If your home in Lancaster or Palmdale was built in the 1980s or 90s, there is a very high chance your pool is still equipped with its original, massive incandescent or halogen pool light.
While these old lights were standard decades ago, they are rapidly becoming one of the most dangerous and frustrating components of aging Antelope Valley pools.
The Rubber Gasket Failure
Those old pool lights are housed inside a metal "niche" set into the wall of your pool. To keep the 120-volt electrical bulb dry, a thick rubber gasket seals the glass lens to the metal housing.
After 20+ years of soaking in chlorinated water and surviving the dramatic temperature swings of the high desert, that rubber gasket becomes brittle, cracks, and fails.
Once the seal breaks, pool water floods into the electrical housing.
The Tripping GFCI
If you're lucky, the moment water touches the electrical connections, your GFCI (Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter) breaker will trip. You'll notice your light simply won't turn on.
Many homeowners assume the bulb just burned out. But when they try to replace it, they pull the fixture up to the deck and find it entirely filled with nasty, rusty water.
If you're unlucky, and your home's electrical panel is outdated or the GFCI fails, that water intrusion becomes an immediate, lethal shock hazard for anyone swimming in the pool.
The Modern LED Upgrade
Do not attempt to drain a rusty 30-year-old light fixture and reseal it with a new gasket. The metal housings are usually warped or corroded beyond saving, and it will just leak again in a month.
At AV Pool Pros, we safely remove the dangerous high-voltage fixtures and replace them with modern, low-voltage (12v) LED pool lights. Not only are LEDs 100% safe, but they also use a fraction of the electricity and can change colors at the touch of a button.
If your pool light is dead, flickering, or you suspect it has water inside, stay out of the pool and contact us immediately for professional Pool Light Repair & LED Upgrades.
