Polaris 65 going in circles

[bryanp56]

I have a pretty new Polaris 65 that we bought last year. We had an old one we used for over 10 years, so it was a no brainer to get another one.. The new one goes in circles. I cleaned out the filter in the disconnect, and took the cover off. The little ball goes back and forth between the back two ports, but not to the front ports. Also the white tube does spin freely and plunge in and out, but it doesn`t spin constantly, just when Polaris moves forward. I`m wondering if the little ball is suppose to be going to the front ports as well. Thanks for any help.

 

[fireman00]

We got a 65 with our new pool last year. It worked great for the first 6 weeks then also started going in circles. I brought it to the pool stor and they said the plunger seems to be working fine.

They said the pressure might be too high. I'm going to mess around with the pressure relief valve this weekend and see if that makes a difference.

 

[fireman00]

The two issues I found that would cause the Polaris 65 to circle were 1.) the hose being looped while stored and 2.) issue with the piston.

I had stored the hose in the basement – laying straight out so that shouldn't have been the problem.

The Polaris 65 came apart quite easy:
Remove two screws, take off the top.
Remove the two screws from either side of the piston casing.
Twist the piston casing ~ 1/4” to remove.
The two halves of the piston pulled apart easily.

Found no scratches, everything seemed to move freely – no binding so I reassembled the vacuum and tested it with the cover off. The end with the blades spun slightly but not enough to run the piston up/ back.

Off to the pool store. Hopefully under the 1 year limited warranty it will be repaired for free and back in the pool by Wednesday

 

[Jim Ward]

still waiting for some input

 

[tmax123]

still waiting for some input

If your Polaris 65 is turning in a circle continuously rather than being random left or right, the randomizer ball is not coming free from the steering port. Being stuck means there is too much leakage into the steering section when the flow should be minimum. Even a new polaris can have too much leakage through it's steering section rear gasket as the gasket isn't very tight around the control rod. The gasket wears quickly and can leak excessively on new units. I think I fixed mine with the following: brush a coat of nail polish around the first 2 inches of the control rod at the toothed end. Allow that to dry then use teflon thread tape to create a thin cover over the polish. Insure the teflon tape lies flat and doesn't bunch up. Then put on another coat of nail polish on that to hold the tape in place. This area of the control rod will be slightly bigger in diameter and provide a better seal as it passes thru the gasket. With less flow into the steerage chamber, the buoyancy of the randomizer ball can over come the slight flow pressure out the port in which it is stuck and float free. As the piston reverses and pushes the control rod and flow ports back into the steering chamber, the randomizer action begins-selecting left or right ports at random.