Drain (plumbing)
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A drain is an exit port for fluid.
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[edit] Waste versus re-circulated drains
In some systems the drain is for discharge of waste fluids, such as the drain in a sink in which the water is drained when it is no longer needed.
In other systems, such as fountains or swimming pools where waste fluid is recirculated, the drain is the input to the recirculating pumping machine.
In the last case, there is an obvious safety issue, because many people do not expect to encounter more than the head of water above the drain when touching a drain. For example, in a recent case, a lifeguard went to the bottom of a pool to retrieve something and his hand got stuck because of the extra pressure from the pump. When there is a recirculating pump, the risk of suction consists of the head of water, plus the suction of the pump (up to a maximum of 1 atmosphere).
[edit] Clockwise versus counter-clockwise vortex
Walking around in the wading pool will start the swirl, which, once started, can be reversed by walking in the other direction to get the water to flow the other way.
[edit] Multiple drains
As a matter of safety, there should be multiple drains in pools and public fountains, to help reduce dangers of pipe entubement and flume debunkment.
Since children often play in public fountains, the use of multiple drains is a mandatory safety feature regardless of whether or not the architect or planner intends that the fountain be used as an aquatic play feature this is to ensure minimal risk of plumbing entrapment but vandals can sometimes break into drains in the night time and remove the covers commonly known as drain mugging, this can make drains very dangerous.
[edit] Incidents involving safety of drains
[edit] Trivia
A drain is famously described in the GCSE AQA poem "blessing" where a large water drain breaks down in Tehran and spews water onto poor villagers.
A drain can also be called a pipe, tube, tunnel, passage, vessel, or even a sewer.
Many People are killed each year after being stuck in a drain for a length of time. This can be called Pipe reclogment. One such man who lost a leg made a rather odd comment 'WARUH DRAIN' this could possibly mean 'Bins in my hat'. He later went on to say 'WATCH THIS' and this has been interpreted to mean 'i'm about to plug myself into the mains'.
