To Main Drain or Not To Main Drain

[crookm11]

Hi evryone,

I'm still in the planning phase of my pool and as the topic name suggests I'm looking for feed back on weather to put in a main drain or not.

The pool depth will only be 6' in the deep end so not quite a diving pool.
The pool will be a vinyl liner pool
I will have 2 skimmers
I will have no less than 6 returns but maybe more?
I will have a dedicated suction line for a pool cleaner. (The Pool Cleaner 4 wheel is the model I'm looking at)

I have heard of pools not having a MD and doing just fine and also have heard about pools with MD having leeks all the time and hard to winterize.

I just need Pro's and Con's.

Thanks.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Will you be winterizing? If not I'd get it, but with a pool cleaner it probably won't make much of a difference most of the time. If nothing else, it lets you valve off the skimmers and use your pump to drain the pool if necessary, rather than having to use a submersible pump.

 

[crookm11]

I don't plan on winterizing the pool. Being here in central Texas, I don't think I will need to. I do like the idea of being able to drain the pool if I need to. I know the main drain will make cleaning the pool easier by just brushing the dirt toward the drain.
Is it really nesseary to have a pool cleaner if you have a main drain and a brush? I love messing with my AGP. I don't mine the added labor of manual vac.
How often do the drains leek? I guess this is my main concern. I don't want to tear up the pool to fix a leaking drain.
My wife babies the toy schnauzer and I will baby the pool!!!

 

[mas985]

Main drains seem to be losing favor in the industry, at least based upon these sources:

APSP

Pool and Spa News

Much of circulation benefits of a main drain could be done better with returns at a lower depth.


As for the cleaner, I couldn't imagine life without one but I don't really enjoy cleaning the pool all that much. With a cleaner running most of the time, the pool is always clean and ready to go. Plus, it also helps a bit with circulation.