PoolBuster

[DONNIE]

Well..........after months of praise on the PoolBuster mine has gone in the dumpster after 2 full seasons. First my battery died. I emailed PoolBuster and since i had owned it for over 12 months it was out of warranty. I understand as Im in the aotomotive business. Not that it matters but I purchased mine in November as my pool was being built. We finally goy to get in the pool in April (first use of the PoolBuster) By October we were done swimmig and I cleaned up the PoolBuster, charged the battery as instructed in the manual, and put it away. Well....the following April it was DEAD. I got 6 months use out of it and that was it. It was a great product for that period. I convinced PoolBuster to send me a new battery as opposed to spending $100.00 ninimunm for out of warranty repairs and they did at no cost. Great customer service in my opinion. Well after its 2nd season it DIED again. I disassembled it (which is too easy) and found nothing but corrosion. Yes, I have a salt pool but I always rinsed it before storage. Sad to say I got 2 full seasons out of a $200.00 product and would not reccommend a PoolBuster to anyone. Like I said...They do have fantastic customer service but unfortunatly a bad product. Point of my post....I have a brand new regular filter and a slightly used fine mesh filter I will give to whoever can find a way to get it from OKC to you. I don't check in here much anymore since you guys made me a real PRO at taking care of my pool. Since install it's been nothing but perfect and if you can believe, I have only had a trace if CC's once. Crystal clear thanks to this board. Anyway....email me at [email protected] and I'll give the filters to you. Until then...happy swimming. 104 in OKC today and expecting 100+ next few days. I'm headed to the pool. I'll check in some the next week or so.


Donnie

 

[Ke]

My Poolbuster also has lots of rust in the motor/battery compartment, the gaskets do not keep away the water, the on/off knob is also leaky, I took the motor/battery apart and put teflon gel around the gasket and that helps to keep the water away. If you read the manual it says a small amount of water may get into the motor/battery compartment, after each use the water must be drained from the on/off knob hole. But this is really a bad design, the reality is that a large amount of water will get in. The battery is just a bunch of cheap rechargeable batteries taped together. My handheld Black and Decker vacuum is better designed and costs much less.

 

[Buggsw]

I thought it was a poorly designed piece of equipment, myself - but then I've found most pool stuff is poorly and cheaply made and commands high dollar. It is somewhat useful, but I was also disappointed that you had to pay extra for the fine filter bag, which is what I needed it more for than anything else to vac up the fine layer of dust that settles on the pool steps and therapy bench or the occasional little whiff of dirt that the infloor seems to push to a particular place.

 

[Ke]

My Poolbuster would not hold charge, I took it apart, the motor is completely covered with rust, I thought I was looking at a shipwreck. the rechargeable batteries are just a bunch of cheap NI-CAD wrapped together, I removed the battery pack, soldered a 16 ft wire to the motor, brought the wire through the back of the vacuum, now I use an external battery pack that I carry around my waist in a pouch. I just wrap the wire loosely around the pole. It's simple and works very well. no more dying batteres half way through the job as I always have a 2nd battery pack ready. The Poolbuster is very poorly designed, for that price it should have changeable battery pack and better batteries such as lithium batteries, my handheld Black and Decker vacuum has all that and costs much less. For those who plan to buy the Poolbuster, I suggest that you take apart the motor compartment, paint some automobile undercoat onto the motor shell and cover all electrical solder joints with glue or silicone. Corrosion is a major problem, I 've been emptying rusty water through the on/off knob hole after every use. Despite all these problems, I use my Poolbuster just about everyday for quick clean up, too bad there isn't a better product out there.

 

[Ke]

The factory battery is a 8.4V 2400mAh NiCad, you can get a 8.4V 4200mAh nickel metal hydride for about $34 (all-battery.com) which is way cheaper and better than getting the factory part from Water Tech.

 

[Ke]

I just placed an order at all-battery.com for a package of two 8.4V NiMH batteries with a smart charger for $49.99. With 2 batteries I will always have one standby.

 

[Ke]

Received my batteries today, with the smart charger it only took a few hours to fully charge. I just carry the batteries in my pocket when I am using the poolbuster. With the new batteries the poolbuster has never been so powerful and there is always a spare battery standing by. I am so glad that I made the modification.