Pressure vs. Suction Cleaner?

[langley101]

Hi,

We currently have a Kreepy Krauly that we inherited when we bought our house. It hooks up to a dedicated suction line with a leaf catcher around the middle of the pool. I'm not very happy with its performance, so I'm looking into other options. I've had two different options recommended to me and I'm curious what you all think.

Option 1: Poolvergnuegen PoolCleaner suction cleaner. Not sure if he's reommended the 2 or 4 wheel. (Recommended by a respected pool maintenance company.)

Option 2: Do some above ground re-plumbing to turn the dedicated suction line into a return line and then use a non booster pump Polaris. (Recommended by a respected local pool shop.)

The re-plumbing doesn't look too difficult, but if the PoolCleaner will do just as good a job, I'm tempted to not mess with the plumbing.

Our pool is surrounded by leaves and bushes that constantly drop leaves and other debris into the pool, so we need something that can pick up things up better than the Kreepy.

I'm still new to owning a pool, so any opinions you all have would be greatly appreciated. Our pool is about 17k gallons, salt water, with solar heat.

Thanks.

 

[fofa]

I have the 4 wheel version of "thepoolcleaner" and leave it in my pool 24X7X365.
I had a navigator for 6 years prior to the 3 I have had the "thepoolcleaner".
The navigator runs the pool better, but is not so good with leaves and acrons and twigs. "thepoolcleaner" does way beter with leaves, acorns and twigs.
"thepoolcleaner' cost me about $60.00 to replace all four tires, about every year and half.

pressure side cleaners with a separate booster pump do a pretty good job except for very fine stuff, but the return side ones without a booster pump, not so good. you have to really adjust your plumbing to allow the proper flow for them to work at best decent, at least according to two friends that have had them, and switched to a booster pump model after a few years.

Robots most people rave about, but they are an in, run and out, plus cost more.

vacuum side are usually cheapest, pressure side more, and with a booster pump pass some robotics.

I am happy with my suction side (dedicated port makes it worth it) so i have not thought about changing.

I think there are advantages and disadvantages to all of them. Figure out what you want, and go from there. I like leaving the thing in the pool all the time, and letting it run whenever the pump runs. Pool stays clean, but i pay for it in tires. But i have a lot of trees and get a lot of stuff in my pool daily. If i only needed to clean it once a week, I would probably make a different choice.

 

[Guest]

If you have a lot of leaves in the pool I would replumb you dedicated suction line into a pressure line with a booster pump and get a pressure side cleaner. The booster pump models do a much better job with leaves than either a suction side or boosterless pressrure side. Your other option would be a robot but some of the less expensive models will not do a great job on leaves.

 

[HarryH3]

We have a Polaris 280 with the booster pump. It cleans the pool amazingly well, even though we have Live Oak trees everywhere. The bag is pretty big. I only have to watch it closely for getting stuffed full during leaf-dropping season.

It picks up leaves, twigs, 1.5-inch gravel and diving sticks left in the pool by the kids.

 

[dmj4]

My Polaris 280 with dedicated line and 3/4 HP booster pump picked up a large (not huge but at least large) frog. I didn't know the poor fellow was in the pool. I save bugs when I see them, so I would have definitely saved him.