New Pool Cleaner Recommendations

[BGolden]

We are starting our extensive pool renovation in the next week or two. We have been using a Polaris 280
which is old and needs repairs. Contractor is recommending we switch to a suction side cleaner because we are
adding a screen enclosure and the Polaris would be overkill and would we would not need the booster motor.
I have researched online and now more confused which way to go and what cleaner to purchase. We will be
Finishinging the pool with a pebble product and I read that many cleaners don’t work that well on pebble. Any
Recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

We are starting our extensive pool renovation in the next week or two. We have been using a Polaris 280
which is old and needs repairs. Contractor is recommending we switch to a suction side cleaner because we are
adding a screen enclosure and the Polaris would be overkill and would we would not need the booster motor.
I have researched online and now more confused which way to go and what cleaner to purchase. We will be
Finishinging the pool with a pebble product and I read that many cleaners don’t work that well on pebble. Any
Recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I have the Polaris 380 with booster so I can't speak to these other types except for what I have read here. It appears to me that you would need to setup a dedicated suction line and valves to control this to make it easy to use a suction side cleaner. The same type of approach would apply to a pressure side cleaner like the Polaris 360 which can run without any booster pump essentially you need a way to control the amount of flow so you would likely setup a dedicated return for it and control the amount of flow with a valve or multiple valves.

If you want ease of use is a Robot out of the question? They have low energy use, but can be cumbersome to put in and out from what I hear. Emptying the bags is also supposedly not fun. If price wasn't an object and I didn't have Vinyl (which some robots may cause wear on) I would probably experiment with a bot next year myself.

 

[BGolden]

We currently have a dedicated pressure line which can easily be replaced with a suction line. We will be replumbing from a two pump (spa pump) system to a one pump Pentair Intelliflow VS and easy touch 4 w/ wireless remote, a Pentair Mastertemp 400 btu heater and keeping our existing DE filter. As you can probably tell I dont know to much about pools and equipment so Im not sure why I would need to add another valve. We have an odd shaped pool about 20 X 30 and I estimate about 16,000 gallons with an attached spa. I looked into the robots and they dont fit into my already over budge renovation. Thanks for your input.

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

We currently have a dedicated pressure line which can easily be replaced with a suction line. We will be replumbing from a two pump (spa pump) system to a one pump Pentair Intelliflow VS and easy touch 4 w/ wireless remote, a Pentair Mastertemp 400 btu heater and keeping our existing DE filter. As you can probably tell I dont know to much about pools and equipment so Im not sure why I would need to add another valve. We have an odd shaped pool about 20 X 30 and I estimate about 16,000 gallons with an attached spa. I looked into the robots and they dont fit into my already over budge renovation. Thanks for your input.

Booster pressure lines are typically small diameter since they work on high pressure low flow - was this previously a booster pressure line or a normal high volume flow pressure line? Or are you saying the line will be dug up and changed out entirely? Since you have automation then perhaps you already have the isolation you need to make this work.

 

[bobodaclown]

I've got a smart kleen robotic that I'm happy with. Put it in a couple times a week, good to go. If it's gonna be covered you're cleaning will be much easier. I paid $400 but they can be found for $300 on sale.