So we just moved to Central Texas and bought a home with a pool. The home is from the '70s, but the pool guy thinks the pool is from the '80s (if that matters) and chlorinated. He estimated it's around 15k gallons, it has an 8 ft deep deep-end, as well as a shallow end with some steps. It's gunite, has a skimmer, and two returns (if that's the right word?) that can't be adjusted to give more power to one or the other. For now, I have hired a local pool company to take care of the chemical side of things while I get life organized and then I plan on taking that over as well sometime next Spring/Summer. There was some algae when we moved in, so I decided I'd let them handle that for me...
Anyway, it came with a Hayward Pool Vac Ultra XL that looks like it was made sometime in the bronze age.
Think of that, plus years of faded gray so it's pretty much all white. It still functioned when we bought the pool, but would stop every 15 minutes or so. I decided to check the hose as it seemed air was getting in somehow and yep, the hose is too old and was letting air through the joints. One joint even snapped when I BARELY pulled on it to look at the joint. Anyway, I can approach this two ways from what I can tell: Buy a hose (approximately $150 from the pool store, or less online I'm sure) and hope the cleaner works well and continues to for awhile, or I can replace it entirely for less than $600 and get something that could work MUCH better, at least in theory. That said, cheaper is better if the results will be similar.
On the purchase new side, we do not have a booster pump and I don't really want to buy one, so those are out. The pool guy also advised not getting a cleaner that's powered by the returns since I can't direct more power to one of them in order to better operate the cleaner. So I'm thinking that probably leaves me with robotic, of which I've found some Dolphin and Aquabot models that look interesting and that don't cost $1,000. That said, I may as well be talking about purchasing material for the next Mars rover as I don't really know what to look for when it comes to these things. Also, if those Haywards work well and it's likely to clean well for a few years, I could just replace the hose and be done with it (and hand vacuum the walls I guess? I have an attachment and hose for that but I haven't tried it yet).
One random note, in case this matters, is that the 30 year old tile is starting to fall off in places. The reason I bring it up is that the cleaner will likely run over tile on the bottom sometimes and will be scrubbing some loose tile and I'd rather not destroy the cleaner on day 1 due to that issue. If it were July I'd just get in the pool and rip off the loose stuff and get the few pieces on the bottom out, but since it's November... I can figure out removing the tile if that's necessary, but it might be and important detail?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated!
Tl;Dr version: Need an automatic pool cleaner, likely robotic, or I could just get a hose for the old one that came with the house/pool.
32 ft by 15 ft pool, with an 8ft deep end
Chlorine
Diving Board!
No operable automatic cleaner atm
Anyway, it came with a Hayward Pool Vac Ultra XL that looks like it was made sometime in the bronze age.
Think of that, plus years of faded gray so it's pretty much all white. It still functioned when we bought the pool, but would stop every 15 minutes or so. I decided to check the hose as it seemed air was getting in somehow and yep, the hose is too old and was letting air through the joints. One joint even snapped when I BARELY pulled on it to look at the joint. Anyway, I can approach this two ways from what I can tell: Buy a hose (approximately $150 from the pool store, or less online I'm sure) and hope the cleaner works well and continues to for awhile, or I can replace it entirely for less than $600 and get something that could work MUCH better, at least in theory. That said, cheaper is better if the results will be similar.
On the purchase new side, we do not have a booster pump and I don't really want to buy one, so those are out. The pool guy also advised not getting a cleaner that's powered by the returns since I can't direct more power to one of them in order to better operate the cleaner. So I'm thinking that probably leaves me with robotic, of which I've found some Dolphin and Aquabot models that look interesting and that don't cost $1,000. That said, I may as well be talking about purchasing material for the next Mars rover as I don't really know what to look for when it comes to these things. Also, if those Haywards work well and it's likely to clean well for a few years, I could just replace the hose and be done with it (and hand vacuum the walls I guess? I have an attachment and hose for that but I haven't tried it yet).
One random note, in case this matters, is that the 30 year old tile is starting to fall off in places. The reason I bring it up is that the cleaner will likely run over tile on the bottom sometimes and will be scrubbing some loose tile and I'd rather not destroy the cleaner on day 1 due to that issue. If it were July I'd just get in the pool and rip off the loose stuff and get the few pieces on the bottom out, but since it's November... I can figure out removing the tile if that's necessary, but it might be and important detail?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated!
Tl;Dr version: Need an automatic pool cleaner, likely robotic, or I could just get a hose for the old one that came with the house/pool.
32 ft by 15 ft pool, with an 8ft deep end
Chlorine
Diving Board!
No operable automatic cleaner atm
