Switched to Salt, now light housing is rusting

[darkstaff]

Hi everyone
When I bought this house back in 2010, the previous owner said he had switched to salt but the pool started to deteriorate ... so last year when I switched out the natural stone to glass tile, I thought I could switch to salt... I may have been mistaken.

I switched to salt about 6 months ago... I just replaced a light and when I pulled out the light, a TON of rush came out, and now I'm deeply concerend.

See pictures.

Anyone have similar issues? ... can I drain the pool and just put another housing inside this housing (Russian eggs?) .. or any innovative ways to fix this besides removing the whole housing, replacing with one that is made from 316 stainless and replastering?

Thanks!
Fred

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Hey there Darkstaff, welcome to TFP

I'd venture to guess that's age and wear and tear more than salt. And your pool is 9 years old, have the lights ever been removed before?

ALL pools that have chemicals in them ultimately contain a certain amount of residual salt. The salt can easily be about half of what salt water pools use. Shocking, I know! But its true.

What is your salt level?

Maddie

 

[darkstaff]

Hi Maddie

Thanks for responding.

I replaced the lights about 2 years ago (pulled 100 feet of cord through the existing pipe ...) ... salt level is 2900

Ever heard of a housing that rusted out when the pool changed to salt?

If not, I'm wondering if perhaps I used a non stainless bolt on the housing itself, maybe that's what's doing it... I think i need to get into the pool and look closely

fred

 

[mknauss]

The level of salinity in a pool, whether liquid chlorine or SWCG, has the same rate of corrosion. pH is the dominant driver of corrosion in a pool environment.

 

[JamesW]

That's the light niche, not the light housing.

I suspect that the issue might be related to the ground lug inside the niche.

Do you have a picture of the actual light?