- Mar 23, 2010
- 252
Daring and dumb go together, and none more than when I attempt to repair things like the pool light.
An electrician friend of mine came out and brought all of my pool electrical up to code. He's been doing this stuff for 20+ years and felt bad for me after seeing how I had taking it from completely broken to rigged together and decided to clean it up. It looks great. While he was in there, he checked the wiring going to the light. The light hadn't worked in a while, so he assured me it was the bulb.
After much innovation in turning a ratchet into a screwdriver (sort of), I was able to pull the housing free from the wall. When I got it open, I pulled the obviously broken bulb free. While the bulb was physically intact the sound of blown filament confirmed our suspicions. Carefully removing the bulb, my hand became completely saturated in a thick, viscous grease. I akin it to lithium grease that you would use to pack bearings in a motor. It's so thick that it took soaking my hand in degreaser after I went through a roll of paper tower to get everything off from it. It's a dark brown, almost black, thick mess.
So.. what is it? Why would it be in my pool light housing? Do I have to get more of said grease and re-pack the light when changing the bulb? I'm seriously considering the move to an LED light. Is it still required?
Denis
An electrician friend of mine came out and brought all of my pool electrical up to code. He's been doing this stuff for 20+ years and felt bad for me after seeing how I had taking it from completely broken to rigged together and decided to clean it up. It looks great. While he was in there, he checked the wiring going to the light. The light hadn't worked in a while, so he assured me it was the bulb.
After much innovation in turning a ratchet into a screwdriver (sort of), I was able to pull the housing free from the wall. When I got it open, I pulled the obviously broken bulb free. While the bulb was physically intact the sound of blown filament confirmed our suspicions. Carefully removing the bulb, my hand became completely saturated in a thick, viscous grease. I akin it to lithium grease that you would use to pack bearings in a motor. It's so thick that it took soaking my hand in degreaser after I went through a roll of paper tower to get everything off from it. It's a dark brown, almost black, thick mess.
So.. what is it? Why would it be in my pool light housing? Do I have to get more of said grease and re-pack the light when changing the bulb? I'm seriously considering the move to an LED light. Is it still required?
Denis