrical dude come take a look and he didn't have any ideas. I was told they had this happen once before and called in an outside electrician who was able to fix it. But now this guy is so busy he's not returning their calls. They have a line on another guy who won't be available until at least Thursday, so they told us to start filling the pool back up because they don't want to leave it sitting empty for long because it's so hot here that they're worried about damage ( we're in Las Vegas). Pool company #3, for some reason, thinks that this electrician may be able to fix everything without draining the pool again, which sounds weird to me, because if that was possible then why did we drain it in the first place?
So, my questions are, has anyone encountered a scenario like this before with the conduit getting stuck and if so, how was it ultimately resolved? I'm trying to figure out how concerned my bank account should be. My second question is, I've been looking at temporary fixes, such as floating pool lights. Are there any that, if I bought two or three, for example, could actually do a decent job of illuminating the pool (it's 20,000 gallons, about 5' deep at its deepest. I don't have dimensions because it's freeform.)? Thanks in advance for any input or advice.
Two years ago we purchased this house and this is my first pool, although my husband had several growing up. There are two lights, one for the spa and one for the pool. When we turned on the lights this spring, neither worked. Three pool companies later we found someone who seemed to know what they were doing and they were able to get the spa light going by doing some rewiring. The pool light, on the other hand, had been flickering at times last summer, and when we tried it this spring it was completely non-functional.
After doing some troubleshooting, pool company #3 told us we needed to replace the pool light and the wiring because it kept tripping the GFI (this was the same thing pool company #1 told us, except they said both lights were bad. Because pool company #3 got the spa light working and no one else could, I feel like they are the most knowledgeable of the 3 companies we've had out here).
Fast forward to this Friday; they come out and start draining the pool to below the light housing. Saturday morning they come back to replace the light and run new wiring. According to records we looked through at the HOA office, the pool was built in '88. I would not be surprised if this is the original light and wiring. The distance between the electrical panel and the pool light is easily 50'. Pool company #3 said it's one of the farthest distances they've seen. ANYWAY, after two hours on Saturday they tell us the conduit is stuck. No matter what they try they can't budge it. They're afraid to pull too hard because they don't want it to just snap somewhere in the channel.
Pool company #3 had their staff electrical dude come take a look and he didn't have any ideas. I was told they had this happen once before and called in an outside electrician who was able to fix it. But now this guy is so busy he's not returning their calls. They have a line on another guy who won't be available until at least Thursday, so they told us to start filling the pool back up because they don't want to leave it sitting empty for long because it's so hot here that they're worried about damage ( we're in Las Vegas). Pool company #3, for some reason, thinks that this electrician may be able to fix everything without draining the pool again, which sounds weird to me, because if that was possible then why did we drain it in the first place?
So, my questions are, has anyone encountered a scenario like this before with the conduit getting stuck and if so, how was it ultimately resolved? I'm trying to figure out how concerned my bank account should be. My second question is, I've been looking at temporary fixes, such as floating pool lights. Are there any that, if I bought two or three, for example, could actually do a decent job of illuminating the pool (it's 20,000 gallons, about 5' deep at its deepest. I don't have dimensions because it's freeform.)? Thanks in advance for any input or advice.
