pool light gasket problems

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laff66

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Apr 18, 2007
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Plano, TX
I have a Hayward astrolite fixture in which I replaced the bulb with a Colorsplash 3G bulb. It worked fine for several months and then began to malfunction. It turns out that the fixture was leaking and caused a short inside the bulb. I can't believe the GFCI never tripped, as it was about half full, but maybe it never made it all the way to the socket??
Anyway, my question is whether or not I re-installed the new gasket and lens properly. It is a horrible design that is extremely imprecise and only has one screw & nut through a metal band. It shifts around while trying to tighten it, and is very difficult to keep centered and know how much to tighten it. Luckily, the manufacturer of the bulb has a replacement program and has offered me a complete bulb and sealed fixture for a pretty ridiculously low price. Not so luckily, my current fixture cord is completely stuck and is going to be a nightmare to dig up and replace the conduit.
Soooooo, I'm wondering why the hayward was working fine until I messed with it? Maybe I'm just putting it together wrong and its still usable? As a test I put it back together and dropped it in the pool. No bubbles seen, but in a few weeks it had water in it again. I'll post a few pics I took of the assembled unit and maybe someone can point out that I've done it completely wrong. It seems to me that the metal band HAS to go around the cone-shaped fixture, the lens, and the chrome trim through which the screw attaches the whole thing into the niche. Maybe I'm wrong???.....
 

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Your spot on and they are a PITA, especially if you don't do it on a regular basis.

Potential things I have seen and not in any particular order:

Lens has calcium deposit
Fixture out of round
Wrong gasket
Rim of fixture is dirty
Clamp is dirty
Gasket is dirty.
Clamp is not tight enough.
Magic Lube or Jacks or silicone to try to aid sealing (none of them will)

I always use a new gasket when it's been clamped for more than 24 hrs, clean all surfaces, etc...
When I test, I watch it for 5 minutes unless the water is too cold. Arm length gloves help sometimes.

WRT to the stuck cord, if there is a bond wire in the conduit, pull back six inches of cord and squirt some electricians lube down the conduit. Give it a minute to settle and then pull the fixture out.

I usually wait till July to mess with lights in case I have to go in and pull from inside the pool. If the pool is heated, I'll go in earlier. Going in the pool lets me use my legs.

Scott
 
Very informative reply! Thanks for taking the time. It sounds like maybe I'm not completely sunk on getting the cable out? I'll probably wait until I can get in the water and see. It just didn't even THINK about budging from the other end so I figured it was a lost cause. I cleaned the heck out of the lens and housing, plus bought a new gasket. I'm just thinking that if its that easy to screw up, I really don't want to stick a $300 light bulb in there and constantly worry about that terribly designed housing ruining it again.
 
The pool at our old residence had a leak in the light fixture as well. After checking and rechecking all the usual suspects, the leak was where the wire enters the housing. Allowed the fixture to dry, Cleaned the area and applied silicone sealer around the area. All is good. Just another area to look if anyone has a leak in this type of light.
 
I can't tell if that area is leaking or not. I was advised not to try to seal it if it was. I'd do it anyway with a regular bulb but the 3G is way too expensive for me to have to constantly worry about
 
continued Hayward pool light problems

I'm replying to my own old post so you'll know the history of this thing. I ignored it and went without a light for a while, but when I saw a pool guy at a neighbors house, I asked him about it and he looked at it for me. He found that I had the gasket in backwards (little rounded "bead" facing wrong way) and re-installed it. I put the old regular bulb in it and it worked fine for a few months. Now it still works, but shuts off about every 5 minutes, then comes back on again after thermal protection cools down I guess?? I'm guessing on the thermal part, but if that exists, it would be a feature of the housing, not the bulb right?
I pulled it back apart, and its not full of water, but there is condensation on the inside of the lens, and a HORRIBLE burnt, nasty, electrical smell inside. I could re-install a new gasket with the LED bulb mentioned in the original post, hoping it would run cooler, but I'm still nervous about this housing. Especially since I have a brand new one sitting here but can't free up the cord from the old one? I asked this before, but has anyone else had a stuck cord, and eventually gotten it loose? Mine runs about 10ft to the junction box, and is covered by decking the whole way. I hate to think I'd have to tunnel under it to get at it!
I know thats a lot of info, but if you made it this far thank you very much!!
 
