Water in light dome

[gerri]

I have an 8500 IG fiberglass pool with Fiberstars fiber-optic lighting. The pool guy came by yesterday and saw that there is water in the lighting housing dome underwater. He says this is why my light isn't working. Could he be correct? I don't have much faith left in my pool guy, but pool guys that come out to the house are hard to find under $100/hr around here... and hard to get them to come out period. My electrician won't touch it.

[MrSparkle]

I've got the Fibrestars in my fiberglass pool also, it's about 7 or 8 years old. The third season I noticed water droplets in my lens and eventually got to 1/3 of way up. The water in the lens dramatically reduces the intensity of the light.

A couple of things first. Water in the lens should not affect the light source operation unless water penetrated the control box, entered the tube to the pool that holds the fibres, and damaged the circuitry in the control box. Water could still enter the sheath holding the fibres and not damage the circuitry.

Another way water can get into the lens is the fibers are in a sheath, the sheath is run inside a flexible PVC tube which is attached to the rear of the lens housing outside of the pool underground. If this seal is not water tight, it can seep in.

The way these things work - Your control box has a high intensity bulb that is held over one end of the fibres. The fibers are very small, flexible hollow glass tubes. I don't remember how many fibres strands I have but it is a lot. The light enters the glass tubes, bounces around in there following the bends of the tubes until it exits behind the lens in the pool. There is no electricity anywhere near the light lens in the pool.

On mine I originally thought the installers did not seal the lens in the pool properly so I drained the pool down to the lens, unscrewed it and tried to dry out the sheath that holds the fibres as best I could. I used silicone on the o-ring, teflon tape on the lens threads and reinstalled. Was fine for a couple of years and last year I noticed water droplets in the lens again and this year water is a third of the way up again.

I'm thinking now that water vaper is entering from the open end underneath the control box and finding its way down to the lens due to gravity.

I was recently at the pool installers shop to get a new skimmer basket and I asked if others were having this problem. I was told some, but not all have this issue. They have a U-shaped stainless steel tub that is opened on the top which gets placed around the lens in the pool, water is pumped out providing suction to hold the tub against the pool. Then you have access to the lens.

I have relatives with this same system and they don't have the problem. The only difference is their control box in on top of the cement apron of the pool. Mine is in the landscaping beds sitting on dirt and wood chips.

I'd be willing to bet yours is in the landscaping beds too.

Water in the lens itself will not damage you system, but algae can start to grow inside the fibres and that will dramatically reduce the available light at the lens. If that happens the fibers can be replaced.

edit: Almost forgot. Your water in the lens may or MAY NOT have anything to do with the light not working. You have two separate issues. One, you light is not coming on. Could be a burnt out bulb, could be the circuitry. And two, you have water geting into the fibre sheath somehow. Show your electrician the control box and have him look there.

[gerri]

Thanks for your reply! When I open my box things look rusty inside but that may be because the box sits on the landscaping, like yours.

I'm still waiting for my repair. They had me take pictures of the inside of the box with the cover off, that's how I saw the rust.

I'm not sure where the problem is because first my color wheel stopped turning, then the light would turn off by itself after 5-10 minutes.. they said it was a thermal trip but I have kept the edges clear for air flow. This season when I went to turn it on it won't come on at all.

Do you have a remote control for yours? I ordered one in hopes of getting this fixed and wondered if you like yours?

Thanks again.

Gerri

[MrSparkle]

I do not have the remote. I looked a couple of years back at that and thought about ordering and installing myself but I didn't want to spend the $140 at the time. Looking back I should have got it because it is a hassle getting to the control box as it's outside of the pool fence on the opposite side of the gate. Need to walk thru the landscaping all the way there.

[gerri]

That's exactly why I ordered the remote.. haha.. my control box is outside the fence too and I have to walk through all kinds of mulch to get to it.

I do hope I get my light fixed soon. It was one of my favorite aspects of the pool.

[MrSparkle]

Let us know the problem when you get it fixed.