mguzzy
Gold Supporter
No you shouldn't... lower the water that is.. but then I thought. no one is going to in your pool at the moment without a hazmat suite.
The equipment area is coming along nicely! Its fun to watch the progression.
Reviving out of service pool: FG & deck Refresh
- Thread starter dianedebuda
- Start date
The equipment area is coming along nicely! Its fun to watch the progression.
You referring to the need to lower the water for the light? Got to pull the cord into the pad ... and the pad is below the pool water level.
mguzzy
Gold Supporter
But there should be a J-box that is above water line where the line to the light is connected to the line from the pad, yes?
And I was figuring you couldn't snake the line.. due the other snakes in the line.
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mguzzy
Gold Supporter
Then you have me at a loss, so excuse me for asking. If there is no j-Box and the pad is below water level, how does water not flow from the light niche into your equipment area? I think I am missing something. One of these?
Couldn't pull as is with so many tight elbows. Need to unscrew at bottom of pvc column.
mguzzy
Gold Supporter
So the top of that pipe is above the waterline? Is there room to put a sweep down there? Looks like it to me. But then again, I'm not there. And the cord you have will fit through that tight of a turn?
No, the cord most likely will not make the turn - that's why the column and elbow pair are threaded. Lower the pool water level, unscrew them and there's only a couple of elbows between there & the pool. A sweep here would take too much room I think. Since what you're pointing out makes sense, I'll take a look at an alternative when the light comes, but hopefully won't be replacing the light AND cord as a regular occurance. Do wish the original conduit was larger size though.
Do wish the original conduit was larger size though.
mguzzy
Gold Supporter
If it were the wires that go with my pool light it wouldn't be happy with such a tight turn, I think it would put undo stress on the jacket. Is that a 1/2" pipe coming out of the wall to a 3/4" pipe going vertical? It sure looks like you could fit a sweep in there to me. Then you wouldn't have to do all the screwing and unscrewing to service it. Especially when you get the rest of your equipment in there, you'll have even less room to work.
You've really got me thinking about this now. If I can redo this while I have the water lowered to replace the ball valves, the delivery date of the new light wouldn't matter.
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mguzzy
Gold Supporter
I think a 3/4" sweep might fit in there.. or be close. Or you can try and do your own custom radius. I plucked this from the first google search I found.
www.electricianu.com
Episode 24 – How To Heat And Bend PVC Conduit (The Right Way) – Electrician U
www.electricianu.com
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For what it’s worth, I had to pull wire through a conduit when I installed my electric car charger. After struggling for a few hours I finally broke down and got some of this lubricant... Klein Tools 19 oz. Foam Wire Pulling Lubricant-51100 - The Home Depot. After I used the lubricant I had the wire through in lIke 5 minutes. It is definitely worth it if you’re struggling getting the wire through.
I've heard that dish soap works too for pool light cord. Have gotten 1-1/2" & 2" pool sweeps from local Lowes, so I'll see if they have 'em for 3/4" & 1". This could be a really good thing if it'll fit. 
Never would have guessed having to replace a dead pool light would open a can of worms.
All that I was able to find in a sweep elbow for 3/4" and 1" was conduit, which I'm assuming would be ok in this case since it's not in a water pressure situation. But wonder if being conduit would matter when pulling the cord. If I placed the 3/4" sweep as close as I could to the wall, it does stick out further than the existing elbow, but only by 3/4" or so.
existing vs sweep conduit
backside of wall since we used 45° elbows here, will assume we did the same for an earlier 90° turn. There may or may not be another 90° pair closer to the pool from the original build.
Replacing the pool light cord piping
Pro:
--Future pool light replacement would not require lowering water below niche so that column and then elbow each be unscrewed to pull the cable straight out from the wall.
Cons:
--Replacing light AND cord is a rare occurance. Is it worth the trouble to not have to lower the water?
--If I replace it, it'd be glued with the (old) cable in place, so there'd be a risk of getting glue on the (old) cable.
