Roll call: What cleaner do you use? Are you happy with it?

[ivyleager]

My pool set up does not have a booster pump or main drain where I can adjust pressure. My pressure is what it is. And to this point, I've preferred pressure side cleaners.

I started with the Polaris 165, which worked well for 6 months, it ended up being used as target practice after spending big bucks replacing about everything.

Next I purchased the Pool Buster, which got sent back to New Jersey twice. Now realize I had a bad adapter, loose connection. It worked great, but now can't charge because of bad adapter. I need to call them for replacement.

I bought a Polaris 360 last year after seeing the 380 in action in my relatives pool. Mine worked great for about 8 months. Again, too many variables with loose connector fittings, and believe it or not, water temperature. I currently doesn't back up, or more exactly, backs up s-l-o-w-l-y and only about 5 feet, then continues in the same direction. It got stuck in a corner and burned a mark into my vinyl liner. I now have to babysit it.

So, I'm done with Polaris cleaners, and pressure side cleaners in general. I'm looking into automated cleaners as I type. Aquabot Bravo looks good. I've heard Dophins had trouble years back. Not sure about now.

That's my nightmare.

Update: been playing around with my Polaris 360 and it is now working great. This model does not have a booster/nor dedicated line. I am using the return in the shallow end to plug the unit in AND at the highest pressure, and it no longer gets stuck in the corners.

 

[chc4au]

1) What pool cleaner do you own?
2) Do you recommend it to others?
3) What does it do really well? (e.g. picks up dust, acorns, climbs walls, steps, etc.)
4) What does it do NOT so well? (ditto)

1. Polaris 280
2. Yes would recommend
3. Picks up most debris easily, climbs walls well
4. Our steps are recessed and it does not clean them.

General comment:
I do not close pool and ran polaris about 10 mos out of year.
Some things (bags, wear rings) seem to wear out very quickly but have found e bay a great source for parts. Like mine soo much just bought another on ebay ($315) to replace this one when it wears out. (Gunite pool surface wears out certain parts easily).

 

[Chasville]

Aquabot Turbo T2.
Replaced an Aquabot Turbo that broke for the last time.

I am very happy with it.
It cleans much better than the old one.
It spends more time on the floor and walls and less time on the rim than the old one.
It gets itself unstuck from the stairs
I think its underside "turbo jets" helps it to clean better.
It picks up leaves, sand, dirt, algae (dead and alive), pollen (pine pollen), frogs, seed pods.
Yes it has captured a frog.

What you need to know about pollen. We here in Eastern North Carolina have a few days every Spring known as "Yellow Haze" when the yellow pine pollen from all the pine trees is so thick in the air visibility is terrible, and cars turn yellow, and your outdoor furniture turns yellow and green. Even though I have a pool cover, it washes in through the vents and sides. It is so small that a normal sand filter can't clear it. We have to vacuum to waste on pool opening to get the majority of it out of the pool. Then there is a few weeks of daily 'botting because the bag gets clogged, and daily backwashes because the DE in the sand filter gets clogged.
But, did you notice? the 'bot does pull the stuff up and out of the water.

My pool has a short ledge at about 3' down on the sides. It does not scrub the ledge, but I have had to brush the ledge less this year than last year with the old bot.
It doesn't sweep/scrub the steps, but when I brush the steps, they are not as dirty as they were last year, and I do it less often.

I definitely would recommend the Aquabot Turbo T2 if you can afford it.
For me, it'w worth every dollar I paid for it.
I'm thinking about buying one for a Christmas present for a neighbor who still manually vacuums her pool.

 

[kmille1398]

I was a previous owner of Polaris 360 I bought through a local pool store that I like to support. What a mistake that was.

Quote:
1) What pool cleaner do you own?

Polaris 360

Quote:

2) Do you recommend it to others? Absolutely Not.


