Can someone recommend a VGB compliant drain cover?

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caliskier

caliskier

LifeTime Supporter
Aug 24, 2014
435
Oklahoma City, OK
Hi all,

I have one of these bad drain covers in my hottub and 3 children under 6. One drain is for the filter, one is for the jets

Capture.jpg

Bad in that it is not VGB compliant (that's the regulation that greatly reduces the chances of a person being held down by the drain suction.) Needs to be replaced, I have read the articles, seen the photos. Can someone recommend one to me? My pool's main drain looks like this one,

Capture2.jpg

I have tried to determine if it is VGB compliant, I look on amazon and it says nothing about it.

Amazon.com: Hayward WGX1048E 8-Inch White Cover Replacement for Hayward Suction and Dual Suction Outlet: Patio, Lawn Garden
 
caliskier said:
One drain is for the filter, one is for the jets
Click to expand...
Are you sure that is the way it is plumbed? It could be a split drain, which reduces the risk of entrapment, and both the filter and the spa jets run off the same two drains. This is the way mine is plumbed. The only way to know for sure is to remove the covers and see if there is one or two pipes under each cover. They may also be split underground so a dye test may be more useful.

If each drain is solo, you may want to add a SVRS system to the pump so if entrapment occurs, it will shut down the pump.

But as to what cover to use, you really need to measure your old cover and find what fits. All covers now should be labeled as VGBA compliant and I would be surprised if any web site sold anything other than compliant covers.
 
mas985 said:
Are you sure that is the way it is plumbed? It could be a split drain, which reduces the risk of entrapment, and both the filter and the spa jets run off the same two drains. This is the way mine is plumbed. The only way to know for sure is to remove the covers and see if there is one or two pipes under each cover. They may also be split underground so a dye test may be more useful.

If each drain is solo, you may want to add a SVRS system to the pump so if entrapment occurs, it will shut down the pump.

But as to what cover to use, you really need to measure your old cover and find what fits. All covers now should be labeled as VGBA compliant and I would be surprised if any web site sold anything other than compliant covers.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks. Yes they are plumbed individually, not together. The pool is likely 25+ years old. When I drain the hottub completely, only one of the drains functions, when I run the jets, the other drain put a strong suction on my feet.

I guess i could go into Leslies (yuck) with my old drain cover and see what matches up.

So it sounds like if Amazon Prime is selling drain covers they should be compliant?
 
To bring your pool to current safety standards you need dual drains. In some locations you can get away with a single drain and a SVRS pump.

A commercial pool must have dual drains. There are specific requirements for dual drains.

Your residential pool may or may not be required to retrofit to unblockable covers. That's a requirement of state law or local ordnance.


You can shut down the main drain. Most pools don't need them and do fine with just a skimmer. Or install a unblockable cover over the single drain if allowed in your local area.

But you should do something. Just adding an unblockable drain makes your pool much safer.
 
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gwegan said:
To bring your pool to current safety standards you need dual drains. In some locations you can get away with a single drain and a SVRS pump.

A commercial pool must have dual drains. There are specific requirements for dual drains.

Your residential pool may or may not be required to retrofit to unblockable covers. That's a requirement of state law or local ordnance.


You can shut down the main drain. Most pools don't need them and do fine with just a skimmer. Or install a unblockable cover over the single drain if allowed in your local area.

But you should do something. Just adding an unblockable drain makes your pool much safer.
Click to expand...

what is an example of an unblockable drain?

Thankx
 

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First, understand the VGB act has many facets, so saying anything is OK or prohibited is probably not correct when dealing with legacy residential pools. VGB mainly delt with commercial pools, but states were given a "carrot" (read that money) to adopt legislation for residential pools. While the CPSC provided "model" legislation for the states, they could adopt anything, but with this in mind there can be 50 different answers to VGB question for our pools.

In some cases, for a legacy pool/spa a drain cover may be sufficient to meet your states standards. Again, this will be state specific. For this reason manufacturers are probably not willing to put VGB Compliant on the label because there are multiple standards.

Now comes reality. You have small children. You want to do what is safest.

Safest is retrofitting dual drains. Next would be a SVRS pump. In either case an anti-entrapment cover should be added.
 
I don't know for sure other than product label says it is VGB compliant. My guess is that it has to do with the diameter and the domed curvature of the cover. Some combo of design features that prevent a body part from being held against the drain by suction force and allows water to flow around.
 
VGBA compliant does not mean it is unblockable. For a standard solo MD I don't believe there is such a thing as unblockable.
 
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