Above Ground pool Automatic Vacuum questions for Intex Pool

[trhardy]

Hello, I have an Intex above ground pool. I am wanting to get an automatic suction vacuum for it, since manually vacuuming is very tedious. I am having a hard time finding one that would "work" with this system. It would be considered a soft sided pool, I think...

The specs to my pool are:
Krystal Clear Sand Filter Pump and Saltwater System with 2,650 gallon per hour flow rate, I think it is .95 Horse Power.
32 ft x 16 ft x 52 in Ultra Frame Rectangular Pool

I was thinking about Baracuda Zodiac Ranger, but I do not see what the requirements are for running it, or for many of the ones on Ebay...

Thank you for any help.

 

[trhardy]

Re: Above Ground pool Automatic Vacuum questions for Intex P

Well since I didn't get many replies.. I just decided to purchase a Baracuda Zodiac Ranger a few days ago.

The day it came, I put it into the pool. I just took the pool cover off for the first time, so it was pretty dirty. Let's just say the normal blue bottom was just brown/black from the dirt, not really any algae at all. I had to backwash the sand filter about 5 or 6 times over the course of 2 hours. I had to do that because the Ranger would just stop moving, I looked at the pump pressure, and it was high. Once I backwashed it, the Ranger started right up and went on about it's business. The Ranger would go about 1/3 the way up the walls, which in my case was just fine. I thought it would get stuck in some of the corners where the drain vales are, since the valves protrude into the pool about an inch. When the Ranger hit one of them, it would stop the Ranger in it's track, but the vibration of the Ranger would cause the Ranger to move/jump around a little until it would move around the valve. It did stop one time on it and never recovered, but I think that has a lot to do with the pump. For that instance, once I backwashed, it moved right around it and kept going. I would say in about 3 hours it had cleared about 75 of the floor. The only thing is that I am not sure if it will get it all, It should be a random pattern, but it looks like there is definitely a pattern just small variations that make the path wide with multiple passes, but I guess I will see if those variations are enough to get the entire pool. Or since the pool water feels like -50, (probably 45'F) it might just mean that the hoses are not as flexible as they should be, and once they warm up later the pattern might be more random?? Will see later this summer.

As for the suction power, it looks like the Intex 2650gph is just fine for this particular Automatic vacuum.

I hope this help any other Intex Pool owners out there.

 

[TCJ4]

Re: Above Ground pool Automatic Vacuum questions for Intex P

Hi, i was wondering how did you hook it up to the sand filter because i getting a 2650 gph sand filter and i want to get an automatic vacuum too because i'm tired of vacuuming the pool

 

[trhardy]

Re: Above Ground pool Automatic Vacuum questions for Intex P

Hello,
Most automatic vacuums that you can buy come with the hoses. the one that I purchased had ~30feet of hose and also a through wall skimmer attachment (which I did not need, since I have only the intex skimmer) the hose will pretty much fit right into the hole for the intake, the suction from the 2650gph pump is more than enough to keep the hose in place.

Hope that helps.

Tony

 

[TCJ4]

Re: Above Ground pool Automatic Vacuum questions for Intex P

Thx for the quick reply

 

[Techbell10]

Re: Above Ground pool Automatic Vacuum questions for Intex P

I personally have a Hayward Navigator which I got at a yard sale for $5! It needs a new A-frame and turbine kit this year, which is only about 40 bucks on ebay. This very well cleans my 16' intex pool and is attached to my 1HP waterway sand filter. It has a good cleaning pattern but requires minor adjustments and new parts frequently. It may even be time to get a new gearbox. Otherwise it's a great cleaner for intex pools (at least with a good pump). I prefer these cleaners over the type that you have because they tend to work better even with lower than normal suction.