Polaris 280 tangles up daily

[EAnton]

My Polaris 280 is getting tangled up daily. I've owned the home for only 3 months so i do not know the age of the equipment of how long it's been occurring. This is my first pool and I'm using the TFP chemistry method.

Some things I've noticed. The hose appears to have some permanent bends to it. The hose might be too short because, while the polaris can reach the far corners of the pool, they always have debris left in them. The swivels will turn by hand but I'm not sure what a good one vs bad one would feel like.

Two things seem to happen.

1. The hose twists itself up until the polaris is just dangling, suspended above the pool floor.

2. The hose or first float just above the polaris snags on itself right at the quick release on the wall.

I'm a DIYer but without any pool experience, I'd be blindly throwing replacement parts at it so your help is greatly appreciated.

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

The hoses are definitely less flexible and are quite a bit worse in cold water vs warm water. My suction cleaner acts up sometimes as it gets colder. I haven't tried replacing anything yet. But, I do stretch the hose out straight in the sun and I work the swivel joints to loosen them up. Usually gets it working better for a while.

 

[gwegan]

Do the suggested stretch in the sun and move the whole hose and swivels while warm. Also closely inspect the unit itself for jammed wheels or gears. Does it move freely when you move it by hand?

 

[malcolmb5325]

also check the length of the hose. the total length of the hose should be + or - 6" from wall socket to furthest point in the pool. The first hose connected to the cleaner should be cut to the deepest part of you pool, if for example you have done this and you recheck the length and you are still 12" too long then you need to cut 6" of each of the other 2 pieces. Check you have the correct pressure at the cleaner by doing a rev check, hold the cleaner under the water and count the wheel revs, you should have between 28 - 32 rpm, you can adjust this by increasing or decreasing the flow bypass valve at the wall fitting. The float at the backup valve can be moved, if it is located next to the back up valve will mean it will "lift" the cleaner to the surface of the pool when backing up, move it away will mean it will "drag" the cleaner along the floor when backing up (you can play with this to suit your situation). The floats be 1 @ the first hose from the wall, 2 floats on the next hose, 3 on the next hose with 1 on the hose behind the back up valve and they should be evenly spaced approx 3' apart along the hose

 

[EAnton]

The float at the backup valve can be moved

Just to clarify, I adjust the float on the cleaner-side of the backup valve? Not the nearest float on the wall-fitting-side of the backup valve, that one should be evenly spaced between the valve and the rest of the floats?

Thanks.

 

[EAnton]

So i moved the single float between the cleaner and the backup valve down as close to the cleaner as possible. I also verified the rpm and made some minor adjustments to the sweeper tail and back jet per the troubleshooting manual and have not had a tangle since. Thanks again for all the advice.

 

[pooldv]

Nice work! Thanks for the follow up.