Main Drain

[ady]

Hi, first time post.

I have an in ground pool that we had re-diamondbrited in 2013. The pool has a main drain in the deep end and a skimmer also in the deep end. Currently the main drain is non-operational and only the skimmer operates. The water is well maintained and in excellent shape, chemicals are in range and color is nice. I brought in someone to dive down and look at the main drain. He said that the main drain is plugged with diamondbrite and some cement. He told me that there are two good possibilities, either the people resurfacing were sloppy and plugged it by mistake, or that there is a leak and they plugged the drain instead of spending a lot of money to fix it. He said he can open it up and to see if there is a leak if I wanted to.

My question is, is there any negative effect on the pool and the water quality to run only the skimmer and the leave the main drain off. I have a little one and I want to make sure that the water is safe and healthy for him to swim in, free of bacteria and impurities.

I'm a novice and would appreciate any advice you may be able to provide.

Thanks,

Ady

 

[Patrick_B]

Welcome to TFP!

You may miss a main drain if you use it much to help clean the pool when you brush things to it. Like perhaps if you brush a good amount of dirt or debris to them for filtering out. However you can run without it, and if you do, it's a good idea to make sure you have some return jets pointed downward in that area to ensure good circulation.

 

[elwood58]

With only the skimmer as an intake, you want to be sure the skimmer never gets starved for water flow, like when a Weir gets stuck. If it does, your pump will get starved for water. Look on the wall directly below the skimmer for any other intake. If one exists, it would have a cover on it similar to a Main Drain cover, for safety purposes.

 

[jobondur]

One downside to not having a main drain is when you need to drain your pool it will be more difficult. I assume you could still do it by connecting a vacuum hose and dropping it in the pool once the water got below the skimmers but having a main drain is much easier. Other than that, as long as your skimmer stays in good working condition and unclogged I would say you should be ok. You do need to make certain that the skimmer doesn't get fully clogged. If it does, you could burn out your pump since it only pulls from the one skimmer at this point.

Note - There's a lot of smarter pool guys and gals on here so I defer to them but that's my two cents.

 

[diverminh]

Do you have only one opening in your main drain or do you have two openings? If it was only one opening, I might consider not unplugging it for safety reasons UNLESS you also put in a safety cover. If has two openings, then it might be worth trying - but you might be asking for more headache if there is a leak. Have you had any issues with keeping your pool clean? If no - then why open up a potential can of worm. Only you can decide if it's worth taking the risk.

http://blog.poolcenter.com/article.aspx?articleid=6194

 

[Divin Dave]

Lack of a main drain is really of no major concern. You can direct eyeballs for circulation to the deeper water. Many many many pools have been built in the last several years without a main drain at all. Including mine.

 

[ady]

Thank you for all the replies. Very reassuring.

Ady