Quote:
3) What does it do really well? (e.g. picks up dust, acorns, climbs walls, steps, etc.) Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Cleaned absolutely nothing in my pool. Was supposed to get 28-32 rpms per minute on the Polaris wheel, and I barely got 12-14 rpms. I was told there was nothing wrong with my pool pump pressure. Even had the filter/pump looked at by a local store. Also was told that the store would not take it back, as that was the policy of the store, but that Polaris stood behind their product 100%. I found this was not the case. I had a session with a tech over the phone, and he could not solve my problem. Was told at that point a Polaris rep would come out to the house. Called and left a message for that Polaris rep after being given a number by a pool store that was a Polaris service center, and never got a return call. This is standing behind your product 100%? Anyway, from what I gather from reading on this site, the Polaris products require "fine tuning" to work optimally, and that is fine. But, I feel that for near $600, the product should work minimally out of the box, and if it doesn't and I cannot return it, then I should get get the courtesy of a return phone call to help me with my product. Needless to say, I would never recommend a Polaris cleaner to anyone.

Quote:
4) What does it do NOT so well? (ditto)

See explanation above.

Anyway, the ending to this story is that the retailer I bought it from came out to the house regarding another unrelated issue, and saw the Polaris 360 serving as a glorified paperweight in my shed. He felt bad and ultimately, decided to take it back and give me credit toward a Blue Diamond automatic Pool cleaner (of course, my not stepping foot in his store for 3 months since this debacle began might have had something to do with it too... ). To sum it up, I love the Blue Diamond! Just plug it in to its dedicated power supply, and off it goes. It picks up large and small debris, and scrubs the liner, as well as easily climb the walls of my pool vertically. After it is done, it automatically shuts itself off.

A pool cleaner that actually cleans my pool, while letting me do other things...wasn't that the point all along?

 

[minus200]

I have a Polaris 280 with an assist pump and it sucks. I have been unhappy since day 1 and spending $30-$40 every 4 months or so does not improve my feelings for this product

 

[HarryH3]

Have had hoses come apart / disconnect several times. I have found that using a nylon zip-tie around the hose barb, below the shoulder, works better than the factory nut setup.

Gooserider

Take a look at how you're installing the nuts. Sounds like you have the nuts installed wrong. The nut goes on the fitting before the hose, with the threads facing out. Then you slip the hose in place and screw the nut up onto the end of the hose. Installed properly, it's nearly impossible for the hose to come apart, as the narrow part of the nut is on the side of the barb where it just can't fit past it once the hose is captured. I've seen people slide the hose onto the fitting first and then slide the nut down the hose and screw the nut down from that side. That won't hold the pressure as the narrow part is on the wrong side of the barb. My hose hasn't come apart one time in 3 years.

 

[Gooserider]

Have had hoses come apart / disconnect several times. I have found that using a nylon zip-tie around the hose barb, below the shoulder, works better than the factory nut setup.

Gooserider

Take a look at how you're installing the nuts. Sounds like you have the nuts installed wrong. The nut goes on the fitting before the hose, with the threads facing out. Then you slip the hose in place and screw the nut up onto the end of the hose. Installed properly, it's nearly impossible for the hose to come apart, as the narrow part of the nut is on the side of the barb where it just can't fit past it once the hose is captured. I've seen people slide the hose onto the fitting first and then slide the nut down the hose and screw the nut down from that side. That won't hold the pressure as the narrow part is on the wrong side of the barb. My hose hasn't come apart one time in 3 years.

Will double check next time I'm out at the pool, but I'm about 95% certain that I have them right - and some of the hoses are staying together properly. What I suspect is that the cleaner lives in our pool from opening until closing, and that the hoses soften up. Most of the failures have been on the clear hose sections, as opposed to the white hose sections. What I've observed is that the clear hose seems to absorb chlorine or something and turn white over the course of the season (it turns back to clear when I have the unit out of the pool in the winter) I suspect that this also causes the hose to become softer so that it pulls out of the threads.

It isn't a huge deal - some ways I think the zip-tie solution is cleaner and neater, mostly I'm annoyed by the nuts coming apart...

Gooserider

 

[crabboy]

I had the same problem with the hose coming off the Polaris a couple times the first year. I clamped it down really well and it never came off again. My Polaris is in the pool 24/7/365 (except when swimming) and it does not seem to be a problem with the hose.

