Is there any maintenance required at some point on an underwater light?

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anthonypool89

anthonypool89

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Aug 26, 2016
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Berks County, PA
I presume mine is 300W judging from comparing the size of my unit with what I see on youtube videos. Quite honestly I've used it very little over the years - find it starts to attract bugs pretty quickly for one thing. Since the pool is over 30 years old, and nothing has ever been done with the light - is there a possible concern about a gasket, etc. deteriorating that could let water into areas where it shouldn't be thereby creating an electrical hazard? I've never had it out so frankly have no idea what the whole thing looks like. If I saw it being installed I don't remember much about it. Just used the light this evening for awhile (since it's been years- pretty cool actually since probably like many of you I have different colored plastic lenses that fit over the top). Got me thinking though - is there a potential hazard? I always keep the breaker turned off that supplies power to the light switch. Bulb still works fine so I guess no need to do anything unless something should be checked for potential deterioration. Thanks for any thoughts.
 
Sometimes it's good to go with the old saying .... "If it ain't broke, don't mess with it". Ha. If the light is working, no rust, water is clear with no algae, and no signs of a water leak, I'd leave it alone. Also remember that those larger light niches are designed to have water behind them. It helps to keep those large halogen lights cool. What you don't want is water in the light bulb itself. Sometimes those light rings, screws, and gaskets can be a little finicky. But if all is well with none of those problems I mentioned above, I'd be inclined to just leave it be.
 
The only way I know of to be sure is to find the gfi and test it out. The way my pool was wired, a gfi was installed on one of the outlets near the pool. Thats one of those outlets that has the test/reset buttons like you often see in kitchens and bathrooms. This outlet can also protect fixtures wired further down the line like the pool light.


So if you have one of these in an outlet around the pool see if hitting the test button turns the pool light off. If it does, the light is gfi protected which is considered an appropriate safety measure as I understand it. My light did short out this summer, the gfi tripped , and nobody got hurt.

If you can’t confirm its GFI protected, I would recommend installing it. This can be a diy job if you know what you’re doing but I’d call an electrician if you don’t. Im pretty sure they can Install it at the breaker if your pool isn’t wired for a gfi outlet to the light.
 
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A gfi at the the breaker is an easy solution. The breaker box at my equipment pad has gfi breakers. When my kitchen was remolded this year the electrician installed a gfi breaker in the main panel for the kitchen outlets. That way they didn't have to install multiple gfi outlets.
 
It is regulated by GFI. I wasn't certain being that I use the light so infrequently as mentioned. There is a GFI receptacle, and then right below that is the switch for the light. I wasn't sure if the light was subject to the GFI, but checked tonight. Turned on the light and then tripping the GFI cancels power to it- as trivetman suspected would be the case.
 
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