I have a 6 year old Dolphin Discovery that is most likely dead. I'm looking for recommendations for a new cleaner.
Here's the situation:
- I'm not set up for a pressure-side cleaner and don't want to go that route.
- The pool is vinyl-lined and I use a SWG. It's a 20x40 rectangle with clipped corners, and the walls in the deep end go down about 3' vertically and then angle towards the center. 28K gallons. One set of steps.
- I was happy with the cleaning performance of the Dolphin, but the cord was always a tangled mess and it would mess up the flow at the top of the water and catch debris/bugs. So, every time I pulled it out to clean it or swim, it would leave an area of stuff in the pool that I'd have to skim with the net.
- Besides when being cleaned or when swimming, the Dolphin was in the pool 24/7 (for better or worse), and I'd like something that will require similarly little effort.
- Our backyard is WIDE open, with the exception of one decorative tree near the pool. So, most of the stuff that ends up in the pool during the season is small, light stuff that blows in or flies in on its own and floats until the skimmer gets it or it gets waterlogged, sinks, and the Dolphin gets it.
- The skimmer in our pool has never worked that well, so floating stuff is the root issue during the season. If the skimmer worked well, I doubt much would get to the bottom.
- HOWEVER, our WIDE open backyard and windy falls mean that a lot of leaves get under the cover during the off-season. When we open the pool, there's a decent amount or large debris on the bottom, plus algae. The algae gets taken care of quickly with some manual scrubbing, the SWG and the filter, but the debris is a PITA.
- I have one sidewall suction fitting, plus the skimmer. I have a VS pump that can pull 60 GPM or so when turned on high.
So, considering all of the above, part of me thinks a solar skimmer plus a suction-side vacuum could be a good solution because:
- With better skimming, the vac probably wouldn't be as important.
- A suction-side vac, although seemingly not liked by this forum (and with which I have no experience), is less expensive and simpler than a robot (so it should last longer), and since it shouldn't be doing as much work because of the solar skimmer, might be more than adequate.
- The suction-side skimmer's hose would be neutrally buoyant under the water (I think....), so it wouldn't conflict with the solar skimmer and wouldn't result in that debris issue described above.
- The only downside I can think of, pending answers to the questions below, is that control becomes much harder. I run my pump 22/7 at low speed, with 2 hours each day of high speed to increase the efficacy of the skimmer. In order to leave a suction-side vac in the pool 24/7, as I did with the Dolphin, I'd have to actuate the sidewall suction valve each time I want to run it.
Here are my questions:
- Do suction-side skimmers catch large debris before sending the water to the pump and filter?
- How would a suction-side skimmer do with leaves in the spring?
- What kind of GPM is necessary for them to operate correctly?
- What do folks think of solar skimmers?
- What do you think of this approach overall?
Thanks in advance for your help and feedback!
Here's the situation:
- I'm not set up for a pressure-side cleaner and don't want to go that route.
- The pool is vinyl-lined and I use a SWG. It's a 20x40 rectangle with clipped corners, and the walls in the deep end go down about 3' vertically and then angle towards the center. 28K gallons. One set of steps.
- I was happy with the cleaning performance of the Dolphin, but the cord was always a tangled mess and it would mess up the flow at the top of the water and catch debris/bugs. So, every time I pulled it out to clean it or swim, it would leave an area of stuff in the pool that I'd have to skim with the net.
- Besides when being cleaned or when swimming, the Dolphin was in the pool 24/7 (for better or worse), and I'd like something that will require similarly little effort.
- Our backyard is WIDE open, with the exception of one decorative tree near the pool. So, most of the stuff that ends up in the pool during the season is small, light stuff that blows in or flies in on its own and floats until the skimmer gets it or it gets waterlogged, sinks, and the Dolphin gets it.
- The skimmer in our pool has never worked that well, so floating stuff is the root issue during the season. If the skimmer worked well, I doubt much would get to the bottom.
- HOWEVER, our WIDE open backyard and windy falls mean that a lot of leaves get under the cover during the off-season. When we open the pool, there's a decent amount or large debris on the bottom, plus algae. The algae gets taken care of quickly with some manual scrubbing, the SWG and the filter, but the debris is a PITA.
- I have one sidewall suction fitting, plus the skimmer. I have a VS pump that can pull 60 GPM or so when turned on high.
So, considering all of the above, part of me thinks a solar skimmer plus a suction-side vacuum could be a good solution because:
- With better skimming, the vac probably wouldn't be as important.
- A suction-side vac, although seemingly not liked by this forum (and with which I have no experience), is less expensive and simpler than a robot (so it should last longer), and since it shouldn't be doing as much work because of the solar skimmer, might be more than adequate.
- The suction-side skimmer's hose would be neutrally buoyant under the water (I think....), so it wouldn't conflict with the solar skimmer and wouldn't result in that debris issue described above.
- The only downside I can think of, pending answers to the questions below, is that control becomes much harder. I run my pump 22/7 at low speed, with 2 hours each day of high speed to increase the efficacy of the skimmer. In order to leave a suction-side vac in the pool 24/7, as I did with the Dolphin, I'd have to actuate the sidewall suction valve each time I want to run it.
Here are my questions:
- Do suction-side skimmers catch large debris before sending the water to the pump and filter?
- How would a suction-side skimmer do with leaves in the spring?
- What kind of GPM is necessary for them to operate correctly?
- What do folks think of solar skimmers?
- What do you think of this approach overall?
Thanks in advance for your help and feedback!
