Inground Pool Light

[Guest]

We are replacing the bulb in our inground pool light.......as we took the light out and pulled the wires through, we noticed some wax in the hole where the wiring came through.........is this a common practice to put some wax in with the electrical or is it something not needed?

THanks for any help.

 

[jblizzle]

It was probably a feeble attempt to see up the conduit ... but theoretically, the conduit should be water tight, so you should not have to seal it up.


Are you replacing the bulb or the entire fixture? I would not have thought you would need to pull wire out of the conduit if only a bulb change.

 

[Guest]

The light burnt out. Once the assembly was removed the gasket fell apart. We ordered a replacement for the obsolete light assembly that was a bit thicker and required some McGyver action to put it all back together. The wiring feeds into the side wall and up to a junction box where it connected to another set of wires thats fed into a switch box with a trip switch. I noticed some chunks of wax as I pulled the lamp assembly wiring back up to the box. I noticed that down the conduit the water level in it was as high as the water level in the pool. Not sure if its common practice to use wax to seal it. The design of the pool and light assembly would not make it water proof. Only the actual bulb itself and help from the pool gods were we able to get that sealed up.

 

[jblizzle]

What you are seeing is the reason for the junction box being above the water level. It is expected for that conduit to fill with water ... although sometimes the conduit can develop a leak (or someone thinks it leaks) so they try to seal the hole in the pool. If you have no reason to suspect a leak, there is probably not much to worry about leaving it open. There are also some rubber plugs that go around the wire to try to seal it as well.