Thats kind of what I'm thinking. I just took pics and tried to post but its been so long since I did it I can't remember how! I have been searching all over the site and cant find instructions either.

Another thought, does anyone ever have a cable junction under a diving board pedestal that is directly inline with the niche and junction box behind it.
 
Pix posting: Photobucket.com album 4th code option. Paste one pic per line.

The deck box should be 12 to 18" above the water line per most muni codes and NEC. This prevents any flow of water from a current in the pool that gets past the fixture from causing the water level in the conduit from rising to the connections in the deck box.

Scott
 

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When you are ready to replace the fixture, try twisting the old cord in the conduit. Sometimes, where there was a large amp draw in the fixture, the cord gets stuck to the conduit(melts?), and I've gotten lucky a couple of times doing this. If you have a deck j-box, that conduit is probably 1/2" brass, only a bit bigger than the cord.
 
Any suggestions for a good way to secure a tape to the other end when i pull it through the niche if the twisting idea works? I'm afraid the 25 year old conduit may not be intact, and a fish tape might not go back through it.
 
Poolschoolgrad said:
The clamp on the Hayward light fixtures is difficult. :whip:
It took 5 minutes to remove the fixture, and replace the bulb, but it took 25 minutes to get that clamp back on correctly. :grrrr:

IS there a trick for reassembling the clamp easily?

PSG
Click to expand...

I'm having some trouble too. A new gasket seems to be a lot thicker than an old squished one, and the metal clamp isn't think enough to fit over the housing and the lens fixture unless you use some force to squish them together. I'm thinking i'll use some ratcheting straps and a couple of 2x4's to squish them together so i can tighten the clamp. I spent about 45 minutes this morning trying to do it without.
 
I didnt have any trouble with the thickness of the new one, it was just trying to manipulate all the pieces.
The new housing that im hoping i can use if i ever get this cord unstuck is SOOO much easier!! It just has a snap ring in front of the lens, and an O-ring behind it.
 
PoolGuyNJ said:
If the new gasket is visibly thicker, you bought the wrong one. Check the part number on the old one. Bet it doesn't match the new one.

Scott
Click to expand...

Embarassing. I didn't buy the wrong one. They shipped the wrong one. I have an old hayward SP 573 housing. I bought an SPX540Z2 gasket, and they shipped me an SP-580-Z2 gasket. Same diameter, and the lens fits right in it, but it's about 1/8" thicker.

Thanks for the help :)
 
SUCCESS!! I squirted some Wire pulling lube down the conduit in the j box and pushed up and down on the last inch or so of the outer insulation on the light cable. I didnt attach any li e to it yet, as i wasnt ready to attempt pulling it yet. While swimming later i barely touched it (light was already out) and the wire practically fell out!! I guess it was only hung up at the j box end?
After some aggravating moments with a fish tape the new light is in!! And it only took about 30 seconds to put the LED bulb in the new housing due to a better design.
Thanks for all the help...
 
+1 to ntrsandman's solution - glad your problems are solved Laff!

When we bought our new house with pool last year, there was an Amerlite fixture that I replaced the gasket on and it would work for a couple weeks then go out. I'd play with the gasket and it would still go out in a couple weeks. After a couple times I noticed a pin sized hole in the epoxy sealer around the wire coming into the fixture. What was happening is when the light was turned on, the housing would heat up, expanding the air in the fixture, pushing tiny bubbles out of the housing to equalize pressure. Then when the light was turned off, it would cool, sucking water back into the housing, where it would fall to the front. Repeat this over several days or weeks, depending on how much we used the light, and it would gather enough water to hit the lightbulb base, tripping the breaker. I opened it up, let it dry, applied some silicone, dried it overnight, put it back together, reinstalled it and it's been working for over a year now.

Didn't even have to put a new bulb in!

Regards,
Choots
 

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