Light has decided to start tripping the breaker.

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Skenn81

Skenn81

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2018
372
Florida
Well it's my turn now with the light tripping the breaker. I do not know who made the light other than it's really old, 15 or 20 years? I don't really know I guess it came with the original build of the pool for the person who put it in. The breaker itself is a standard 20a GFCI breaker in an electrical panel out by the wall. The test button functions. Reset the breaker, turn on the pool like, and it flashes on for half a second, the breaker trips, and that's that.

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Pics taken by flashlight because I realized I should add some to the post. Breaker is, I am guessing, original. Light is a big brass old fashioned looking thing secured by a bunch of bolts and a light bulb behind a heavy piece of glass. That 15a breaker below it is for the SWG.

As of now this is all I know. Everything was working fine until yesterday.
 
GFCI breakers do go bad. Obviously an old light can also go bad. I would change out the GFCI first.
 
I will take that it is your light.

If you can pull the light out of the niche and up onto the deck look into it without opening it and see if you see moisture inside the light. Examine around the light housing for any holes letting water in.


 
Skenn81 said:
Well it's my turn now with the light tripping the breaker. I do not know who made the light other than it's really old, 15 or 20 years? I don't really know I guess it came with the original build of the pool for the person who put it in. The breaker itself is a standard 20a GFCI breaker in an electrical panel out by the wall. The test button functions. Reset the breaker, turn on the pool like, and it flashes on for half a second, the breaker trips, and that's that.

View attachment 468046

View attachment 468047

Pics taken by flashlight because I realized I should add some to the post. Breaker is, I am guessing, original. Light is a big brass old fashioned looking thing secured by a bunch of bolts and a light bulb behind a heavy piece of glass. That 15a breaker below it is for the SWG.

As of now this is all I know. Everything was working fine until yesterday.
Click to expand...
A picture of the light would help. That is a ground-fault circuit breaker, not a standard breaker.
 
Well it seems as if I want to remove the light from the pool I am going to need to go in the pool as the bottom screw is farther down that my arms reach. Considering how cold the pool is this is going to have to wait until spring, or if I get a wetsuit.

I guess I can replace the breaker then. Just get a standard one from home Depot that matches or do I want something special for pool things? No harm in doing that as we wait.
 
Skenn81 said:
I guess I can replace the breaker then. Just get a standard one from home Depot that matches or do I want something special for pool things?
Click to expand...

It must be a GFCI breaker of the proper amperage and listed to fit your electrical panel.
 
Right, what I mean is that I can take the breaker to home depot, get a matching amp and GFCI one, and be good to go. I don't need to get a "pool rated" special breaker or anything. Whatever brand they sell at the store is good enough?
 
Skenn81 said:
Right, what I mean is that I can take the breaker to home depot, get a matching amp and GFCI one, and be good to go.
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Not exactly.

Skenn81 said:
I don't need to get a "pool rated" special breaker or anything.
Click to expand...

There is no special pool rated breaker beyond it being GFCI.

Skenn81 said:
Whatever brand they sell at the store is good enough?
Click to expand...

Not exactly. Not all breakers fit into all panels. Every breaker panel lists the model breakers that will work in it.

If you replace the breaker with an identical brand and model then you are good.

If you replace it with a different brand and model you should confirm it is suitable for your breaker panel.
 
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Skenn81 said:
Right, what I mean is that I can take the breaker to home depot, get a matching amp and GFCI one, and be good to go. I don't need to get a "pool rated" special breaker or anything. Whatever brand they sell at the store is good enough?
Click to expand...
Yes, just don't get an "arc fault" or arc-fault/ground-fault" breaker. Take your old breaker in to match it for type, loos like a type BR.
Skenn81 said:
Well it seems as if I want to remove the light from the pool I am going to need to go in the pool as the bottom screw is farther down that my arms reach. Considering how cold the pool is this is going to have to wait until spring, or if I get a wetsuit.

I guess I can replace the breaker then. Just get a standard one from home Depot that matches or do I want something special for pool things? No harm in doing that as we wait.
Click to expand...
What light do you have? Unless it is something out of the ordinary, there is only a screw at the top and a "hook" at the bottom. Picture? Waiting 'til Spring is your best option. I never trusted light gaskets in the cold.
 

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JamesW said:
In my opinion, a 15 amp breaker is a better choice than a 20 amp breaker.

Based on the age of the light, you should automatically replace it once it begins to have problems.
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Fifteen-amp breaker, absolutely. Once a pool light starts tripping a GFCI it should be replaced. No service tech worth anything would do anything else. The cause could be in the cord itself and that is not repairable.
 
Ah, well I thought I needed to post a picture of the light out of the water.

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It's a very standard boring looking light. I see the screw up at the top, didnt consider it being a latch at the bottom. So I guess just go unscrew that top part and see if I can pull it out?

As for the "cold", it's Florida, so it's in the 70s during the day here. Nothing is frozen or really cold right now. 50s at night if that's considered too cold to do this.
 
Do I need to replace the entire fixture or start with the gasket? Both videos dont look terribly hard, just require being in the water if I want to do the whole thing.

The video really didnt say how to test to find out what is wrong, just that if it's flipping the breaker to replace it all. Although the first video wasn't a gasket light, it looked like a self contained unit. Since I have the big bulb style, could I start with gasket and bulb?
 
It is American Products, which is now Pentair,

There is a hook at the bottom and a screw at the top.
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Swimming Pool Light American Products Series 7885XX 7845XX 77895XX 500W R 40

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s-l1600.jpg
 
Looks like $300 - $500 for a standard light like I have now then? Need to know what kind of cord length then as that is a big part of it.

I guess then I am going to wait a few months and tackle this in the spring since I wont be doing much going in the water for a couple of months.

Any sense in pulling it out now to take a look in the mean time?
 

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