Installing the new pool lights revealed yet another issue left by the POs. When the pump and original solar were put in, the pump controller wasn’t installed properly. The folks at Genie Pools are pretty certain that the POs paid someone very little money or did the half-assed job themselves. As such, the controller was not installed with a GFI outlet or proper ability to trip the breaker should things misbehave. As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, the controller box (seen in the first pic below on the left) didn’t have individual circuits for the gear, but instead relied upon a single 20-amp breaker off the interior breaker panel. Genie rewired everything after putting a 30-amp breaker in the interior box, then put individual breakers in the outdoor controller box. But since the pump controller was originally installed improperly, nothing wanted to turn on when it was supposed to after Genie left. Another service call and $750 later, we have a new controller unit that actually works (and has a pretty LCD display).
In the first pic below of the completed panel, you can see on the right where the panel once was; it was actually difficult to open since the solar pipes were just below it. As you can see, the panel (now on the left) actually has circuit breakers INSIDE it. What a novel concept.
Next pic is our new pump controller, and after that is the rather unsafe old one.
All that remained for the pool for now was to get the persistent leak we’ve had since taking ownership sealed up. Fourth pic is of the leak; as you can see, the upper pipe needed some love.
Of course now we’re lucky if the water temp creeps above 60 degrees, so if I want to swim in that frigid water, I’ll have to find a very, very warm wetsuit. Although the one lovely bit about this is that the new solar panels we had installed don’t have to be drained, making winter swimming possible.