LED pool lights are incredibly durable and long-lasting, offering a clear and bright light to illuminate your pool for many years once installed.
So if they’re burning out, you’ll probably be a little concerned – why would that be happening?
LED pool lights typically last around 10 years, so if you had them installed when they first launched, they might have blown out due to age. Otherwise, the likely causes are bad wire contacts causing arcing or a faulty transformer.
Let’s dive in (pun intended) to the topic by looking at:
- Reasons LEDs could be blowing out
- How long LEDs should last in a pool
- Whether you need to drain a pool to change your lights
Why Does My LED Pool Light Keep Blowing Out?
LED pool lights are designed to last a long time, so if they keep blowing out, you’re undoubtedly going to get frustrated.
That’s a lot of money to be wasting.
There are a couple of potential issues that you can check, though.
Firstly, buy your LED pool lights from a reputable brand.
If you’re ordering cheap ones online, you need to know whether they’re being manufactured to the necessary safety standards.
You don’t want to install a cheap electrical device underwater.
If the lights are from a trusted name, the LED burning out means, it’s overloaded with heat or current.
A common cause is bad contacts – if the light hasn’t been wired securely.
When that happens, and the contacts are not properly touching, electricity can arc between them.
When that happens, the current spikes, which can make the LEDs blow out quickly.
If all of your lights are blowing out, though, then it’s more likely that you have a faulty transformer.
The transformer’s job is to step the voltage down from the mains to the 12 volts needed to power most pool lights.
If that’s not working, and your pool lights are receiving a too high voltage, they will only last for a while and be quite dangerous.
You should check your transformer and replace it.
Submersion And LED Pool Lights
I mentioned that LEDs burn out if they are overloaded with current or heat – and did you know that LED pool lights MUST be submerged to be cooled sufficiently?
It’s the same with any underwater lights.
They are pretty clever, as they are designed with the view that they will permanently be submerged. So the pool’s water acts as a giant heat sink, drawing away heat energy.
This is why there are regulations on how deep your pool lights must be – they can’t be installed any less than 4 inches from the surface of the pool.
If you turn on an LED pool light when it is not submerged, it’ll blow out extremely quickly. So, check that your lights are installed at the correct height.
If your pool level has dropped and the lights are frequently left uncovered, you’ll want to top up the water.
How Long Do LED Lights Last In A Pool?
The typical lifespan of an LED pool light is around 20,000 hours – if you were to use your pool lights at night only for about 5 hours a day, that would be 4,000 days that they would last – over 10 years.
That’s a long time, which is why people are moving to LED lighting in pools and other uses around the home.
The lights may be more expensive than some alternatives upfront, but you’ll save in the long term.
But bear in mind that LED pool lights have existed for more than 10 years. They’ve been widely available since around 2006.
So, if you’ve moved into a home and inherited a pool with LED lights installed, the owner may have been an early adopter.
If they were, there might not be anything suspicious when your LED pool lights blow out – it might just be that they’ve reached the end of their life.
Can Pool Lights Be Changed Without Draining The Water?
When your pool lights blow out, you need to replace them. It should be a priority because pool lights are a useful safety tool for helping you to see the edge of the pool at night.
The question is, do you need to go to the effort of draining your pool to replace the lights, or can you do the work underwater?
The answer is neither.
One of the National Electrical Code regulations for pool lights is that they must be installed no more than 18 inches below the water’s surface.
Another regulation is that there must be enough cord on the light behind the fixture.
So that the light can be removed from the pool without disconnecting it so that repairs can be carried out poolside.
You don’t need to drain the pool or work underwater – you can remove the fixture and lift it out of the pool to the side.
Then, you’ll be able to disconnect the old light from the wiring, replace it with the new one, and then add it back into the housing on the side of the pool.
You must ensure the power is off when you’re doing this, and you should only switch the power back on when the light is in situ.
This can be a little frustrating since you can only test if the light is definitely wired correctly once it’s in place.
This said, though, the wiring is straightforward, and the chances of messing up are slim.
Final Words
LED pool lights don’t last forever – even if they feel like they do – so if your pool lights are blowing out, it might just be time to change them.
However, unless they were installed a decade ago, there’s likely something wrong – either a wire has come loose, or your transformer is having some issues.
But once the problem is resolved, your LED pool lights should continue to shine for a long time, giving your pool an incredible glow.
What type of bulbs do you have in your pool? Are you considering upgrading to LEDs when you next need to swap them?