Dear Valued Customers
As another pool season soon approaches, we would like to take some time to inform you of some important changes in the swimming pool industry.
Because of incidents of entrapment in the drains of spas, swimming pools and wading pools, President Bush signed the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act of 2007, which requires public pools to employ anti-entrapment equipment on the pool’s drains for added safety. While this law currently does not affect existing in-the-ground residential pools, we feel it is prudent, in lieu of the VGB Act, to make you aware of the potential danger of main drains and discuss some of the ways you can make your pool safer.
The first step you can take is to change your existing drain cover to a VGB compliant cover. The cost for this cover (8” Hayward “Dome”) is $36.50. We can change it (if we do not have to drain the pool) in most cases for $175.00 plus the cover. Additionally, when the pool liner is changed, we can upgrade your pool to a dual drain system with VGB compliant covers for a cost of approximately $400.00. Another device, the Vac Alert, attaches to the drain line coming in at the pump. In the event that there is entrapment, this device opens and floods the pump with air, causing it to lose prime. This can be installed in places where there is enough plumbing to attach it and where the pool’s pump and filter is within 2’ of the pool’s water level. The cost for this device installed will be approximately $975.00. Pumps have also been updated to sense entrapment. One way to update your pump is to replace it with a motor equipped with a built in Safety Vacuum Release System. The motor, when it detects an entrapment situation, turns off. It has a relay on the top of its frame that requires calibration, but is overall easy to use. The average cost to install this pump is between $800.00 and $900.00 plus tax. These steps alone, however, can only make the pool safer, not fail proof. There is no substitute for exercising precaution at all times around the swimming pool, following no diving rules in non-diving pools, obtaining CPR and first aid certifications, installing pool alarms and alarms on any door from the house leading directly to the pool, having self closing and self latching gates, not running around the pool deck and having adult supervision present at all times when children are in the pool.
