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In 1968, in a small garage, Ludwig Praher started molding plastic parts in his spare time. It was a side job, the kind of thing a practical man does in the evenings. Three years later it was his whole career, and before long the company carrying his name would make one of the most familiar objects in any pool equipment pad: the valve with the big handle that tells a filter whether to filter, backwash or rinse.
Ludwig Praher went full time in 1971. In 1973 the business moved into its own building of about 300 square meters and introduced its first self-developed ball valve. In 1979 came the product that would define Praher in the pool world, an automatic backwash valve, and in 1981 the company began exporting.
From the start Praher kept the whole process under its own roof: design, development, mold making and production. That habit of making its own molds, rather than buying them, is still how the company works.
In 2001 Praher separated sales from production, and since 2005 a dedicated sales company called Peraqua has handled all of its swimming pool products, which by the company's 40th anniversary accounted for about 40 percent of turnover. The group remains family-owned and is led in its second generation by Winfried Praher and his brother. Around that anniversary the Praher Group counted eight subsidiaries, 315 employees, trade relations in 123 countries and roughly 19,000 products.
Praher Plastics Austria is based in Schwertberg, where fully automated injection molding machines produce valves and fittings in PVC-U, PVC-C, PP-H and PVDF, from manual and pneumatic to electrically actuated designs, for industrial water treatment as well as pools. The company has also had an office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, since 2009. In North American pool supply, its multiport valves appear in pool supply catalogs under the Praher Canada name.
A sand or DE filter needs to be cleaned by running water through it backward. A multiport valve makes that a one-handle job. Turning the handle routes the water through a different path: filter for normal operation, backwash to flush trapped dirt out to waste, rinse to resettle the media before going back online, waste to drain water while bypassing the filter, recirculate to move water without filtering, and closed to stop flow. Because the valve sees every gallon the pump moves, its internal seal and spider gasket wear over time, and a leaking valve can quietly waste water through the backwash line.
Praher makes industrial ball, butterfly and check valves, fittings and piping systems, and a large range of pool valves and accessories. HVAC365 carries Praher multiport and filter valves:
Filters and related parts are under filters and sanitizers.
Praher valves are made by Praher Plastics Austria, a family-owned company founded by Ludwig Praher in 1971 and now led by the second generation of the family.
Praher is headquartered in Schwertberg, Austria, where it designs its products, builds its own molds and produces valves on automated injection molding machines.
Peraqua is the Praher Group sales company that has handled the group's swimming pool products since 2005.
Praher introduced its automatic backwash valve in 1979, six years after its first self-developed ball valve, and pool products have since grown to a large share of the business.
A multiport valve lets one handle switch a filter between filter, backwash, rinse, waste, recirculate and closed positions, so the filter can be cleaned without changing any plumbing.
![Praher Sand Multiport Valve Kit, 2" Threaded](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-axminftodn/images/stencil/500x659/products/30263/118401/PRASM2PP3_0__06805.1792642740.jpg?c=1 "Praher Sand Multiport Valve Kit, 2" Threaded")