Single Main Drain with a Lifting Cover and No Verifiable SVRS
A 2016 vinyl-liner pool, 16 × 32 ft with an 8 ft deep end, plus an attached 6-person spa. The pool has a single 12-inch square main drain sump at the deep end. Its cover is molded "VGB 2008 Compliant - ANSI/APSP-16," but only one of its two brass screws is present; with the pump running you can lift the loose corner about 3/8 inch. There is no visible safety vacuum release system: the equipment pad shows no SVRS label, no vent pipe, no dedicated canister, and the seller has no documentation. The spa has a single 2-inch drain whose cover label has been painted over and cannot be read; the cover is not cracked. On the pool skimmer, an equalizer-line opening at the waterline is open with no cover or grate. The pump is a 2 HP variable-speed unit on 2-inch suction piping, and no drain-disable switch is present.
1. Evaluate the pool main drain as you would report it.
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The drain fails on more than one independent ground, and each is enough on its own. The cover must be listed to ANSI/APSP/ICC-16 (formerly ASME A112.19.8), be undamaged, and be secured with all of its fasteners. One screw missing with a 3/8-inch lift is precisely the condition the standard exists to prevent: the cover can cock, be pulled off, and expose the sump, and a cover that lifts is no longer acting as a compliant cover regardless of what is molded on it. Second, a single 12-inch drain in 8 ft of water is a single blockable drain unless a second outlet or an SVRS backs it up. The molded label is not evidence of an SVRS, and no vent, canister, label, or documentation exists at the pad - so the correct finding is "secondary anti-entrapment system not verified," not "compliant." Report an immediate entrapment hazard, recommend the pool be closed to use, and refer to a qualified technician to install a properly fastened listed cover and confirm or install an SVRS or a code-compliant second drain.
2. What do you report about the spa drain cover and the open equalizer line?
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Both are blockable openings. An illegible label means the cover cannot be identified as a listed anti-entrapment cover - the marking with make, model, and standard is part of what makes it verifiable, and a cover whose identity cannot be established cannot be certified. Being crack-free is not the test; UV degradation and age matter too, and manufacturers assign a limited service life, commonly in the range of five to seven years, after which replacement is expected. Recommend replacement with a listed cover of the correct size for that sump. The open equalizer line is a smaller but real suction opening that a body part or hair can occlude; it must carry a compliant cover or grate, or be permanently disabled in a way that does not create a different hazard. Note that plugging an equalizer changes skimmer behavior and can cause the pump to draw air, so the fix should be evaluated by the service technician, not improvised.
3. The seller says, "the cover says VGB compliant, so it's fine." How do you respond in the report?
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A label is one element among several, and it describes the cover, not the installation. Compliance depends on the whole assembly: a cover listed for that specific sump, seated flat, retained by every fastener it was designed for, free of cracks and deformation, over a sump of the size the cover is rated for - and, where only one blockable drain exists, a functioning backup such as an SVRS or a second drain. Any one of those failing defeats the assembly. Here the fastener is missing and the cover lifts, so the assembly is non-compliant on the physical facts even if the molded marking is genuine. Say that plainly, describe what you observed and measured, and avoid certifying compliance yourself; recommend evaluation and correction by a qualified pool technician before the pool is used.