I have an inground pool that is 17 years old and am trying to replace my burned out pool and spa light with Pentair LED. There is 1/2 inch conduit coming up to a junction box about 15 feet from the spa light. I can move the existing wiring back and forth a few inches but absolutely no further in either direction. So it is the correct wire. I have felt up into the niche end of the conduit and there is no sealant of any type that I can feel blocking the way on either end. Do I have no other choice but to dig up and replace the entire conduit? If so, I know I will have to cut the existing conduit at some point. How do I best connect new RMT to the existing?
Pool Light
- Thread starter Bradbury
- Start date
The pool light cable most likely will have black insulation on the three wires. You may be able to feel or see just below the surface of where it comes into the junction box. Make sure you have the right one. I needed to pull really hard using a stick wrapped around the wire. Also use some wire pull lube or dishwashing liquid down the conduit as rubber insulation may just be stuck to the inside of the conduit.
I would recommend cutting the old light off and attaching the new light wire on the pool side so as you pull the old wire out it's feeding the new wire in. Two person job, one pulling and one feeding. Otherwise you need to use a pull cable and do it twice.
I would recommend cutting the old light off and attaching the new light wire on the pool side so as you pull the old wire out it's feeding the new wire in. Two person job, one pulling and one feeding. Otherwise you need to use a pull cable and do it twice.
Thanks for the information. I took off the junction box and had about 6 inches of wire there, but grabbing this pliers and pulling with all my might did nothing except slowly tear up the wires. I tried pumping wire lubricant etc down into it. After I posted the question I found a prior response from Realaxpooltech on this topic that really helped. I used his technique of cutting the light off in the spa and using the 3-4 feet there to wrap around a 5 foot long 3/4 inch iron pipe. I put a tennis ball on one end of the pipe so as not to scratch the plaster. I used it like a crow bar against the steps and it broke loose. I pulled nylon string from the junction box end into the spa and then used that to pull the new wiring back through from the spa to the junction box. Getting it past the bends in the conduit still required so much force I thought something might break. But got it done. The conduit looks to be a run of 1/2 inch copper that likely goes almost 3 feet below grade to get to the light niche. I am elated I do not have to dig this up.
Now for an even bigger challenge- the main pool light. We tore down our house completely on the existing lot and built new, which was a 2 year project. We moved back in 1 year ago. We kept the pool, but had all new landscaping installed in the back including some retaining walls. The main pool light junction box used to come up out of the ground about 20 feet from the pool. That junction box did not survive the landscaping. It got cut off and buried on the high ground side of retaining walls. As fate would have it however we are tearing out the pool decking and while it is out I will have access to digging up the first 10 feet of that conduit. If I can find it, I can then bring it up on the pool side of the retaining wall and connect a junction box there with 24 inch rise above water level. Then I will run new RMC to the pool equipment area for the supply side.
The challenge is finding and cutting into the existing conduit that carries the wiring from the pool light before it goes under the retaining wall. Would you use a metal detector for this? Once found, and supposing it is copper, would you sweat additional copper fittings onto it rising it up to its position on the retaining?
The challenge is finding and cutting into the existing conduit that carries the wiring from the pool light before it goes under the retaining wall. Would you use a metal detector for this? Once found, and supposing it is copper, would you sweat additional copper fittings onto it rising it up to its position on the retaining?