If I get a robot, what about my suction sweep?

[MouseMan54]

So I'm telling my Green Monster recovery story here, if interested:
Where do I start...

One of the areas I'm working on is cleaning/sweep/robot. I'm considering a robot since my Hayward cleaner doesn't do a good job of getting up the walls. It also doesn't make it to the shallow end often, I think because of the circulation and hose attachment point. i.e. the circulation pattern pushes the floating hose to the deep end as it comes off the wall. Add to that the cleaner slows way down or stops if pressure rises much from startup. I'm already running my valve as much toward cleaner (~85%) as I can without restricting flow.

My question: If I get a robot do I still need the Hayward? If not, what do I do about the cleaner intake? If I run 100% skimmer it restricts flow. Could I just leave one section of hose attached and the leaf basket?

I would probably need to run the robot several times a week, if not every day, due to the amount of dirt, debris and leaves I get from SoCal afternoon winds.

 

[JVTrain]

The only way it would restrict flow at 100% skimmer is if you started drawing so fast at the skimmer you were pulling air, unless I'm mistaken. You could also cap the cleaner intake with a PVC cap with a fitting designed as a screen or simply a cap with a whole lot of holes drilled in the top.

 

[MouseMan54]

Honestly, my assessment is based on sound. It starts making noise once I get past about 85%. I'm thinking of the noise that happens when you kink a hose and restrict flow, but maybe that's not the correct way to think about it.

If I understand your reply, I'm OK to abandon the Hayward cleaner and use solely robot?

 

[JVTrain]

You can abandon the cleaner entirely unless you want to use both for some reason...

If you do abandon it, you could convert it into a return port and add a fountain feature or just another return. Would involve some minor replumbing.