Dolphin S300i Didn't Even Last a Year - Non Robot Alternatives?

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M

mstgkillr

0
May 18, 2015
47
Cape Coral, Florida
After a ton of research on this forum and against my buddy's recommendation who is in the pool maintenance business, I purchased a Dolphin S300i robot. Less that a year later, I'm already sending it in for repair. I only used it 11 times! It got to the point where it would only run for a few seconds and then fault. And I took extremely great care of this robot, never left it in the pool overnight, good pool chemistry, etc... However, I have a chlorine generator which requires a low level of salanity to function properly. I also live in SW Florida it that makes a difference. My local pool store very rarely sells robots and didn't recommend them either.

My buddy said that robots don't last and now I'm tending to agree with him. Any chance I just got a lemon? I'm thinking of selling it and just going with one of those automated vacuums that you just plug into the suction side of your pool.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
I absolutely think you just have one where an issue occurred. Once instance of a problem does not a lemon make. Nor does one instance make the product a poor choice. With so many people having bought them and used them hundreds of times, (either current versions or many hundreds of times for previous generations). You many even have two or three issues. That might make you unhappy, but it also may still be better than any alternative, even if you were/are unlucky and had to get a few things fixed.
 
Wasn't the repair covered under warranty?

I agree it's a bummer that it needed a major fix so early in its life, but that does happen sometimes. If the unit is repeatedly failing the way you say then I would discuss this with the shop you purchased it from and Dolphin themselves and demand a total replacement.
 
A lemon is generally an item that is in repeatedly for the same problems or spends an excessive % of it's lifetime (or first year) in for repair. Having one repair needed, however early in it's lifetime is not a lemon. Unlucky & unfortunate? Yes.

If I bought a Camry and after one month, the check engine light came on and it caused it to go into "limp" mode. I would not be calling it a lemon, nor would that create an expectation that my Camry would only last a short while. I truly don't get the 'quick to judgement' logic.

Please do follow-up here with the required repairs and your experience with the warranty support. That will be good information for folks. Issues come up, it's how companies deal with them that separate them.
 
I have a salt pool, I'm near the ocean and my S300i has worked like a charm for over a year.

I have no idea what went wrong with yours, but if there was an issue with yours that was common we would have seen plenty of threads on it by now. Let us know how the warranty process goes and what needed to be repaired.
 
bmoreswim said:
A lemon is generally an item that is in repeatedly for the same problems or spends an excessive % of it's lifetime (or first year) in for repair. Having one repair needed, however early in it's lifetime is not a lemon. Unlucky & unfortunate? Yes.

If I bought a Camry and after one month, the check engine light came on and it caused it to go into "limp" mode. I would not be calling it a lemon, nor would that create an expectation that my Camry would only last a short while. I truly don't get the 'quick to judgement' logic.

Please do follow-up here with the required repairs and your experience with the warranty support. That will be good information for folks. Issues come up, it's how companies deal with them that separate them.
Click to expand...

"Lemon" generally refers to a manufacturing defect. Something that was flawed from the start and incapable of being effectively repaired.
 
I've said it numerous times, its luck of the draw with these things. That being said, it should be covered under warranty. When you take it out of the pool, where are you putting it? I"m a strong believer of leaving it in the pool as the seals don't get a chance to dry out.


mstgkillr said:
After a ton of research on this forum and against my buddy's recommendation who is in the pool maintenance business, I purchased a Dolphin S300i robot. Less that a year later, I'm already sending it in for repair. I only used it 11 times! It got to the point where it would only run for a few seconds and then fault. And I took extremely great care of this robot, never left it in the pool overnight, good pool chemistry, etc... However, I have a chlorine generator which requires a low level of salanity to function properly. I also live in SW Florida it that makes a difference. My local pool store very rarely sells robots and didn't recommend them either.

My buddy said that robots don't last and now I'm tending to agree with him. Any chance I just got a lemon? I'm thinking of selling it and just going with one of those automated vacuums that you just plug into the suction side of your pool.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
 

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Ok, so lemon was probably a poor choice of words. I guess dud would have been a better description.

As far as the warranty experience, it's been good so far. Thankfully, I live in Florida and Maytronics is located in Georgia so the shipping was only $50 out of my pocket. Maytronics pays for the the return shipping. The repair turnaround is supposed to be 48 hours or less and mine only took 24 hours. Total downtime, including shipping, should only be 9 days.

Maytronics replaced motor, everything else tested good. Hopefully, that was the only issue.

If I were to purchase a robot again, I'd go with the M500 for the extended warranty. Also, the M500 is less prone to get stuck on the main drains which my S300i does frequently. Anyone replace any wear items on the S300i yet. The drive tracks on mine are already faded and starting to crack.

Oh, and I keep my robot in a deck box, in a cool and shaded area of the lanai, under truss.
 
Do you not have a repair shop locally?? That's one reason why I ought my S300i locally, I did not want to deal with shipping delays and the shop I bought it at does repairs and has demo cleaners they loan out to customers who are waiting for repairs.

A bad motor is a pretty severe issue and probably has caused some other issues you see. My S300i will get hung up on my main drain covers if it hits them dead-on. BUT, after 15-20secs it realizes it's stuck, executes a power wheelie turn and frees itself. If your motor was bad, then I'd bet it probably had a hard time getting unstuck.

Why is it in a deck box?? Are you placing it upside down or on its side in the box? Didn't you get a caddy with it? Mine is stored on its caddy out on my backyard porch, no sun on it at all. Granted it's only 2-1/2 months old, but everything looks fine and I see no wear on the treads.
 
JoyfulNoise said:
Do you not have a repair shop locally?? That's one reason why I ought my S300i locally, I did not want to deal with shipping delays and the shop I bought it at does repairs and has demo cleaners they loan out to customers who are waiting for repairs.

