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Can blown bulb trip GFI?

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Can blown bulb trip GFI? ron_windham@hotmail.com 07-01-2005
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Posted by ron_windham@hotmail.com on July 1, 2005, 1:44 pm
I have an underwater pool light. Whenever I try to turn it on, the GFI
in the circuit trips. I replaced the GFI - same problem. Could a blown
bulb be tripping the GFI?

I ask because it's a pain to change the bulb - the screw head on the
face plate is damaged, and I would need to drain the pool to be able to
use a "screw-out" head to back-out the screw and change the bulb.

Ideas?


PexSupply QuikTrak 468x60
Posted by PipeDown on July 1, 2005, 2:38 pm
A simply blown (open) bulb will not trip the GFCI. It is more likely that
you have a short between one of the lamp terminals and the faceplate or
housing (and thus the grounded pool water). It may be as simple as a
damaged rubber gasket or plastic spacer. Is there any water inside the
housing?

If the Breaker is GFCI it can be impossible to know if the trip is a ground
fault or a real short. If you have a breaker and a seperate GFCI outlet,
you can tell the difference.

Simplest short term solution is to cut and tape the wire to that bulb until
it is more convenient to fix the lamp housing. To troubleshoot, you need an
Ohmmeter and with it you can measure the resistance between each of the
wires to the bulb and a grounded point on the pool (like the ladder). The
resistance should be open, any resistance at all indicates a ground fault
and the breaker is doing its job saving your life.

Furthermore, with the bulb removed or dead, the resistance between the wires
should also be infinate (open) but if the bulb is not dead, there will be a
somewhat low resistance almost a short between the wires.

Hopefully you can gain access to the wires to the pool light somewhere
outside the pool of course, there may be an access cover on the deck or a
panel on a wall.

If your lamps are low voltage and powered by a transformer then the answer
would be a bit different as the ground fault would be near the transformer.




>I have an underwater pool light. Whenever I try to turn it on, the GFI
> in the circuit trips. I replaced the GFI - same problem. Could a blown
> bulb be tripping the GFI?
>
> I ask because it's a pain to change the bulb - the screw head on the
> face plate is damaged, and I would need to drain the pool to be able to
> use a "screw-out" head to back-out the screw and change the bulb.
>
> Ideas?
>



Posted by ron_windham@hotmail.com on July 1, 2005, 7:59 pm
Thanks for the info - Pipedown, you said:

"If the Breaker is GFCI it can be impossible to know if the trip is a
ground
fault or a real short. If you have a breaker and a seperate GFCI
outlet,
you can tell the difference."

I have a non-GFI-breaker that feeds three boxes in a row: a light
switch in a box, a GFI outlet plug and the third is a plain duplex
convenience receptacle. I replaced the light switch and GFI and used a
GFI tester to verify that it was correctly wired (it's got three leds
that show correct wiring and a "tripper" that works as it should).

The easiest place to gain access to the light wires seem like it would
be at the light switch - there are two blue wires there, but at least
one of them goes to the GFI, so if I remove the switch and test
continuity on the wires, won't I be testing *through* the GFI? Will
that be accurate? Do you think those two blue wires go directly to the
bulb?

No, not a low-volt system.

RBM: I see a black plastic square box right next to the electrical
boxes. Maybe that's where the light wires come up from the metal niche.
I'll check it out tomorrow AM! (Too hot in Phoenix to check anything at
4PM - it's 109 right now!

I see no water in the light fixture itself - and just FYI, the bulbs
are supposed to have a life of 1000 hrs or so....this puppy was still
pretty new when it stopped working!


Posted by RBM on July 1, 2005, 3:17 pm
Most likely water has entered the sealed housing. There is a pipe which goes
from a metal niche that that light is installed in, to an above ground
splice box called a deck box. It's probably not far from the fixture and
possibly concealed under a diving board or in a bush. It has a plastic cover
held on by four screws. Open it up and disconnect the wires going to the
fixture and cap the feed wires. Then you should be able to reset the gfci
>I have an underwater pool light. Whenever I try to turn it on, the GFI
> in the circuit trips. I replaced the GFI - same problem. Could a blown
> bulb be tripping the GFI?
>
> I ask because it's a pain to change the bulb - the screw head on the
> face plate is damaged, and I would need to drain the pool to be able to
> use a "screw-out" head to back-out the screw and change the bulb.
>
> Ideas?
>



Posted by Jeff Wisnia on July 1, 2005, 4:05 pm
RBM wrote:

> Most likely water has entered the sealed housing. There is a pipe which goes
> from a metal niche that that light is installed in, to an above ground
> splice box called a deck box. It's probably not far from the fixture and
> possibly concealed under a diving board or in a bush. It has a plastic cover
> held on by four screws. Open it up and disconnect the wires going to the
> fixture and cap the feed wires. Then you should be able to reset the gfci
>
>>I have an underwater pool light. Whenever I try to turn it on, the GFI
>>in the circuit trips. I replaced the GFI - same problem. Could a blown
>>bulb be tripping the GFI?
>>
>>I ask because it's a pain to change the bulb - the screw head on the
>>face plate is damaged, and I would need to drain the pool to be able to
>>use a "screw-out" head to back-out the screw and change the bulb.
>>
>>Ideas?
>>
>

You already have received the correct answer to your question.

Now, displaying my near total ignorance of swimming pool technology I
have to ask, can you properly change the bulb *without* lowering the
water level even if the screw head isn't damaged?

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

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