Problem Changeing Old Pool Light to new Intellibrite...Help!

[gman66]

I'm haveing a Problem Changeing my Old Pool Light to new Intellibrite...

Looks like i have an old American Wet Pool Light Niche now known as Amerilit since Pentair purchased the company.

Pentair tech informed me that Intellibrite should work with this housing.

In comparing the old vs, new light everything looks like a good match that way.

My issue is this............I dissconected the old wires at thr wet niche housing juntion box. The box of course is a bronze unit connected to a piece of bronze conduit which is attached to the wet niche. I can't seem to pull the wire out. I'm wondering if there is a crimp type gromet at the wet niche point where the conduit enters. How is this point normally sealed from the pool water escaping. I may have to drain the pool to below this point just to be able to work in there.

Anyone with experience with this?? Shure could use the help............Cheers

 

[waste]

Standard practice is not to seal the conduit from the 'wet' side. However, conduit (especially with water in it over the freezing months) tends to get broken thereby making replacement darned near impossible :!: Some companies use a 2 part epoxy to seal the conduit when a leak in it is suspected, if you can - feel around where the light cord enters the back/ top of the niche to see if some sort of putty has been put in there, if so - remove it and the wire should pull through just fine.

Always try to pull the old cord out through the niche (tie a string to one of the wires so that you have a guide to pull the new cord through), use electric tape to secure the wire to the string.

It may well be that the conduit itself has been 'crimped/ or settled' so much that the wire is trapped in there , if so, the only choice is to re-run the conduit :x

There is also the chance that the installer installed a second box that you don't know about somewhere between the pool and the junctionbox you know about :?: :idea:

Good luck with this, if I can be of any more help - please let me know :handshake:

 

[gman66]

Its a very short run. Only 4 feet from J-Box to Niche. I tried wrapping a rope onto the Light assembly on a knot i made in the cord. It didn't seem to budge at all but the rope was acting like an elastic band. The conduit appears to be bronze but i suspect some type of corrosion in there thats grabbing onto the cord. I wish there was some kind of rotor rootrt cable with a drill bit i could run though but i don't see that as possible with rubberized electrical cord.

Wheres superman when i need him. Maybe he could burn it out with his laser vision. ;-)

I guess my only choice right now is to drain the pool and get in there and see what i see.

Any other suggestions?...............



Here are some pics of my Dilema.

I would have to trash my decking,pool plaster etc. I would never be able to match it.

 

[JasonLion]

If the wire is imovable is there any way i could properly drill a new hole through the nich up at an angle to the planter side of the pool concrete decking??

I think flex "sealtite" conduit could be fished up to the surface in the planter bed!

What would be the best way to seal the new conduit to the light niche to be waterproof??

Anyone with experience with this??

Shure could use the help............Cheers

Copied from gman66's new thread. Please keep any given question to a single thread! It is easier for people to help you if all of the information is together in one place.

 

[JasonLion]

Adding an additional conduit run would most likely be a code violation and in any case would be prone to leaking.

The "correct" way to replace a completely stuck wire is to dig out the back side (underground side) of the niche so you can replace the conduit from there. Unfortunately that tends to be a real pain.

Is there any way you can use the existing wire and connect it to the new light?

 

[duraleigh]

Gmann,

I'm trying hard to remember but it seems like when I installed my lights, there was a seperate ground wire that ran from a grounding post on the niche back up to the box.

If that wire is there on yours, it most likely would also have to be disconnected from the niche and pulled simultaneously with the wires for the light....the space in the pipe is too tight to leave one wire in and pull the other out.

I also seem to remember I had to "coat" that ground wire/niche junction with something called "potting compound" If yours is "coated" like that it will be difficult, but not impossible, to get it loose from the niche.