Pool Drain Regulation Deadline Dec 2008, September 25, 2008
Property owners take note! The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act that was signed into law last December 2007 has a deadline of Dec. 19, 2008 to have your drains in compliance. This law requires each swimming pool or spa drain cover manufactured, distributed, or entered into commerce in the United States to conform to specified entrapment protection standards accredited by the American National Standards Institute http://publicaa.ansi.org/sites/apdl/default.aspx and published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers http://www.asme.org/ .
For more background on this issue, read the article in the August 2008 Multifamily Executive issue.
You have 8 basic choices for your pools and spas with single drains to bring them into compliance by December 19, 2008:
- safety vacuum release system
- suction-limiting vent system
- gravity drainage system
- automatic pump shut-off system
- drain disablement
- other systems- any other system determined by the commission to be equally effective as, or better
- put in dual drains (tear up floor of pool)
- install an unblockable stainless steel main drain anti-vortex plate
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