Water-Safe Lighting

There are a variety of Codes and Ordinances that address lighting systems used in or around water.  Please take the time to visit your local building department and ask the inspector what is required for your projects.  Topics of interest to the contractor should be: minimum setback for lighting on pools and spas, approved transformers and connection to existing electrical circuits, and approved lighting fixtures and equipment.  Getting to know your local inspector will go a long way in helping build your business image in your market.  

Besides using a UL1838-approved transformer for your low-voltage lighting projects, it is critical to understand the potential shock hazard that comes with using lighting equipment that is not properly grounded.  As safe as they are intended to be, even low-voltage lighting transformers can become damaged by lightning or power surges, to the point of delivering line-voltage to ground through the low-voltage lighting cable.  The National Electrical Code requires all lighting systems to be grounded.  This means transformers plugged into an approved receptacle with ground slot; spike-mount fixtures using spikes constructed of metal, NOT plastic; and properly grounding the "green wire" on any underwater fixture with a brass stake driven into the nearby earth and the ground wire connected to it.  Adhering to these critical points will minimize the potential for a dangerous electrical shock scenario and the possibility of serious injury or loss of life.  

Incorporating water-safe lighting into a pond, waterfall, or water-garden should be an automatic selling point when presenting a project plan to your clients.  After all, they are hiring you to create a special place in their lives that they will enjoy each day.  Why not give them the opportunity to enjoy it at night as well?  One of the best times a homeowner will have to enjoy his/her personal landscape and water feature will be the evening hours, when the work day is over and the sun begins to set.  At high-noon the sun lights everything indiscriminately, but in the evening around or just after sunset, shadows and silhouettes begin to appear and take shape.  Evening is a naturally visually interesting time.  This effect can be continued long into the night hours with a properly designed and installed lighting system that enhances the beauty of and provides safety around a water feature and surrounding landscape.  Please consider making a quality low-voltage lighting system a regular part of your water feature work.  By using water-safe lighting your clients will realize added value in their landscape by enjoying the visual and audible enhancement the water feature brings to their property both day and night.  And you will be a winner in their eyes because you have created a warm, magical, and safe environment through the use of water-safe lighting.

Steve Atkinson
Northern California Sales Manager
Cell: 530-409-0795
SteveA@Nightscaping.com