 

[dmj4]

I have a new 18 X 37 Inground Vinyl Liner Grecian. I have read all of the posts in this. Most people don't say what dind of pool they have. I will need a booster pump and I have a dedicated line. Anyone have pretty much the same set-up and love their cleaner. I am totally ignorant about pools and I'm just now filling it with water. I need to buy one soon. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fofa]

I ran a Hayward ultra for about 6 years until the lower half totally wore out. I had to replace the wings once a year (about $15) and the shoes about every other year ($8). It did a great job cleaning the pool, until fall/winter then it took more manual intervention to remove leaves, stick, acorns which would stop it up. I found a Jacuzzi 4 tracker (now "Thepoolcleaner" 4 wheel) and have been using it for 2 1/2 years now. It does not clean the pool as fast as the Ultra did, but does seem to do it in a full 8 hour running. It does a lot better on leaves, sticks and acorns than the Ultra did. However I have to replace the tires each year, and those run about $60 a set. Just found this week the turbine is worn out (keeps throwing it's vanes) but that is not so expensive, about $20 and does not look so hard to replace (I Emailed the company and they told me what to do, and Emailed me instructions). The company has pretty good customer service.

Both my cleaners were/are suction side on a dedicated suction port.
Both stayed in the pool 24 x 7 all year (We don't close here in Texas).
I use a leaf canister (Hayward) which I consider a must on these with debris in your pool.

 

[gkruske]

1) What pool cleaner do you own?
2) Do you recommend it to others?
3) What does it do really well? (e.g. picks up dust, acorns, climbs walls, steps, etc.)
4) What does it do NOT so well? (ditto)

1) Kreepy Krauly. Came with the house/pool when we bought it. They left it outside for 1.5 years, so it endured snow, rain, heat, etc. I had to replace a few parts, which were expensive, but would have rather done that than buy a new automatic cleaner. Figured I was fortunate that they had left it.
2) I would recommend it to someone who was looking for a budget priced cleaner.
3) I'm surprised how well it moves around. It navigates itself around the ladder, goes up the wall, and in the creases/corners of the sport pool. Picks up just about everything, except the worms that find themselves swimming.
4) As with other replies, tends to be a bit noisy. The only moving part inside is what propels it, and clicks pretty audibly. But I run it about 2 hours a week, so I can bear it. The hoses are a bit flimsy, and Kreepy has strict recommendations on how to store them. I don't like that part, but oh well.

Greg

 

[marathon]

The Pool Cleaner- 2 wheels. Climbs the walls real good (until filter needs cleaning), doesn't do well in real shallow water (18"), and cleans well from deep to 4' shallow. Have had to disassemble and clean the gears out so the wheels would turn. Over all, I’m very satisfied.

 

[Riffbear]

Hayward ultra vac came with the pool.
Recommend. NO WAY Rubbish. requires too much suction dedication and does not work well under a pool cover.
Looking for a better cleaner. Maybe the Baracuda quattro?

 

[tedricci]

After reading all of this thread, I thought I'd post my 2 cents on the issue. This summer, I had a 15x38 (20k gal.) Leisure fiberglass installed. The builder supplied us with a Polaris 360 as part of the package, telling us it was a good unit.

Fast forward: the pool's up and running and the Polaris is being a PITA, it rides wheelies, it gets stuck in the corners, it gets stuck on the stairs and it doesn't reverse. I called Polaris on several occasions, and to their credit, each time I called, they sent out free parts to help resolve the issues. I have tried to fine tune this beast (Pentair SVRS intelleflo pump running at 1850 rpm for 30 rpm at the wheels, float adjusted, jet adjusted, etc.) from day one and still, it refuses to work properly in my pool. Lest one should think the unit is a real POS, it's not, when it's not misbehaving, it does clean the pool. I just have to babysit it and I don't want to do that. It's obvious to me that my unit was either made on Monday morning at 8:30 AM or Friday afternoon at 4:25 PM, based on how it acts.

Would I recommend this unit? No. Am I happy with this unit? No.

