Questions for owners of Aquabot Pool Rover

[Uzona]

Hi Everyone,

I have a 15X30 AGP. I received my Aquabot Pool Rover last Friday. So far I am very disappointed in it, but hoping I'm doing something wrong and you guys can help out.

I'm in Arizona where we have some afternoon dust storms and get a film of dirt at the bottom of the pool. The pool rover is not picking it up. When the rover passes over a section of dirt, I can't even tell it passed over the area unless I see tire tracks in the dirt at the bottom of the pool. I'm not expecting it to pick up all the dirt in a single pass, but I do expect to see a noticable difference. I ran it for 4 hours and the pool was still dirty. The center section was partially cleaned, but the ends of the pools look like they haven't been touched. After a 2 hour cycle I'd estimate the pool rover has removed maybe 20% of the dirt.

Functionally there doesn't appear to be anything wrong. The flaps at the bottom work. The pump runs and moves the rover around the bottom of the pool. The pump just doesn't appear to be creating enough suction.

The only adjustments I see are the timer. I have it set to 40 seconds which is what it takes to traverse the length of the pool (30 ft). There is also a pin that I move from side to side to prevent the cord from developing a memory

Any Suggestions? Are my expectations out of line? Anyone else have the rover and experience similar results?

 

[The Mermaid Queen]

Cannot offer you any help or advice, but wanted to say welcome to TFP!

 

[Hakkamike]

If your pool bottom was really dirty it could be that the filter bag already needs to be cleaned out, it will filter out debris up to 2 microns.

 

[bassadict69]

I have the Rover also & love it...you should definately be able to see a clean path where it ran although it does stir things up just a little.

There is definately a problem with it, I would call them about it.

 

[Hakkamike]

I am still thinking if the bottom is that dirty where it leaves a clean path after the Rover that filter bag can get clogged yery fast and not push the water through the filter bag like it should, I have one too and love it but I also dont expect it to pick up everything one the bottom of the pool if the bag is covered in silt and dirt, it will just not work at all if the bag is clogged up I still think that it just needs to be cleaned. I have two filter bags just because of this, I run it take out the bag and and put in the other one.

 

[Uzona]

I appreciate the helpful responses. We sent the unit back.

I wish it had been a dirty filter issue because at least then it would have been something I could resolve. When we called tech support they gave the same advice and said to try washing the filter.

It was a brand new unit with what had previously been an used filter, and even the very first pass using a virgin filter did not pick up dirt or leave a clean path. Nevertheless, we tried their advice and machine washed the filter twice. We ran the machine through multiple cycles. Each cycle picked up a little dirt, but never got the pool anywhere near clean. It's not like the pool bottom was filthy.. Just visible sand and dirt that you would expect a cleaner to pick up.

Support also told us to check the plastic "net" thing that surrounds the pump to make sure it is intact and that the filter wasn't being sucked into the pump and blocking the flow. Plastic net thingy was fine.

I'm not condemning the pool rover. A lot of people have had success with them. I think I just got a bad unit.

 

[sls]

Could the dirt actually be algea? The Pool Rover does not scrub it only sucks up loose particles. If it left tire tracks but didn't suck the dirt up that could be the problem.
My Pool Rover will stop moving or keep going back and forth in a short distance when the filter bag gets dirty. Did the bag look real dirty when you removed it? Do you have a deep end? If so, was it still going up and down the slope?
I hate that didn't work for you because I really love mine.

 

[jmina]

Re:

Could the dirt actually be algea? The Pool Rover does not scrub it only sucks up loose particles. If it left tire tracks but didn't suck the dirt up that could be the problem.
My Pool Rover will stop moving or keep going back and forth in a short distance when the filter bag gets dirty. Did the bag look real dirty when you removed it? Do you have a deep end? If so, was it still going up and down the slope?
I hate that didn't work for you because I really love mine.

I have a similar problem and i think that you hit it on the head, it's algea stuck to the bottom that the rover is not able to pick up when it passes by. I decided to use my pool vaccum attachment and quickly loosen all the stuck algea places so that the rover can pick it up. I'm hoping this solves the issue for me. It makes sense that it should since the rover actually filters the water while it vaccums the pool. The loose algea will be floating in the water or noe be loose on the bottom. Here's to hoping this works! Thanks for giving me the idea!!