Using a Robot in cold weather-

[newvances]

We are not closing our pool this winter and like most we have been fighting leaves in the pool. Now that we are seeing colder (frost warnings) my pool water has dropped to around 54 degrees. The Doheney Discovery is sluggish and is missing most of the leaves. For those of you who do not close your pool in cold weather, do you go back to manual cleaning or other alternatives?

Thanks

 

[duraleigh]

My robot (Dolphin Premier) struggled in cold water and the one before that did, to.

The only alternative I know of is a sturdy leaf net and pool vacuum.

 

[GDN]

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of spending so much money on one of the robots? Not being able to use it year round and having to do it manually? I just built last year - I've got a Pentair Racer (pressure side cleaner) and I'm amazed at the job it does. I've got a Live Oak tree covering almost half of my pool and this thing never misses a beat unless I don't empty it every few days. The robots get so much praise and everyone seems to say they are the only way to go, but I've seen too many problems reported with the robots - power supply, complete failure and now don't do well in cold water. I know I'll have repairs down the road, but I run my cleaner about 2 hours a day to keep up with the tree above the pool - I don't think a robot could keep up with the job.

 

[duraleigh]

Let's stay on topic in this thread and talk about cold water and robots.

GDN,

Almost everyone likes best the equipment they have. You are welcome to start a new thread and open a discussion of pool cleaners

 

[Geebot]

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of spending so much money on one of the robots? Not being able to use it year round and having to do it manually? I just built last year - I've got a Pentair Racer (pressure side cleaner) and I'm amazed at the job it does. I've got a Live Oak tree covering almost half of my pool and this thing never misses a beat unless I don't empty it every few days. The robots get so much praise and everyone seems to say they are the only way to go, but I've seen too many problems reported with the robots - power supply, complete failure and now don't do well in cold water. I know I'll have repairs down the road, but I run my cleaner about 2 hours a day to keep up with the tree above the pool - I don't think a robot could keep up with the job.

"Don't do well in cold water" is not a design flaw. The OP lives in Tennessee where swimming outdoors is not really viable during Winter months, so the OP's choice not to close their pool is an atypical condition. I have an older Dolphin that I replaced with a new S300. The older one burned through power supplies and was a real chore to clean. The S300 has a huge basket that can hold a lot of leaves and is dead simple to clean. If my only experience was with my older model then I'd agree that robots aren't a great solution, but the recent generation is great.

 

[GDN]

So I understand it is not a design flaw, but why don't they perform as well in cold water? I live in Dallas, don't close my pool either so I can use the attached spa during the winter, but never get in the pool itself. I still need a cleaner for the winter. Are we saying then that robots are not ideal for this situation?

 

[pooldv]

I got my new robot in September. Before it broke it was working great! :-D LOL!! The water pump motor stopped working last week. Which is bad timing because I have lots of leaves in the pool and more coming. It filled the basket daily and then some. Right now I'm emptying the skimmer baskets 4 or 5 times a day and netting out leaves when I feel like it.

It is a Doheny's Discovery, same as Maytronics S200/300. Robots are relatively new and certainly had their share of issues when they were first being produced. But, each successive generation is rapidly improving. When I get it back we will see how it works in cold water. So far it is vastly better than my Pentair Legend II pressure cleaner. Which was not good in cold water, maybe below 60 or 50? I didn't really pay attention to how cold it was.

We have quite a few members here with new generation robots in areas that don't normally close for winter so we should get some good feedback this winter.