In frustration, I went out and bought a Blue Diamond from Watertech. When I got home, I tossed the ugly ******* into the pool, plugged it in to it's power supply and let it rip. I came back later, and the pool was completely clean except for a small spot in the corner where the rear and side meet in the deep end. I broom those now before I toss in the vac and the pool is now nearly perfect.

Would I recommend this unit? Absolutely. Am I happy with this unit? Yes. Only con is that it's expensive (over 1k, but with 4 year warranty), so I guess you get what you pay for.

BTW, I'm putting my 360 on craigslist next week.

 

[Guest]

One more quick vote for the Poolvergnugen (The Pool Cleaner). Best cleaner I've ever own, and only one I currently recommend. Web page, for those who care, is www.thepoolcleaner.com.

Bruce

 

[duraleigh]

Throughout most of this thread, little, if any mention has been made about the size (and shape) of your pool. It has a huge effect on the proficiency of your cleaner.

The little Aquabug cleaners will do a very nice job on a small, round pool but will be simply overwhelmed in a larger pool.

Generally, you pay for cleaning power. The larger the pool, the more money you need to spend for a cleaner that will be effective. That's why you see the $4-8,000 robots cleaning large commercial pools......if it would do the job, they would have a $250 suction side cleaner instead.

There is no such thing as one best pool cleaner.....it depends on the job you want it to do.

 

[geekgranny]

Note signature for type of pool. I have used the Polaris 280 since it came out. I couldn't use the earlier version because the opening was not large enough for some of the debris from trees in my pool. Before that I used the Jandy Ray Vac. When we moved in there was and octopus thing that floated on top with long sweepers that moved the debris to the main drain. The main drain had a wonderful large cover over it that caught large debris so it didn't go into the pump pot. All are/were booster pump assisted.

Most people will never have the amount of silt that gets into my pool daily.

As "duraleigh" has noted, "There is no such thing as one best pool cleaner.....it depends on the job you want it to do."

Having DE filter that catches virtually all of the fine stuff that the Polaris stirs up has been my total solution till now. I have three active large puppies that swim daily running around the silty yard and back in pool, over and over again. They drag into the pool sand, silt, mud, about 1 lb, damp, daily. So far I have not been able to get the finest stuff up using any sand/silt bag that can be purchased for the Polaris. Using a support hosiery liner for the Polaris bag the finest stuff still gets through. So......... I also use the iRobot equivalent of the Aquabot Turbo T-jet, using fine bag to get the really fine stuff. It does the job well, in addition to picking up the larger stuff BUT the fine bag fills up so quickly with the silt that the 'bot becomes unable to climb to shallow end about 1/4 through one 90 minute cycle. Most of the fine silt is in the shallow end. I just purchased some NastyBags tm, throw away bags for robot cleaners that use the type of bag that the standard Aquabot uses. They are $18 for 5 bags. I just started using one yesterday so I don't have any conclusions yet. I wasn't home to watch the behavior of 'bot either.

I, also, use the Pool Blaster (Buster) for quick cleanup of shallow end but that takes about 30 minutes, just for the very small shallow end does not include the very steep slope to deep end. It also requires changing out the filter bag liner (heavy women's tight) several times because the silt quickly closes up the small openings in the liner.

I'm currently looking into vacuum side cleaners that I can throw in at night to get the fine stuff up without any hand work by me, except for backwashing even more often, which isn't that big a deal.

Another option is that I'm going to fashion (sew and glue) a bag, similar in size and shape to the Polaris bag but with better filtering capability for the finest stuff. I'm going to try using the same "fabric" used in the NastyBag for the Aquabot.

So your choice depends on many factors including, but not limited to, what kind and how much debris gets in your pool and your tolerance levels for debris, large and small.

gg=alice

 

[geekgranny]

Polaris 280 with booster pump.

I modified mine so it can run anytime it wants independent of the pool pump. To do this you have to insert a pre-filter before the pump in your plumbing and build a priming pot preferably with a foot valve on the front of the pump. According to the manufacturer the Polaris requires 8 GPM at 40 PSI to work as designed. This can be provided completely with the booster pump (i.e. a true 2 stage pump arrangement is not required). Works great for me.

