Best Cleaner for This Pool - Pics

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Triumph65

Triumph65

0
Gold Supporter
May 10, 2018
123
Wimberley Texas
Pool Size
48000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
I posted a couple weeks ago asking about replacing the broken Polaris 280 at this new house I purchased. A couple of the members suggested I get a robot instead, considering the size of this pool. I don’t know how big this pool is but it’s considerably bigger than my old 14,500 gallon at the old house, maybe 2x larger at least.

I have included pics. There are several steps. There is a seat underneath the waterfall and what looks to be a built in with jets with seating, not sure what you’d call this as it’s not a hot tub. The floor to that is quite a bit higher than the deep end floor, possibly 2-3 feet. I’m not sure any cleaner could climb that and get into that area.
There are 3 plugs nearby, none are GFCI. One on the control box and 2 on nearby trees connected to tree lighting. Not sure if any of those could be changed to GFCI’s for a potential robot as I’m not an electrician;).

So the question is:
1. A new Polaris & if so what model. aAnother 280 or better?
2. A robot, if so what make & model?
3. Just get a Hammerhead or similar and sweep it manually?

The other consideration is that I am now rural and an hour away from the nearest pool store, so reliability is key.
Appreciate any suggestions.
6C971FE3-1EA3-4F23-AFF7-CB1C649D99B5.jpeg31163958-9ADD-4D77-A7FF-7D54ACA7CAB9.jpeg82A4F437-6B9F-4620-A0EC-515CB368900F.jpegBC1ECDD2-4839-487A-A224-72A8782C839C.jpeg0D4FE04C-C244-4837-97FE-8CBBC8B99C82.jpeg2B00DE63-272B-4CEA-AC5C-A5A34A4E6C6E.jpeg256D5694-0F57-4059-8C2C-8EDC64A40DE1.jpeg392C4DE1-CEDD-4991-B496-37143C5DBA08.jpegF8617D27-BC58-4A1A-9D8B-DB546E9A19C9.jpeg992400B0-5949-48A0-8002-7C3FBC2E9F32.jpeg
 
You definitely have a lot of debris so you must have many trees nearby. I think a robot will be very beneficial but you may need to run it a lot initially. Call Marina Pool & Spa Supply (see attachments) and ask them for recommendations based on your size of pool and how far away is your electrical plug from your pool. You need to have your overall dimensions of your pool - Width, Length and max depth.
If you could have a pool service come out for a 1 time cleaning with a Hammerhead that would be great to do the initial cleanup.
 

Attachments

  • Premium-Class-Robotic-Cleaner-Comparisons-2020.pdf
    330.4 KB · Views: 25
  • Robotic-Cleaner-Comparisons-2020.pdf
    271.9 KB · Views: 18
65,

Neither the Polaris nor a robot is going to clean the whole pool.. They are not going to climb steps or get up on a shallow areas.

The shape of the pool does not lend itself to cleaning and the fact that the pool is in the middle of a forest will not make it any easier.. :mrgreen:

I personally like robots, but no matter what, it will be somewhat of a challenge.

In theory all outside outlets have to be GFCI... I would "assume" that all of the outlets in your pics are being fed from a GFCI breaker, so I doubt you would need to do any electrical work.. You'd want to double check, just to make sure.

No matter what cleaner you get, you will still have to sweep the debris off the ledges and steps and out into deep water.

I normally do not recommend any robots that have remote controls, but your requirements might make that the best option.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
@Jimrahbe - The pool hasn’t been swept in awhile, since this 280 is broken. I doubt that 280 could keep up anyway. We are in the middle of winter. I can’t imagine how much debris there will be in the fall. There is also a bunch of sand in the pool, a whole bunch. Not sure where all the sand came from.
Would a Hammerhead with a silt bag get the sand too?
I am a little tempted to get a hammerhead instead of a Polaris or robot and just do it manually. I could keep the Hammerhead and battery in the pool filter enclosure. The enclosure is on the backside, behind the fountain.
It would be just as much work to get a robot out of there as it would be a Hammerhead. Let me know if that is a crazy idea:)
Thanks!!
 
65,

My suggestion would be to buy the Hammerhead and then use it one time.. This in turn will immediately cause you to buy a robot.. :mrgreen:

Basically a robot and the hammer head will do the same thing except with the hammerhead you will have to do all the work, and with the robot, you just drop it in and walk away for two hours.

Have you ever manually vacuumed a pool? They don't call it a labor of love for nothing.. I did it about twice before getting my first robot.

A robot should be able to keep the pool clean, but it will not take your current pool and clean it in once pass.. to clean the pool you have now will take two or three cycles and that is with you sweeping the stairs and ledges into the deeper water.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mdragger88
65,

I have the S200 which does not have any of the bells and whistles.. and no caddie.. What it does have is a large basket..

You do not want the Nautilus style as they have tiny filters, which work fine for most people, but not if you have a lot of leaves...

If you want one with a remote, so you can drive it around, you will have to move up in price.. In my opinion the remote is not normally worth the price, but with the shape of your pool, it might be worth a shot.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Triumph65 said:
Would a Hammerhead with a silt bag get the sand too?
I am a little tempted to get a hammerhead instead of a Polaris or robot and just do it manually. I could keep the Hammerhead and battery in the pool filter enclosure. The enclosure is on the backside, behind the fountain.
It would be just as much work to get a robot out of there as it would be a Hammerhead. Let me know if that is a crazy idea
Click to expand...
If you search on the forum for Hammerhead, another member did some research to convert a hammerhead to a electrical outlet through a converter so did not need the battery. I think it was somewhat cheaper as did not need to buy the battery or the caddy unit. I know a Hammerhead has a least 2 different nets where one is a very fine mesh for sand type debris. Still suggest you try to find a pool service for a 1 time cleaning then put in your robot. You still have to do some manual work to brush the steps and that spa inlet. You could also consider a temporary cover in the fall if the tree leaves are just too much.
 
I think a robot will get into those deeper "seating" areas as I've seen several pics here of robots that make it up onto ledges. Mine will climb my stairs but cannot get onto the top step or onto my sunshelf because the water depth isn't quite sufficient and the top of the bot breaks the surface and loses downforce to successfully get over the hump. As Jim mentioned, I sweep those areas a couple times a week to push any dust/dirt into the deeper water for the robot to collect. No way I would even entertain the idea of cleaning that pool manually except as a very rare last resort.

As an aside, I do have the s300i which has the remote drive capability and I hate it (the remote drive capability I mean - love the robot). Of course I'm a 25+ year RC airplane nerd, so my idea of control might be a little different. I'd say the dolphin more or less accepts suggestions rather than exact directions.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: HermanTX

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
I have an Active 30i. My pool has a ledge on one end which is about 2 feet under water. I can confirm that the Active 30i will climb the wall to that ledge and move across it. I also have wedding cake steps at the other end of the pool. The cleaner does go over these however does not do a great job of cleaning them. I also tested a Polaris 9550 cleaner. This unit would not make it over onto the ledge. It would start to climb the wall to ledge, but when the front wheels left the surface of the wall, it could clime no further. The caterpillar tracks on the A30i were able to maintain traction all the way.

If you do go with a robotic cleaner, I would recommend getting one were you can select doing just the walls for the whole cleaning cycle. This would allow the cleaner more time to get on all of your ledges.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply