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.
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.