We had a big wind two weeks ago which put a lot of leaves in the pool. Since then, I would say only 50% of it has been cleaned up since then. I'll post pictures so you can see exactly how much that is. I feel like I am constantly untangling the cord (even though it has tons of those tangle-free attachments on the hose), pulling the unit out of corners, and finding the bag has little to no debris in it. Am I expecting too much from my Polaris 280 Max Black? Am I doing something wrong? Would love to hear some thoughts and feedback.
Am I expecting too much from my pool cleaner?
- Thread starter roguegeek
- Start date
My wife would beat me mercilessly if I left the pool looking like that. However, that's a tough condition for a Polaris 280.
My Pentair Legend pressure side cleaner did a little better than that most of the time. But still plenty of tangled hose, especially as water temp drops. I lived with it for 4 seasons and got a robot. Wish I had gotten the robot 4 years earlier! It is WAY better in all respects. This is the one I got, First Robotic Cleaner, Doheny's Discovery
So then, it sounds like I am expecting too much from it, right? There's nothing I can do to make it more effective?
Not that I know of. Sometimes you just have to manually vacuum or scoop with a leaf rake. Cleaners can sometimes just shift things around in my experience.
- Jan 4, 2016
- 5,288
- Pool Size
- 44000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
I would scoop it all out right away either way, then see if the cleaner can keep up after untangling. Or, I'd calculate the wasted electricity and use the savings to justify a robot. 
Just a thought. Try taking the tail off. I took mine off my Pentair Racer and it seemd to clean better. All the tail did was stir up the dirt and leaves off the bottom.
Dolphin S-100 I swear by it and it came with the ultra fine basket free on promotion. All the fine debris is all captured in the Dolphin filter and not in your main filter. The amount it catches during a 2 hr cycle when you think your pool looks clean will surprise you.
That looks complicated for it to clean... They do hit most spots, but sometimes skip over others... esp with the way that pool is made
I bought a leaf bag to clean out the big leaves myself, best purchase I have made this year... then let the cleaner get the rest. I have a polaris sport. I like it... just around fall before closing it gets too many leaves in it from trees waiting for it to get to 60 degrees so it doesn't always clean everything cause there is just too much in it.
I bought a leaf bag to clean out the big leaves myself, best purchase I have made this year... then let the cleaner get the rest. I have a polaris sport. I like it... just around fall before closing it gets too many leaves in it from trees waiting for it to get to 60 degrees so it doesn't always clean everything cause there is just too much in it.
deano 59
0
i have just recently bought the cx 20 robotic cleaner and i am very impressed . the pool had a lot of gum leaves and nuts blown in after days of storms but after a couple of hrs the cleaner had picked up a good 80%. i retrieved him from the pool and cleaned the basket and tossed him back in for another session where he picked up the rest .
also very impressed with it's wall climbing capabilities coming right up to the water line several times .
money well spent i think .
cheers deano
also very impressed with it's wall climbing capabilities coming right up to the water line several times .
money well spent i think .
cheers deano
If it is getting too much pressure it will tangle in back up mode. go look at the books and it will show you ways to adjust the pressure.
My first pool was built with a 380, which was horrible. I replaced it with a 280 on the advice of a friend who was satisfied with the 280 in his pool. That 280 was better, but no way would it get more than 85-90% of the junk. We had to manually vacuum weekly in the fall/winter, then about every 2-3 weeks in the spring/summer.
We significantly reduce the leaf problem on the new pool by not having any trees within ~50' of the pool, and zero trees in the prevailing wind path.
We significantly reduce the leaf problem on the new pool by not having any trees within ~50' of the pool, and zero trees in the prevailing wind path.