Fake Main Drain No pipe?

[Fuzzing]

I use to be a life guard and we swept everything to the main drain then turned on the main drain valve and sucked everything into the filter system. This was back in the 80s. I recently purchased a home in Houston with a swimming pool, my first. So I proceeded to clean my pool in a similar fashion. The dirt just piled up at the main drain. Nothing was moving. I checked my valves and everything was set. Still nothing. In fact, I almost drained the spa out. Apparently the spa drains are working. I tossed a plastic bag over the spa drains to keep it from draining, still nothing from the main drain. What the?

I tossed a cinder block into the deep end and dove into the pool. Holding onto the cinder block I managed to unscrew the main drain covers. Two of them. One drain simply had a lateral pipe connecting it to the other drain. First Faux drain. The other had a cap. A cap! What? Got some channel locks and took the cap off. Inside was clay, no pipe, just clay dirt. Maybe it was plugged? I got a long rod and poked the clay. I couldn't see a pipe down there. Two faux drains?

When I purchased the home there was one of those robot thingys cursing around. So is that the way we clean pools these days? Then why put those silly drains down there? I dunno. A friend told me he "thinks" they stopped using real drains for liability reasons. Something about kids with long hair getting hung up on the drain. Makes sense to me.

Let me know if anyone thinks that's what pool manufacturers do these days.

 

[borjis]

Maybe the one not capped is clogged or was disabled.

One person here had that happen, or it was put in at build time but never plumbed.

Either way use a vac or robot/suction cleaner.

A main drain isn't required and lots of pools don't have them (mine doesn't)

 

[JoyfulNoise]

The Virginia-Graeme-Baker (VGB) Act requires that all pools built in the US have a connected, split-drain so that suction entrapment hazards are avoided. You will find that all pool constructions follow this code.

So the secondary drain that is connected to the primary drain is correct. The first drain sounds as if it was plugged or somehow developed a leak. Then, in an effort to cheaply fix it, the previous owner simply capped it off. You would have to work back at the equipment pad and isolate that drain line and use something like a Drain King to blow out the line. It is very likely the line leaks and simply has years of sediment built up into it. You could very likely need a plumbers help on this.

On a side note, if this was not properly disclosed in the sales documentation for the home, you could have legal recourse to force the previous owner to fix it. However, that is up to a lawyer to determine.

 

[gwegan]

The drains are connected together and the line runs from a T out of the middle of the connecting pipe. They are connected together to prevent entanglement. The caped thing you found was probably a hydro-static valve to let ground water into the pool if you drained it to prevent the pool from popping.

Look at your skimmer are there two pipes in the bottom. One is probably in from the main drain and the other is out to the pump.

Even on full open a main drain does not have much force. the dual drains prevent that so your 80s method of cleaning the pool really doesn't work. Buy a robot they are great.

 

[borjis]

Good point gwegan, that cap probably is the hydrostatic valve.