Bestest cheapest longest lasting simplest sturdiest pressure floor cleaner (vacuum?) ideas

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Gary Davis

Gary Davis

Well-known member
Aug 29, 2022
100
Modesto, California
Pool Size
25000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
I'm looking for the bestest cheapest longest lasting simplest sturdiest pressure floor cleaner (vacuum?) ideas because I'm sick of the "self cleaning" pool design.

As a result of the self cleaning design, I don't have a handy source of strong suction even as there is a way to get strong suction out of the on-deck main-drain leaf-catcher box (but not the skimmers, which is strange to most people but it is what it is).

Luckily, I have a stainless steel portable sump pump designed to drain pools which connects to any typical 30 foot long blue vacuum hose and, by doing so, it pushes water at a rate that seems like it might be enough (see photo below).

This is the spec on the portable pump which gets its suction from a base plate which is about ten or so inches wide (i.e., no hose on the inlet side).
  • Pacific Hydrostar Submersible Dirty Water Pump with float switch
  • 1 horsepower, 120VAC, 5.5Amps,
  • Suction handles 5/8 inch solids
  • 2,910 gallons/hour
  • 1-1/2 inch NPT discharge port
  • 26 feet maximum head lift
  • Minimum water height 3 inches
  • 10 foot power cord
  • HF item 69300 (UPC 7 92363 69300 4)
If I throw that submersible gray water pump anywhere in the pool for the suction, can you provide ideas for a cheap and simple and yet sturdy vacuum idea that can run off of the typical 30-foot vacuum hose on the output pressure side?
 

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duraleigh said:
Of course, "best" and "cheapest" are almost never compatible.
Click to expand...
Understood. Currently I'm using a garden hose pressure type vacuum attachment with a filter sock on the end of a 16 foot pole to manually clean the leaves that sink to the pool floor. Nothing likely will be cheaper but perhaps I can find something better?
duraleigh said:
Do you have a robot?
Click to expand...
The pool has no mechanism for suction or pressure built into the pool for that purpose.
duraleigh said:
It's unclear to me what you are asking for. A new cleaner?
Click to expand...
It shouldn't be hard to find a better solution, but perhaps cheaper isn't ever going to happen.
Maybe just better than manual and not too inexpensive is a better way to ask for advice on what my options are.

The pool plumbing can temporarily be made to create suction, but it's difficult and not worth the trouble for all the connections & priming steps that are required (plus the risk of the main pump going dry just isn't worth it).

Luckily I have this pressure from the gray water pump which is really easy and not at all dangerous to the equipment so that's what I'm hoping to use.

At worst, I can adapt the large vacuum hose output to a garden hose and use it as I've been using the garden hose for years to clean leaves off the floor.
But I was hoping for something better than that as a suggestion from people who've been there, done that before.
dschlic1 said:
26 ft is about 11 psi. Probably too low for a pressure side cleaner.
Click to expand...
That's not good. I was hoping that the gray water pump pressure output would work for an inexpensive pressure side cleaner of some kind.
Does anyone have a picture of how far the water should shoot out of the hose for a typical pressure side cleaner?
Mine goes about a foot (or so) when held horizontally (I don't know how to measure how much pressure that is).

If a "robotic" pressure side cleaner won't have enough pressure, would a garden hose pressure side cleaner have too much?
 
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I think duraleigh is referring to a standalone pool robot. They do not connect in to the pool plumbing at all; just plug its electrical cord into a nearby outlet, and drop the robot into the pool. They clean extremely well and are very cheap to run, although not so cheap to buy. For example:
global.maytronics.com

Dolphin M 200: Excellent Robotic Pool Floor Cleaning

Dolphin M 200 automatic pool cleaner is a minimum investment for total pool floor cleaning, including the difficult-to-reach angle where the floor meets the walls
global.maytronics.com global.maytronics.com
 
PCR is correct.

Robots are completely independent of your plumbing and electrical. Dirt cheap to operate and very effective, they dominate the pool cleaner market. They are PRICEY. Somewhere around 500 is entry level.....$1000 for a nice one.
 
Maytronics, Aiper and Aquabot are the main robot cleaner manufacturers. A lot of people here use Maytronics (under various branded models) but the Aquabot also has a good review.

Aquabot SP200

This is a follow up after 3 months of use. I thought I started a thread on this, but I can only find a few postings I mentioned this bot. They sell this through Target, and 3 months ago it was under $500, quite a bargain. I throw this in the pool when I see debris on the bottom (once or twice...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
My bad for not understanding what a pool robot was.
My confusion should underscore how little I know about pool floor cleaning even after years of owning a pool (because I've never had a "cleaner" object).

I see now that a robot is a standalone automated version of the "filter sock" method I'm doing manually using a garden hose attachment on a 16-foot pole.
Apologies for the confusion on my part.

Fundamentally that means there are perhaps five potential floor cleaning options, I think, is that correct?
  • Manual pressure vacuum with filter sock on a pole (what I'm using today with the garden hose attachment on a pole)
  • Automatic pressure vacuum with filter sock on a hose attached to the sump pump (that was the original question)
  • Robot (Dolphin M200 or Aquabot SP200) filter cartridge on 120VAC (this is one of the potential inexpensive solutions)
  • Deckside 120VAC portable filter pump attached to a moving vacuum on the pool floor (essentially replicating a vacuum port)
  • Repair the leaking spaceship which controls the "self cleaning" popups (this is what I had been using for years)
Back to the suggested robots, they do seem like one of the viable options for sure.
My goal at the moment is to explore all five options above (only the first and last of which I have experience with).

Any advice on the least expensive of the remaining three options to flesh out would be appreciated (the middle one of which has been explained).
 
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