So, this is a strange one. First pool I've ever owned, we moved into this house a few years ago. The light has never worked. I pulled it out to check on it years ago, but immediately saw I'd likely need to replace the gasket if I were to open it up to check the bulb so I never did. The cord did worry me a bit as it looks pretty old, cracked, and maybe beginning to crumble (see photos). But, it wasn't actively disintegrating so I didn't worry about it. The niche is sealed so I didn't want to mess with replacing the cord or entire light and just left it as is. The light it tied into an outlet with GFCI (that I replaced a while back and verified is functioning correctly) that I use to keep my robot vacuum plugged into constantly. The power to this outlet is never turned off. Anyway, after years of the light not working it suddenly started working (see photo). The only change is that it's been cold here lately (Florida), but it's reached these temperatures in previous winters too.
I've seen some reports of incandescent bulbs spontaneously "re-welding" themselves, or temperature causing broken filaments to move enough to touch again. One concern I have is that possibly the wires in the cord were broken all this time, and recently enough of the insulation crumbled away to the point where the water is now electrified and maybe finally powering the light (I don't know if any of that is even feasible or logical, just spitballing). Wondering if anyone has had this experience before? I plan on checking for stray voltage in the water. I know the GFCI tied to the light functions as it turns off when I manually test it. Being as I don't know everything about this pool I'm not 100% certain the pool is bonded correctly, so I plan on testing that. The pool is vinyl and surrounded by concrete decking. The only metal in the water is the light (removable stairs are plastic). I do see that the heater and pump are tied to visible grounding rods, but I need to verify if they're all bonded together. I'd appreciate any guidance as I've been reading some posts on electrician forums and watching videos from Mike Holt.
I've seen some reports of incandescent bulbs spontaneously "re-welding" themselves, or temperature causing broken filaments to move enough to touch again. One concern I have is that possibly the wires in the cord were broken all this time, and recently enough of the insulation crumbled away to the point where the water is now electrified and maybe finally powering the light (I don't know if any of that is even feasible or logical, just spitballing). Wondering if anyone has had this experience before? I plan on checking for stray voltage in the water. I know the GFCI tied to the light functions as it turns off when I manually test it. Being as I don't know everything about this pool I'm not 100% certain the pool is bonded correctly, so I plan on testing that. The pool is vinyl and surrounded by concrete decking. The only metal in the water is the light (removable stairs are plastic). I do see that the heater and pump are tied to visible grounding rods, but I need to verify if they're all bonded together. I'd appreciate any guidance as I've been reading some posts on electrician forums and watching videos from Mike Holt.
