What are the symptoms of a worn out Kreepy Krauly seal?

[lalittle]

Does anyone know what the symptoms are when the flat seal on a Kreepy Krauly classic (i.e. the large rubber "starfish" disc) is worn out? My Kreepy seems to work okay, but I started out with a used one (it came with the house), so I don't have a point of reference to how a "new" unit behaves/performs, and I'm wondering if replacing the seal (the flat one for concrete) would improve performance at all. I replaced the foot pad recently (is was fairly worn from rubbing on the concrete), so I'm thinking that the seal may be worn as well, but I'm not sure what the symptoms are when the seal needs replacement. Are there any telltale signs I should look for -- i.e. performance characteristics that may point to needing a new seal?

Thanks,

Larry

 

[gtemkin]

If it's worn through enough that the "pleats" (radial grooves molded into it) are starting to split or tear then you need to replace it. Examine it closely out of the water. Make sure that part's inner hole is sitting in the grooved section of the housing. Somehow mine had worked its way out of the groove and sat higher up on the housing. It was hard to see from the deck but it definitely performed poorly. Once I pulled it out of the water I realized it wasn't positioned in the groove.

 

[gtemkin]

A few more things that will make a Kreepy Krauly perform poorly.

My unit came with an inline bypass valve that sat in a plate that itself sat in the skimmer. Theoretically it would bypass a small portion of the suction to the skimmer so the skimmer would still function while the KK was operating. In reality it doesn't seem to work all that well. In addition, its very prone to having leaves and pine needles stick it fully open which means limited suction to the KK. Keep that valve clean and sliding or get rid of it entirely.

Definitely must have a clean main filter. If you've got a sand filter, backwash. Other filter types, clean them out.

KK hoses get stiffer with age and eventually you have to replace the hose. When they're old, they won't seem to get to all area's of the pool although that could be influenced by other factors.

Make sure your hose is balanced properly using hose weights; this is a must. It takes some experimentation but the KK manual tells you how to start and you can experiment from there. Definitely read the manual for this.

Make sure all the dive wings and bumpers are there and not partially broken off. Best performance is with all the parts as shipped new.

 

[lalittle]

Thanks for the responses.

If it's worn through enough that the "pleats" (radial grooves molded into it) are starting to split or tear then you need to replace it. Examine it closely out of the water.

I'm not using the pleated version -- I'm using the "concrete-only" version that looks like a 6 pointed saw blade or "starfish." I therefore don't have the pleats as a point of reference. My gut feeling is that mine is overly worn since it no longer has a flat "edge" on it -- the edge has worn down so that it's "sharp" like a knife blade. That said, I'm not sure if this makes an actual difference, which is why I'm curious what the actual symptoms are when it needs replacing. In other words, how does it behave differently?

Thanks,

Larry