Layers of Protection: Drain Covers, Safety Vacuum Release and Supervision

Ask a pool pro what keeps a main drain safe and you will hear a list rather than a single answer. That is on purpose. Vacless states the position directly: a safety vacuum release system provides a crucial layer of certified protection against body and limb entrapment and should always be used with an approved anti-entrapment drain cover. Nothing replaces parental supervision, it adds, but multiple layers of protection are the best way to prevent main drain entrapments.

The four types of suction entrapment

The awareness material on the Vacless site describes the ways a suction outlet can hold a bather. It lists four.

• Body entrapment. A section of the torso becomes entrapped.
• Limb entrapment. An arm or leg is pulled into an open drain pipe.
• Hair entrapment or entanglement. Hair is pulled in and wrapped around the grate of the drain cover.
• Mechanical entrapment. Jewelry or part of the bather's clothing gets caught in the drain or the grate.

These do not all respond to the same fix. A vacuum release system addresses the pull: when the line seals, it lets air into the pump and ends the suction. Vacless names body and limb entrapment as the ones its valves protect against. Hair and jewelry catches depend more on how a cover is designed and what the bather is wearing. That is part of why the layers exist.

Layer one: the drain cover

The cover is the first thing between a swimmer and the drain. Federal drain cover performance requirements apply to covers sold in the United States on or after December 19, 2008, as the Vacless page on the Act explains. A cover should be the approved anti-entrapment type, undamaged and fastened. Replace a cracked or missing one before the pool opens, whatever else is installed.

Layer two: the vacuum release system

If a cover is blocked anyway, the vacuum release system is what ends the suction. In a Breather the valve opens a path for air into the pump pot, the pump loses prime and the pull stops. The three lines handle the aftermath differently: automatic reset on the Breather I, manual reset on the Breather II, and pump shut-off with a delayed restart and audible alert on the Breather III.

One customer who installed a Breather I at home described what that layer means to a family. Michael Scarpellini wrote in a Google review: “A true invention! Great company and great people! We have installed the Breather I in our home and we feel safe when our kids are playing around the drain.” Another reviewer, Eiman, wrote: “#1 safety vacuum release system on the market.” Those are customer opinions, not test results.

Layer three: people

Supervision is the layer no device substitutes for. Vacless quotes a Consumer Product Safety Commission study of drowning and submersion incidents in Arizona, Florida and California in which toddlers between the ages of one and three account for 75 percent of submersion victims, and in which most of the victims were thought to have been supervised. Supervised does not mean a parent in the building. It means a person watching the water.

Founder Hassan Hamza, a Professional Engineer, put the responsibility for residential pools plainly in a 2020 interview: “Ultimately, pool safety is the property owners responsibility; we just need to do our part to educate them.” For technicians, that means the conversation at the end of a service call matters as much as the part you fitted.

What each role can do

• Pool service techs: check drain covers on every visit, and tell the owner when one is cracked, loose or missing.
• Pool builders: specify the cover and the release system together at design time, not as an afterthought.
• Facility managers: keep commissioning records, register warranties and confirm requirements with the local authority having jurisdiction.
• Counter staff: ask what pump and what pool, and sell the matching Breather rather than the one in front of you.
• Homeowners: ask your pool pro which layers are in place, and make sure everyone in the house knows where the pump switch is.

Vacless sells wholesale to distributors and dealers only, so homeowners and service providers should use the dealer locator on this site to find a distributor. Tech support is at (818) 701-6204.