Pentair Amerlite not working

[mhu4]

Hi everyone,

I have what appears to be a Pentair Amerlite. House was built around 1988. It has the old 120v style bulb. This is a rental house and the owner doesn't give a Crud about it unless it's about to fall over so I have to figure most of this stuff out myself.

I found the only breaker in the garage that has GFCI on it and it's on and breaker has 120v going out of the leads. No other breakers are off in the panels. I am getting 0 voltage at the light. I heard about overheating protection, is there a way that can go bad and fail off permanently? I am going under the house tomorrow to try to trace the wiring from the tube and see if it comes out in the crawl space so I could maybe replace it. The fixtures are expensive so I hope it's something else like a cut wire.

Appreciate any insights.

 

[mhu4]

Second question, say replacement is in order. It is an 8.5" light, any recommendations for new parts?

 

[ajw22]

Find the light junction box around the pool. Chances are the cord on the light runs to a pool light junction box and not all the way to the circuit breaker panel. That is done so the light and its cord can easily be replaced.

Pentair Amerilites were 6” for spa lights and 10” for pool lights. Only a few high watt pool lights are available now.

Amerlite® Underwater Incandescent Lights

Add lighting to your pool with Amerlite, the world standard of reliability for underwater pool lights. Shop the Amerlite collection from Pentair here.

www.pentair.com

 

[Bill1974]

It may have been disconnected for a reason. Since it's a rental and I am guessing you are the tenant I would not replace the light (they are pretty pricey, unless your landlord is going to repay you). If you find the junction box you should be able to check for continuity to see if the thermal overload is a one and done or a bimetallic resetting overload. if the fixture is good and all the other wiring is good and it's gfci protected a new bulb and gasket should be all you need. The gasket around the lens is not supposed to reused. Also the bulb in these are not your typical 100W bulbs, they are usually 350W to 500W and a bit pricey as well. If all works out I would put in a LED bulb. I have this one in a larger 10 inch light

 

[mhu4]

It may have been disconnected for a reason. Since it's a rental and I am guessing you are the tenant I would not replace the light (they are pretty pricey, unless your landlord is going to repay you). If you find the junction box you should be able to check for continuity to see if the thermal overload is a one and done or a bimetallic resetting overload. if the fixture is good and all the other wiring is good and it's gfci protected a new bulb and gasket should be all you need. The gasket around the lens is not supposed to reused. Also the bulb in these are not your typical 100W bulbs, they are usually 350W to 500W and a bit pricey as well. If all works out I would put in a LED bulb. I have this one in a larger 10 inch light

Thanks. I'll try to find the junction box. it does not appear to be above ground. The crawl space is to the right of the pool and I think the chase goes there. The bulb was good, i verified it with a multimeter because it was a 500 watt bulb and I didn't want to fry my lamp testing it. I put a regular bulb in it just for testing and that didn't turn on either, and I tested that bulb to make sure it was good first. I already ordered a gasket kit and set screws because the old screw was corroded and I had to drill the head off to wrench it out. If I get this working I'm getting an LED color changing bulb for it.

It's definitely on the nice to have list but if it doesn't work out I'll look into something else. Just figured I'd do the hard work while the pool is empty.

 

[ajw22]

Is there a diving board? Old pools used to have junction boxes placed under the diving board before the NEC required them to be four feet from the pool.

Also, look within overgrown plants around the pool.

If you'd like to share some pictures of the pool and surrounding area, we may identify areas to investigate.

 

[mhu4]

Find the light junction box around the pool. Chances are the cord on the light runs to a pool light junction box and not all the way to the circuit breaker panel. That is done so the light and its cord can easily be replaced.

Pentair Amerilites were 6” for spa lights and 10” for pool lights. Only a few high watt pool lights are available now.

Amerlite® Underwater Incandescent Lights

Add lighting to your pool with Amerlite, the world standard of reliability for underwater pool lights. Shop the Amerlite collection from Pentair here.

www.pentair.com

View attachment 649914

Thanks for that info, I was measuring the inside diameter. The OD on mine is indeed 10" and the housing does say Amerlite on the inside.

 

[mhu4]

Is there a diving board? Old pools used to have junction boxes placed under the diving board before the NEC required them to be four feet from the pool.

Also, look within overgrown plants around the pool.

If you'd like to share some pictures of the pool and surrounding area, we may identify areas to investigate.

No diving board unfortunately. No boxes in the room itself, none outside in the yard. I cut back all the vegetation and did a large gardening project and would have noticed. To the right side of the pool is where the crawl space is. The light PVC chase goes back for 1-2" and then turns. The breaker panel for everything is probably 12' to the right side of the pool there, 2 rooms over. I'm thinking the wire goes under the house in the crawl space and then goes up into the panel. My full PPE suit gets here in like an hour and then I'm going to go diving under the house to see what I find.

 

[Bill1974]

The junction box would likely be a foot or two above the water level of the pool.

I would have guessed in the circled area or on the wall where the arrow is pointing. Was this pool always enclosed? If not would guess outside where in the circled area or towards where the arrow is pointing.

Where is the pool equipment located? It's possible it was run back to that area. Typically in conduit there is an junction box or pull box every 360° of conduit bends or less so it's not to difficult to pull the wire.

 

[Bill1974]

The junction boxes typically look like this.