Water Coming out Pool Light Pipe

[bgray9]

So, we had our pool redone a few months ago and I noticed after they completed their work that there was a damp spot in the ground around the box where our wiring for the pool light comes to. So a guy with the pool company that redid our pool came out today and we looked at it. The water was coming out of the pipe where the wiring comes from the pool light (and then goes on to the light switch, etc.). It wasn't a gush, but rather a fairly slow trickle. So his conclusion was that the top of the pipe where the wiring comes up is lower than the water level in the pool, so water comes back behind the pool light (which we had them replace, including wiring) and goes through the conduit and up the pipe. So my first question is whether the pipe where the pool light wiring goes back from the light should have water in it or should that line be sealed up and not get water in it?

This guy said that it's common to get water in the pipe where the wire runs back from the pool light, but that normally the pipe it comes up has a top that's higher than the pool level so it doesn't matter. He said as long as the wiring and light assembly is sealed, that's all that matters (and the light does work fine). Our wiring is in a box in the yard, at ground level, so it seems reasonable that it might be a little lower than the pool level. So the second question is that his proposed solution was to drop the pool level a little and then shoot a bunch of silicone caulking down the pipe hold where the water is coming out and that would seal it up so no water comes out. Does that make sense or is there a better solution? Thanks for any input!

 

[borjis]

I thought light niches were supposed to have some gooey "dope" placed around the wire
where it goes into the conduit to prevent what you are experiencing.

 

[bgray9]

That's what I wondered. To me having pool water in that pipe long term wouldn't be good for it and long term would cause it to corrode and possibly fail long term.

 

[Clayswen]

The electrical conduit on mine is full of water and the box terminates about a foot above the pool. My electrician said this is normal.

 

[wjr75]

We just had our light replaced and they had a bear of a time pulling the old cord out. We had water getting in the electric box which was tripping the ground fault. There is putty they put around the wires at both the pool side and outlet. Our outlet boxes cap was then sealed.

 

[chiefwej]

It's normal for it to have water in it but it's supposed to terminate well above the pool water level. The problem with using anything to try to seal it is that it will make it difficult or impossible to change the fixture when the time comes.

The new light fixture comes with the new wire attached and you have to pull the old wire out and the new one in. Good luck with that if he does "shoot a bunch of silicone caulking down the pipe hold where the water is coming out". These fixtures do not last forever. It will need replacing, so ask him how he would do that when the time comes.

 

[gilbee]

Why not add a bit of extra piping to the electrical end to raise it above pool height?

 

[mmirav]

The conduit is made to have water in it but sometimes they leak. A fix it to put butyl tape inside the niche where the wire goes into the conduit. I had this problem and that fixed it. The tape is like soft black tar and can be removed if needed.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[OldPoolMan]

The pool light conduit is normally to have water in it A casual guess is that 95% of the pool lights in the USA have water in the conduit. Here in Calif it is code to.have the pool or spa light junction box connection a minimum of 18in above water level. You need to raise up your pool light junction box

 

[bgray9]

Our pool guy came by with his electrician and it turns out the box where the leak is has a number of wiring issues, including that the pipe isn't raised up like the previous poster mentioned, which is apparently code. So, our landscaper who had put that box in a few years ago and also did the wiring (and said that's part of what they do as landscapers) seems to have not done this properly and they may have to even run new conduit all the way from the fuse box. Given these events, I'm thinking I'll ask the landscaper to foot the bill for fixing this, as they should have done it properly when the did the work a few years ago.

 

[gwegan]

The junction box must be a listed pool light junction box. It must be more than 4 feet from the inside edge of the pool. It must be the greater of 4 inches above the permanent deck or eight inches above the maximum water level of the pool. Most PB exceed those minimum requirements.

 

[danpik]

, as they should have done it properly when the did the work a few years ago.

Doing it properly would have included having an electrical inspection to confirm the work was done to code. A lot of people shudder at the thought of having an inspector on their property but, an inspector can be your best friend in cases like this. Around here, I would not let a landscaper do anything electrical more than install solar lights. Too much at risk.

 

[domct203]

Doing it properly would have included having an electrical inspection to confirm the work was done to code. A lot of people shudder at the thought of having an inspector on their property but, an inspector can be your best friend in cases like this. Around here, I would not let a landscaper do anything electrical more than install solar lights. Too much at risk.

Exactly! You should ask the landscaper if he obtained the proper permits for the electrical work, which should have included an inspection.

Dom

 

[ouachita]

Whatever you or anyone else does DO NOT put any kind of sealant or putty in either end of the conduit. You will regret it when you need to pull that wire out. If you want it sealed you can buy a plug on amazon that's made for that purpose.

 

[bk406]

Raise the box. Thats the proper fix. As others haave said, its normal to have water in the conduit. Thats why the code calls for the juncion box to be above the water level of the pool.

 

[danpik]

Just got to thinking, I wonder if the bonding was done properly too?

 

[bgray9]

I'm meeting the landscaper in a couple hours. I checked his licenses with the Arizona Registrar of Contractors and they aren't licensed to do this type of work. Only 110 work not related to a pool. I agree with what I've learned the junction box should be raised and that's what will be done, even if we pay for it ourselves. I agree sealing it would create trouble and risk in several ways down the road. The landscaper didn't seem familiar with the idea of the raised junction box but was being pretty evasive, especially when I told him I wanted them to pay to fix the problem.

 

[bgray9]

Well, that wasn't fun. The landscapers claim they have no responsibility, as they say they didn't cause water to flow into the box where all the wiring is at. They even waffled on whether they had done the work, even though I have lots of pictures showing they did. They wouldn't even concede that having 220 wiring in a box (for the pool pump), with wire connections having with only caps and black electrical tape on them sitting in water was a safety hazard. The guy didn't even know what his contractors license (for landscaping and irrigation) allows him to do regarding electrical work. I'm not sure I can go after them at the registrar of contractors, as it appears Arizona has a two year statute of limitations on filing a complaint and it's been about 3 years. I guess sometimes you just live and learn and try to be wiser about who you deal with and how you deal with them in the future.

 

[bk406]

Why are there wires for the pool pump in the light conduit?

 

[bgray9]

Why are there wires for the pool pump in the light conduit?

That's the wiring that runs to the pool pump, etc. When the landscaper ran new wiring from the pool equipment, he made one junction box with the wiring running to the pool pump and also the wiring coming up from the pool light all together. The pool equipment had been moved before we bought the place, so at the time they had apparently just put in a junction box for everything and then run another portion of wiring and conduit to get the wires to the new pool equipment location. When we had the landscaper do this (he said it was part of his contractor license, which we've since figured out was a lie) he said he'd clean it all up and do it according to code. But today they didn't even know about using a raised junction box for the pool light wiring, so I think their electrical knowledge was about zilch.