Kreepy Krauly vs?

[boon4376]

When I was growing up we had the Kreepy Krauly pool cleaner. It worked great for several years, though it seemed to get stuck in one particular corner every once and a while.

http://www.amazon.com/Pentair-Kreepy-K7 ... 795&sr=8-1

I am wondering if the cost is worth it? I see a lot of other automatic pool cleaners for around $150. And they all seem pretty similar except with varying levels of plastic "flair" on the outside.

Should I go with what I know or do people here know of a really good alternative that is cheaper and will perform just as well.

Thanks,

 

[PSW]

Kreepy Krauly is a good brand, and would likely suit your needs. This might seems like a silly question, but are you certain you have a suction side cleaner? What type of cleaner (if any) do you currently use. I would just hate to see you buy a suction side cleaner if it will not work in your pool.

Another suction side cleaner option is the Baracuda G3 (a little bit cheaper than the Kreepy Krauly). Just a thought :-D

 

[boon4376]

What kind of pool wouldnt work with a side suction cleaner? :?

I manually vacuumed by pool all last year, there's a disc that the hose connects to that gets sucked on top of the skimmer bucket, the vacuum line becoming the only source of intake for the pump.

I've thought about robots, but after reading countless reviews and advice, it looks like none really last more than 2-3 years of use (if lucky), and our kreepy krauly worked really well when i was a kid for about 6 years (before we moved). My current pool is slightly smaller so I figure it will have no problem covering most of the surface.

 

[hoosierrun]

Just so you know.... they cheapened up on the Kreepy Krauly cleaners over the years, so the unit your parents had was substantially more durable than today's units. If think they had to do that to remain competitive. The original units had stainless steel wing hinges and a ball bearing hose swivel. Now it is all flexible plastic. That is still not all that bad, but expect to get 4-5 years of life instead of 8-10 years like we did with the original $500 units. After about 4 years, the cost of repair parts pretty much makes it more practical to just buy a new one rather than repair one part after another. I buy my units online and search for the best deals. There is almost always a rebate available. The last one I bought ended up about $230 after the rebate. In 4-5 years I'll be buying another one. Yes... they do get stuck periodically and often need a few adjustments to get the hose weights in the right spot. They work fine for small leaves but will not pick up larger leaves. Supposedly the newer Kreepy Kruiser does better on bigger leaves, but I have not seen any comprehensive reviews on the Kruiser. I have one of those to install later this year.

 

[susa]

>> know of a really good alternative that is cheaper and will perform just as well.

Not sure of the cheap part but performance-wise the Poolvergnuegen 2x and 4x work very well.

 

[PSW]

What kind of pool wouldnt work with a side suction cleaner? :?
I manually vacuumed by pool all last year, there's a disc that the hose connects to that gets sucked on top of the skimmer bucket, the vacuum line becoming the only source of intake for the pump.

I suppose I should have said 'wouldn't be ideal' instead of 'wouldn't work.' If a pool is set up for a pressure-side cleaner, then running a suction-side cleaner through the skimmer would not be my first choice.