Thread: no main drain

Came across an older pool the other day. It had been re-surfaced and the main drain had been removed or covered over. I would love to know first of all, why they did this, and second, what the cost to correct will be.

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Pool may have been leaking at the drain and rather than go tho the expense of tearing it apart and repair it they chose to seal it off. Figuring that it could be pumped out when necessary.

Other possibility is that rather than install a safety guard they said "seal it off".

Cost will be more than the original repair, but I would not venture a guess.

Bill,

Main drains are not required as long as the returns provide sufficient circulation of the water to the skimmer - this is main thing that needs to be addressed for pools without main drains.

Removing main drains removes one of the worst offenders for entrapment. Just as long as they provide for another way to drain the pool (such as throwing in a intake for a pump and being able to pump the water out).

I cringe when I don't see a main drain (it is not unusual to see new pools installed without main drains, but they are not required), it is less expensive than installing the required two separate main drains with the required separation between the main drains to avoid (reduce) the entrapment hazard.

I inspected a pool today where they are going to install two 3 HP pumps, each with its own anti-entrapment channel drain ... I told them that they need to make sure the pumps are variable speed and that the TDH needs to be calculated based on the highest speed and highest volume the two pumps can produce. The owner said the entire setup will be computer controlled so he will be able to operate the pumps and features from his cell phone.