A bad motor is a pretty severe issue and probably has caused some other issues you see. My S300i will get hung up on my main drain covers if it hits them dead-on. BUT, after 15-20secs it realizes it's stuck, executes a power wheelie turn and frees itself. If your motor was bad, then I'd bet it probably had a hard time getting unstuck.

Why is it in a deck box?? Are you placing it upside down or on its side in the box? Didn't you get a caddy with it? Mine is stored on its caddy out on my backyard porch, no sun on it at all. Granted it's only 2-1/2 months old, but everything looks fine and I see no wear on the treads.
Click to expand...

I bought it locally from a dealer thinking if I ever had an issue, they would repair it. I have several dealers in the area but not one of them will work on a robot.

I keep it in the deck box for protection and aesthetics. And it's stored on the bottom part of the caddy inside the deck box so that it doesn't damage the brushes.
 
mstgkillr said:
Ok, so lemon was probably a poor choice of words. I guess dud would have been a better description.

As far as the warranty experience, it's been good so far. Thankfully, I live in Florida and Maytronics is located in Georgia so the shipping was only $50 out of my pocket. Maytronics pays for the the return shipping. The repair turnaround is supposed to be 48 hours or less and mine only took 24 hours. Total downtime, including shipping, should only be 9 days.

Maytronics replaced motor, everything else tested good. Hopefully, that was the only issue.

If I were to purchase a robot again, I'd go with the M500 for the extended warranty. Also, the M500 is less prone to get stuck on the main drains which my S300i does frequently. Anyone replace any wear items on the S300i yet. The drive tracks on mine are already faded and starting to crack.

Oh, and I keep my robot in a deck box, in a cool and shaded area of the lanai, under truss.
Click to expand...

Thats likely why the motor went The seals likely expanded and contracted.
 
robl45 said:
Thats likely why the motor went The seals likely expanded and contracted.
Click to expand...

I don't get it. Why would keeping the robot in a deck box cause the seals to expand and contract?

The deck box isn't sealed which allows any water to evaporate and it's located in area of my lanai that is always shaded (under truss). I think it would be better conditions than being in my garage or left out in in the sun. Oh, and before I put it in the deck box, I hose it off with fresh water and allow it to dry for several hours in the lanai.

Any better storage suggestions?
 
mstgkillr said:
I don't get it. Why would keeping the robot in a deck box cause the seals to expand and contract?

The deck box isn't sealed which allows any water to evaporate and it's located in area of my lanai that is always shaded (under truss). I think it would be better conditions than being in my garage or left out in in the sun. Oh, and before I put it in the deck box, I hose it off with fresh water and allow it to dry for several hours in the lanai.

Any better storage suggestions?
Click to expand...

My guess would be the lanai is pretty warm and it probably gets warmer inside the box drying out the seals. I could be completely wrong, thats just my guess from having cleaners blow the motors frequently and no one could figure out why including the engineers that make the things. Finally I just left the thing in the pool and no more issues.
 
robl45 said:
My guess would be the lanai is pretty warm and it probably gets warmer inside the box drying out the seals. I could be completely wrong, thats just my guess from having cleaners blow the motors frequently and no one could figure out why including the engineers that make the things. Finally I just left the thing in the pool and no more issues.
Click to expand...

It would be interesting to get a definitive answer on this point since the manufacturer clearly cautions against leaving it in all the time. I could set mine up to be in the pool all the time but then that defeats one of reasons for getting a robot - I really like the unobstructed view of my pool with no cleaner in it. I used to leave my old suction side cleaner in all the time because it was just a nuisance to take in & out. The robot is a lot easier in the regard.
 
mstgkillr said:
After a ton of research on this forum and against my buddy's recommendation who is in the pool maintenance business, I purchased a Dolphin S300i robot. Less that a year later, I'm already sending it in for repair. I only used it 11 times! It got to the point where it would only run for a few seconds and then fault. And I took extremely great care of this robot, never left it in the pool overnight, good pool chemistry, etc... However, I have a chlorine generator which requires a low level of salanity to function properly. I also live in SW Florida it that makes a difference. My local pool store very rarely sells robots and didn't recommend them either.

My buddy said that robots don't last and now I'm tending to agree with him. Any chance I just got a lemon? I'm thinking of selling it and just going with one of those automated vacuums that you just plug into the suction side of your pool.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...


You could look at a suction side cleaner.

They require tuning and flow to work best, but once set up can be quite effective and affordable to run.

If you can get a mat/ disk type cleaner to work for you they usually go 7 years with a diaphragm change and hose or two.
A G3 is benign and works well if you brush the shallow end - a T5 is quite aggressive and heads to the shallow end with frequency.

Anything with wheels, gears, tracks, and or complex parts will require one or more rebuilds in 4-7 years.

UD
 
JoyfulNoise said:
It would be interesting to get a definitive answer on this point since the manufacturer clearly cautions against leaving it in all the time. I could set mine up to be in the pool all the time but then that defeats one of reasons for getting a robot - I really like the unobstructed view of my pool with no cleaner in it. I used to leave my old suction side cleaner in all the time because it was just a nuisance to take in & out. The robot is a lot easier in the regard.
Click to expand...

I think taking it out and storing it somewhere that is air conditioned or something definitely out of the sun probably work fine, I just know my problems pretty much dissapeared when I stopped taking the thing out of the water and it was the seals blowing every time with oil from the oil cooled motors leaking into the water.
 
Mstgkillr,

Are you storing any chemicals in or near the deck box? If you are that could be causing your problems.

With only using 11 times, being less than a year old and the tracks are worn and cracked seems to me to be completely related on how and where it is being stored and lack of use. You need to find a new place to store it and I suggest using it at least once a week even though the pool might not need it.
 

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