Quiet Suction Cleaner that works at 15-20GPM

[GregB]

I have a 26x46' pool that is 9' deep and very little shallow end. I haven't calculated the capacity but the pool supply stores have told me 50,000 gal. The idiot that designed this system used 1.5" copper pipe and put the skimmer at the very end where the prevailing wind blows FROM. I have a citrus grove behind the pool so get a fair amount of dust, pollen, and bees that fly into the pool on purpose.

The 3 previous pool maintenance guys all had the 2 HP Whisperflow running 10 hours a day. One of them sold me a Hayward Navigator (or similar earlier model) and a later one sold me a Kreepy Krawley. Neither one would work well. The Hayward never ran for more than 2 months without needing parts or repair. The Kreepy Krawley doesn't hit all the spots or climb the walls far enough. After doing the pool maintenance myself now for 2 years I finally realized the big pump was a joke. The two returns restricted flow enough so that the only way it wouldn't cavitate horribly was to also return water to the spa, which then overlowed back into the pool. This blocked floating dirt from ever reaching the skimmer even if you ran it at night when there was no prevailing wind from the West. 1.5" single feed from the pool seems too small for 2HP.

I bought an Intellifow VF-3050. This is great in some ways but has a few issues. I can set a flow rate, which is great. I can set it to 15GPM where it uses 11% the power that it uses at 40GPM!!! (187W vs. 1680W) My solution is now to run the Kreepy full time in the summer unless I'm using the pool, which is alot - 3-8 hours per day most weekdays and all day weekends. The Kreepy is noisy. The clicking transfers throught the ground and is clearly audible in my bedroom. A big plus of running the pump almost all the time at low flow is far lower electric bills and the problem with the deep part of the pool being too-cold and the shallow end being too-hot is gone.

I'm leaning toward the 4x ThePoolCleaner but nobody carries around here and would have to buy mailorder. Nobody I know has tried one. I called them and was directed to poolforum.com to get customer feedback. The very old info on that "almost dead" site doesn't tell me much and that makes me a bit uncomfortable about the manufacturer. They can't tell me if it would work at 15GPM or if it will have problems with the very steep slope from deep end to shallow - almost 75 degrees.

I have a friend that was happy with his Sta-Rite Great White but his pool has now been removed and he doesn't remember the noise being a problem BUT his pool was 100' from his house.

 

[duraleigh]

Hi, Greg,

Welcome to the forum.

It will be difficult if not impossible to find a suction side cleaner that will be adequate for your pool. That is a very large pool and I would only consider a robot........the suction-sides don't have the power you need. There is an article in pool school comparing the various types.

 

[fofa]

I have the 4 wheel "ThePoolCleaner", and had a navigator prior to that.
The navigator covered the pool faster, and little better than the "ThePoolCleaner" does.
"ThePoolCleaner" takes less vacuum to run efficiently, but don't know what that actually is.

My Navigator I used to have to replace the wings every year, and the feet every other year. I run my cleaners pretty much 24X7X365 (we don't close them for the winter here). After 6 years it gave up the ghost and cost more to fix than a new one.

My "ThePoolCleaner" I have been using for 3 years, and need to replace the tires a second time. At over $60 a pop to do that, I do not find it inexpensive. The $15 wings on the navigator were much easier to swallow. It does cover the pool as well as the navigator did, but seems to get all areas eventually. It does not choke on acorns, pebbles and small twigs like the navigator did however. Other than replacing the tires, I have had zero problems with it, other than it does not climb the walls as well as the navigator, which I never thought did that good of a job at climbing the walls. It does a much better of climbing the walls when the tires are worn out (suction is close to the wall), that's how I know they need replacing.

Is it right for you, I don't know, even where I live I don't have a local dealer that I am aware of and have to deal over da' net. Has not been a problem so far.

 

[Guest]

I agree with Dave. A suction side cleaner is not going to cut it. At bare minimum you need a booster pump model pressure side cleaner but this would require some replumbing and installation of the booster pump (if it it possible at all) so you are going to end up in the same price range as a robot by the time you are done.
For a pool as large as yours I would look into one of the remote controlled commercial models if your budget permits.

 

[GregB]

Thanks for the replies. I had read several different online guides to choosing a pool cleaner including the one on this site. I was surprised to see that suction wasn't advised for my pool by capacity. This started me wondering if the pool men were wrong on the size. The first one was my ex-wife's idiot brother. That should have been my first clue.....

Using a tape measure I find the deep part isn't as flat as it looks. It is a Kidney shape that fits inside a 26'x46' rectangle. The pool guy's bills just said 26'x46' 50,000 gallon pool. I now calculate it at 36,000 Gal. I'm feeling stupid for not doing the math earlier.

When I clean it manually I can keep it clean with a standard vacuum spending 30 minutes, twice a week at 30GPM. Running the Krauley an average of 14 hours a day keeps the bottom spotless except for the few spots it doesn't hit. I think the Krauley would get it just as clean in half that time. I run it to circulate the water. The main drain won't flow 15GPM so there must be something wrong with that.

If a robot requires putting it in the pool each time, removing it and cleaning the filter, that seems almost as much work as a manual vacuum to me. Wouldn't I have to put the robot in and out of the pool everyday? The Krauley just stays in the pool and we put it and the hose in the spa when we are swimming. A robot seems to be for dirt on the bottom of the pool and that isn't my problem. I get the same amount of leaves in a whole summer that many parts of the country get in one fall day.....

I don't have a leaf problem. If the skimmer was on the other end, I would hardly have any dirt on the bottom of the pool. Biggest problem is bugs, mostly bees - around 25 a day in the pool.

I'd be reasonably happy with the Krauley if it was quiet! Irritating that it doesn't hit 3 areas but I can do those areas with a brush in 10 minutes.

Am I crazy to consider 45' of hose to a Polaris LCS system? That will get my "skimmer" moving around the pool. I would connect that to a quiet suction cleaner of some kind with a reasonably short hose. As it is now, I have to use a net before I can get in the pool. Even if I went swimming two hours before! If/when I can afford to redo the slab surrounding the pool, I could move the skimmer.

 

[Guest]

the kreepy crawly is a random pattern cleaner. If you go with suction you might like a pattered cleaner like the Hayward Navigator better. It uses a gear train to make the cleaner do a series of right and left turns to cover the pool more completely than a random cleaner (downside is that it is more complex so more can go wrong and need to be replaced) but, with a pool your size I would still check out one of the remote controlled robots so you can make sure it covers the entire pool.

As for your volume: assuming that both ends of the kidney have the same radius i get about 45k to 48k assuming in the first case your shallow end is 3 ft and in the second 4 ft. If the two ends of the kidney are not the same the pool volume would be a bit smaller

 

[spishex]

It's not the simplest machine, but the Polaris 340 is a very quiet suction side cleaner and works well.