Hi everyone, I just joined TFP!
I've been following this forum for a few years but never posted anything
It has been my go to reference for pretty much anything that comes to pool stuff.
I'm a pool noob and have been learning about it all on my own. I'm here to seek some advice! Sorry in advance for the long post, I'd like to be as thorough as possible
I bought my house a few years ago, and the previous owner left me a Dolphin Triton PS robot vacuum. It had been working fine ever since. I pretty much left it in the pool 24/7 and ran it at least 5 times a week.
In hindsight, maybe I ran it a bit too much it died a couple of days ago (starts, moves forward a bit, moves backward a bit and stops).
Long story short, the impeller motor has gone bad. I disassembled it and was greeted with the good ol' carbon dust build up all over the inside of the Dolphin's black box. Also, there was evidence of minor water leakage in that box too (the desiccant bag was a bit moist).
I looked online to buy a replacement motor, and couldn't find an exact match (mine is 52ZY24-50). That aside, I didn't quite like the Dolphin due to the following issues that really annoyed me over the course of the past couple of years:
Thank you everyone in advance!
I've been following this forum for a few years but never posted anything
It has been my go to reference for pretty much anything that comes to pool stuff.I'm a pool noob and have been learning about it all on my own. I'm here to seek some advice! Sorry in advance for the long post, I'd like to be as thorough as possible
I bought my house a few years ago, and the previous owner left me a Dolphin Triton PS robot vacuum. It had been working fine ever since. I pretty much left it in the pool 24/7 and ran it at least 5 times a week.
In hindsight, maybe I ran it a bit too much
it died a couple of days ago (starts, moves forward a bit, moves backward a bit and stops).Long story short, the impeller motor has gone bad. I disassembled it and was greeted with the good ol' carbon dust build up all over the inside of the Dolphin's black box. Also, there was evidence of minor water leakage in that box too (the desiccant bag was a bit moist).
I looked online to buy a replacement motor, and couldn't find an exact match (mine is 52ZY24-50). That aside, I didn't quite like the Dolphin due to the following issues that really annoyed me over the course of the past couple of years:
- The cord kept getting tangled and I had to untangle once every few days.
- It kept getting stuck on the pump inlets at the deep end of the pool. Sometimes it couldn't finish the job because it was stuck.
- I sometimes have to go out of town for weeks at a time and the following issues came up for me frequently:
- When the robot gets stuck somewhere, I can't do anything about it when I'm away.
- The robot needs to be reset once a week. If I'm not there to reset it, it shuts off and my pool is dirty when I'm back.
- There's no remote control functionality or app whatsoever (see below).
- Speaking of apps... Dolphin doesn't have an app (well, it does, but I was never able to get it to work). I don't get any indication of whether the waste basket is full, or if the robot is running, etc, and there's no remote control.
- The build quality was poor. The robot was about 3 years old when it died. Also, the cord had become really soft and was peeling. The waste basket had cracked in multiple places. The robot itself had lost its color. Maybe I overused it. But if I'm spending $900 for something, I would expect it to be a bit better than this.
- Get a replacement Dolphin motor box on Amazon (about $500), but that wouldn't solve many of the annoyances above and this would be a band aid fix.
- I don't like this option, but it's still an option nonetheless.
- Get another robot cleaner. My main criteria are longevity, app or some remote control, and (if possible) no cords.
- Any recommendations here? I don't mind spending large sums of money, as long as I get my money's worth and I can use it for at least 5 years (is that even possible these days considering planned obsolescence?
- Get a pressure side / suction side cleaner. Note:I already have a booster pump in my pool. Also, electricity costs is not a concern, the electricity is very cheap in my town and I have solar power too.
- Do these cleaners actually work well? I read online that one could leave them in the pool 24/7 without much issues.
- Which is better? Suction side or pressure side? Any significant point to keep in mind?
Thank you everyone in advance!