The replacement seemed more attractive when I thought that delivery of the new pool light would impact when I would lower the water for replacement of the ball valves and how long I'd have to leave the water at the lower level. But now the light is supposed to arrive Friday and I'm not going to start the drain until Sun, so not an issue now.
Really have a hard time with this. Would like to hear from @jimmythegreek on whether he thinks it would be worthwhile to replace my existing pool light cord piping from the wall (3/4" pvc, 1" threaded elbow, 1" threaded column) with a glued-in 3/4" conduit elbow.
Kim, if you're reading, how do you page someone?
All that I was able to find in a sweep elbow for 3/4" and 1" was conduit, which I'm assuming would be ok in this case since it's not in a water pressure situation. But wonder if being conduit would matter when pulling the cord. If I placed the 3/4" sweep as close as I could to the wall, it does stick out further than the existing elbow, but only by 3/4" or so.
existing vs sweep conduit
backside of wall since we used 45° elbows here, will assume we did the same for an earlier 90° turn. There may or may not be another 90° pair closer to the pool from the original build.
Replacing the pool light cord piping
Pro:
--Future pool light replacement would not require lowering water below niche so that column and then elbow each be unscrewed to pull the cable straight out from the wall.
Cons:
--Replacing light AND cord is a rare occurance. Is it worth the trouble to not have to lower the water?
--If I replace it, it'd be glued with the (old) cable in place, so there'd be a risk of getting glue on the (old) cable.
The replacement seemed more attractive when I thought that delivery of the new pool light would impact when I would lower the water for replacement of the ball valves and how long I'd have to leave the water at the lower level. But now the light is supposed to arrive Friday and I'm not going to start the drain until Sun, so not an issue now.
Really have a hard time with this. Would like to hear from @jimmythegreek on whether he thinks it would be worthwhile to replace my existing pool light cord piping from the wall (3/4" pvc, 1" threaded elbow, 1" threaded column) with a glued-in 3/4" conduit elbow.
Kim, if you're reading, how do you page someone?
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I have been reading along.........learning and enjoying............to page some one put a @ in front of their name @jimmythegreek will call him. I page you to show you what it looks like on the receiving end @dianedebuda You should get an alert that I "mentioned" you in post!.
I almost tried that but figured, no, can't be that simple.
Should have looked at my preview to see that color changes automagically.
mguzzy
Gold Supporter
The standard way to do pool light conduits is to have sweeps so the cord can be pulled through without having to lower the water. AND the potential that all those threaded fittings don't leak. I assume the pool has a wet niche in the wall?
I would change it just so it fits the way things are done now.. so the next guy isn't thrown for a loop trying to figure it out.
I would change it just so it fits the way things are done now.. so the next guy isn't thrown for a loop trying to figure it out.
I don't think the word standard has any relationship to this pad.
All of the pipe entries/exits to the pad use threaded fittings, so I'm accepting the risk. Yes, it's a wet niche.With this pad, the issue of the pool light conduit construct is going to be so minor. The next guy is going to bomb it & start from scratch.
And I'll be pushing daisies, so I won't care. ⚰Really, though, the existing construct was an attempt to eliminate 1 elbow when pulling the cord, hopefully to make it a tiny bit easier.
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mguzzy
Gold Supporter
Daisies! Let's not be so morbiddon't think the word standard has any relationship to this pad.
I think the difference is this is electrical conduit the other threaded fittings are plumbing... But then again I understand the Daisy Theorem. Whoever landscaped my yard (the previous owners) put in redwoods a bit close the the pool for my liking... but I figure I'll be pushing up my own daisies, by the time the redwoods are pushing up the shell.
At my age, it's not being morbid, just being realistic.Daisies! Let's not be so morbid
Yes, the issue of being electrical conduit, even though it's listed as Sched 40, is one of the main reasons I'm hoping that Jimmy will chime in. I have visions of it breaking under the stress of the cable pull. I don't want to mess with trying to bend pvc myself (watched my electrician do it when I had a service upgrade - really cool ) and don't want to delay things any more here by having someone else do one locally or waiting for one being shipped.