I have a Hayward light and niche in my inground pool. The light & niche - and I believe bulb - are from the original installation in 1982. What is the typical life span of the bulb? Is there a way to determine if a bulb is bad BEFORE going and spending the money on a new one? We hardly ever used it. I don't want to buy a new one for nothing. Every winter we pull it out onto the deck under the cover.

They say boats are holes in the water into which one pours money . . . some days it feels like pools are holes in the ground for a similar purpose (we just had 3 lines and all the valves replaced last week).