Pool drains can be very dangerous. Because they have an immense amount of suction behind them to drain the pool and allow the water to leak out. Because the suction pressure can be up to 700 pounds, if a person gets too close to the drain, it is impossible to remove it. Because pool drains use suction to filter things out of the water, they put people at risk of being trapped.
If a small, light person gets too close to a pool drain, they can get trapped underwater, which can lead to a range of injuries, including accidental drowning. However, this suction is the main reason why pool drains are potentially dangerous. If you swim too close to them, they can suck your hair, jewelry, fingers, or any other part of your body. The average suction pressure of pool drains can reach 700 pounds, making it impossible to remove it once this happens.
If for some reason, a pool cannot be fitted with an anti-entrapment cover, the law requires that it add a safety measure to the filtration system instead. But just like a hot stove or potentially toxic cleaning product, a pool drain can pose a real danger if not used safely. Both concrete and fiberglass pools must have a main drain in order to install the hydrostatic relief valve. There's no reason vinyl pools can disappear without them, other than it's easier and cheaper to remove a main drain than to upgrade it to a double suction point.
While the drain is an essential part of your pool's filtration system, it presents some risk to swimmers, especially those who are light and inexperienced in the water, such as young children. This is why there have been changes in the pool industry in the way main drains should be installed, specifically to avoid (or at least reduce) the risk of entrapment. Everything from feet, hands, and even hair can get caught in a drain and trap children, and even adults, underwater. Most swimming pools and spas use a suction based drain to filter things like dirt, body fat, and water debris.
The concept that swimming pools don't need main drains comes from the fact that main drain pipes are difficult to fix when they break, and as a result, many pools have the main drain pipes dismantled and sealed at both ends. Another way to avoid the danger of draining the pool (as well as any other hazards related to swimming) is to limit access to the pool when there is adult supervision. Now I don't want to alarm pool owners and swimmers, as the vast majority of pool drains pose no risk to bathers, but the reality is that main pool drains can be dangerous. It's essential to make sure your pool has anti-entrapment drain covers to prevent your child from being trapped underwater.
In a nutshell, if you're looking for the best possible water care system for your pool or spa, then you're looking for a Clear Comfort AOP system. In this case, you would need to cover both main drains to create a trapping hazard due to the vacuum power of the pump. Since it went into effect, no deaths have been reported involving a child trapped in a suction outlet cover in a public pool or spa.