It climbs walls very well though.

learthur, Could you possibly post a picture of your plumbing redo for separate use of 280 without using main pump? I've thought about doing just what you did. In next few months I'm redoing some of the plumbing at station. That would be a great time to do your modification. I have a main pump 1.5 hp, SF 1.5. It surely would be nice to save on some electric cost. My Polaris booster is 3/4 hp, SF 1. I won't need the priming pot, though, as my pumping station is below pool.

BTW all. I have three different cleaners and the three different Polaris bags. I need to go fix some fences now and then Cowboys game (delayed so please don't tell me any stats) so I'll post comments on cleaners later. Each one does a different job. I have loads of trees (in the woods) AND daily boo-coos of extremely fine silt that only the Tracker 4x (vacuum) can get up. It passes right through the silt/sand Polaris bag and the regular Verro/Aquabot bag, and clogs the Verro/Aquabot silt bag too fast so that it no longer can make it up the incline from deep end to small shallow end. I'll write more later about all three. I am very pleased with each one's performances as long as I don't expect them to do what they can't do.

Thanks, gg=alice

 

[laff66]

Had a Hayward Navigator (dedicated suction line) that came with our house, and it was a nightmare. When it was working well, it was a pain to take in and out, but it usually wasn't working well. I had to jack with the skimmer/cleaner valve to get the suction just right. Too much and the pump would start sucking air, too little and it barely picked up anything.

Enter the Nitro Wall Climber. It was only $599, and it picks up EVERYTHING. I knew I was going to buy a robotic, but was worried about the reviews that talked about shipping everytime they needed service. The Nitro is a ridiculously simple machine that is completely serviceable with a phillips screwdriver.

I don't know how valuable my experience is since I started with a barely working cleaner, I would have been thrilled with just about anything else.
This thing is amazing, though. The only issue I have is that in the deep end it will not climb all the way to the tile. In the shallow end it comes all the way out of the water. Not a big deal though. The service dept at Nitro has been very responsive and wanted some videos of the cleaner in action. I've tried several times to send the videos, but they haven't been able to view them. I kind of lost interest in pursuing it, so its pretty much my fault at this point.

Cleaning is simple too. pop out the bag, rinse it with the hose, and you're done.

Highly recommended.

 

[DavidH]

Home came with one of those little dedicated suction Hayward Navigators. Went through the whole 1st summer not knowing the reason it would not climb walls is because the original owner did not install (or replace?) the "wings." It did the job but I had to watch it like a hawk and it just did not seem to clean all that well.

Bought a Zodiac G4 and was a nightmare trying to get it to work correctly. Problem was I *followed* the directions and should not have! It instructed to point all jets down. Ok, but what about the skimming? Exactly! I changed the jets back to what is required to circulate the water to the skimmer and the G4 worked just fine, climbed walls, even stayed at water line all the length of the pool. Sometimes it got stuck at the corner step so I had to buy and install the extra wheel. I have used it over 2 years now and only had to replace the diaphram (you know to replace when it doesn't move even though it vibrates). It is *highly* pressure sensitive and you know if your sand filter needs backwashing because the G4 slows down. If I don't have time to backwash I simply adjust the Jandy valve and off it goes. Rarely, due to it staying on the wall, it will get stuck on the 2nd step. Overall, I am happy with it.

Bought an Aquabot Turbo T last year due to way too many of my neighbor's leaves sank to the bottom of the pool and plugged up my vacuum line (used a hose water diaphram to unclog) and now I use Robbie when it looks like too many leaves. Did not have to use him this year so far but I love him except for the extra hastle of pulling him out, plugging him in, putting him in the water, and then having to empty his bag. Can only use for leaves because his will clean about 1/3 the pool using the ultra fine filter bag and he stops, according to the manual, due to the microscopic particles that you can't see plugging up the bag. Overall, I am happy with Robbie too because he does what I bought him for, my stinking neighbor's leaves!