Pentair Globrite O-Ring Kit

[cjisndenial]

I, like many others, have had 2 globrite lights fail and require replacement. I'm about to replace the 2nd one before the pool is winterized.

I noticed that there is a Pentair Globrite o-ring kit P/N 522480. I've contacted a couple of suppliers asking what this kit is for, and none could answer my question, refering me to Pentair. Pentair says it's a professional service part. The part aparently comes with no manual and I can't find any reference to it in other manuals.

Does anyone know what this part is for? Can you actually replace the failure-prone o-rings in Globrites if you know what you are doing?????

Thanks!

 

[mknauss]

It appears to be the ring you would use to hold a MicroBrite into the Globrite receptacle. Amazing the price is $80!!

 

[cjisndenial]

Thanks for the reply! Is that needed with the globrite->microbrite niche adapters that have come out? Those look promising. I'm tired of these defective lights.

 

[mknauss]

It looks like it. Florida Sunseeker has some lights that you install using the same ring. They give it to you.

 

[cjisndenial]

In case anyone googles and finds this thread in the future... I present to you... the answer!

The o-ring is seated at the back of the GloBrite unit, between the butt of the light housing and the tapered end of the niche. This ensures a water-tight seal between the niche and the electrical conduit when the light is installed.

We all know conduit gets cracks and doesn't stay dry, so this seems a reasonable precaution. Sadly, as you can see in the photos, my GloBrite was cracked beyond the o-ring. I can't know if the crack developed from freezing inside the niche, or freezing in the conduit.

My pool always overfills when winterized. Except for two years when it developed a leak over the winter, causing the water level to drop below the lights. Each time this happened, I lost a light. My guess is that water trapped in the niche froze in these instances.

BTW, no pool leak was the result of winterization. Once, they hydrostatic valve opened, and a piece of gravel snuck in from below to keep it ajar. Once, settling of a retaining wall created downward pressure on geogrid, that pulled backfill down, and cracked a pipe. I think my lesson learned is that I need to monitor the water level even when the pool is winterized.

I may also go ahead and drop the water level when the pool is closed. This would allow me to unscrew all the lights, draining their niches and conduits, before covering. Any thoughts from experts on that idea?