I have had a polaris 380 since I put the pool in 4 years ago. It had been in the pool shop 3 times this year and cost me several hundred dollars. The problem that continues to occur is the polaris seems to have little power. It has had all its insides replaced. It now goes to the same spot in the pool and does not climbs walls. I am at a loss and cannot afford to keep sending it to the store to get fixed. I also have no more money to buy a new cleaner. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
polaris 380 problems
- Thread starter ammpgm
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- Nov 5, 2008
- 2,598
My 380 stopped working when the pressure relief valve blew. Have you checked that? Check the pressure relief valve attached to the wall, mine was shooting more and more water out the side until the unit did not move at all. I thought it was moving, but I'd throw it in and it would just roll downhill until it stopped. When I blocked the pressure relief port it moved a little. When it totally failed, I found a mysterious round disc in the pool. I should have recognized the Polaris logo but it was partially cracked where the connection failed and I kept looking at the parts diagram of the Polaris and couldn't find that piece...it is not shown as a separate part. Now that I replaced that, there is no water exiting that side vent at all. There was a mighty flow from it when the unit would not run.
The units are pretty easy to open up and take a look inside. If you trust that the pool store did in fact replace a bunch of parts, maybe it is not necessary. But, the mechanics of the thing is pretty simple.
It starts with the pump, of course, and so if it is not getting much pressure then internals of the unit won't work. Have you checked the pump basket? If it is clean, then listen to it, does the pump sound OK? Assuming you get good pressure and flow through the hose, and I did still get flow through the hose with the pressure relief valve blown but I had no way to know how that compared to normal flow for that, then the water goes through 3 ports inside. You can open the unit up after removing the hose and try to probe those ports carefully with a paperclip or something to see they are not blocked. Check to see all the hoses are connected.
One of those ports shoots water on the paddlewheel thing that drive the unit, so be sure that when that turns that the wheels do turn. I found it has some play in it that seems normal and that the paddlewheel turns a lot to turn the wheels a little.
Beyond that, you'll need to get someone else to help, I never went any further.
The units are pretty easy to open up and take a look inside. If you trust that the pool store did in fact replace a bunch of parts, maybe it is not necessary. But, the mechanics of the thing is pretty simple.
It starts with the pump, of course, and so if it is not getting much pressure then internals of the unit won't work. Have you checked the pump basket? If it is clean, then listen to it, does the pump sound OK? Assuming you get good pressure and flow through the hose, and I did still get flow through the hose with the pressure relief valve blown but I had no way to know how that compared to normal flow for that, then the water goes through 3 ports inside. You can open the unit up after removing the hose and try to probe those ports carefully with a paperclip or something to see they are not blocked. Check to see all the hoses are connected.
One of those ports shoots water on the paddlewheel thing that drive the unit, so be sure that when that turns that the wheels do turn. I found it has some play in it that seems normal and that the paddlewheel turns a lot to turn the wheels a little.
Beyond that, you'll need to get someone else to help, I never went any further.
Given it has been in the shop already, we can hope that the hoses inside are tight.
The other major culprit would be inadequate water pressure from the return.
Try this, based on what I see my local shop doing: Take the unit out and sit it on something (wooden block, bricks, whatever) the idea is the wheels are not touching anything. Take the bag off. Then start up your booster pump and see what happens. You should get an impressive fountain out the top and out the back jet; if you don't, the water pressure is inadequate, either at the wall or by the time it gets to the unit something is blocking it. If you see the impressive fountain but the wheels don't move much, then the problem is inside the unit (first thing I'd check is that the internal hoses are clamped tightly enough).
If you don't see the fountain, the water isn't getting to the unit and the unit is likely fine. Next step would be to figure out where the water blockage is. Turn off the booster, unplug the quick-release, turn the booster back on. You should get a really strong jet out from the return. If you don't, you have a pump or plumbing issue. If you do, then the problem is somewhere in the hose. First thing to check is the screen inside the quick-release; another possible culprit is the backup gizmo near the end of the hose.
You see where I'm going with this... isolate different pieces of the system and see what's working and what isn't.
--paulr
The other major culprit would be inadequate water pressure from the return.
Try this, based on what I see my local shop doing: Take the unit out and sit it on something (wooden block, bricks, whatever) the idea is the wheels are not touching anything. Take the bag off. Then start up your booster pump and see what happens. You should get an impressive fountain out the top and out the back jet; if you don't, the water pressure is inadequate, either at the wall or by the time it gets to the unit something is blocking it. If you see the impressive fountain but the wheels don't move much, then the problem is inside the unit (first thing I'd check is that the internal hoses are clamped tightly enough).
If you don't see the fountain, the water isn't getting to the unit and the unit is likely fine. Next step would be to figure out where the water blockage is. Turn off the booster, unplug the quick-release, turn the booster back on. You should get a really strong jet out from the return. If you don't, you have a pump or plumbing issue. If you do, then the problem is somewhere in the hose. First thing to check is the screen inside the quick-release; another possible culprit is the backup gizmo near the end of the hose.
You see where I'm going with this... isolate different pieces of the system and see what's working and what isn't.
--paulr
- Nov 5, 2008
- 2,598
And "impressive fountain" is way more than 110" of water vertically.
When my pressure relief valve was broken off, the hose still didshoot water. Standing alongside th pool and holding the hose at waist level, it shot out about 4 feet.
When I picked up the unit while running, it would weakly turn the wheels in air, but was not able to do it in the pool. And the tail scrubber didn't flap around at all where normally it would shoot you from 10' away if it slipped above water level.
When my pressure relief valve was broken off, the hose still didshoot water. Standing alongside th pool and holding the hose at waist level, it shot out about 4 feet.
When I picked up the unit while running, it would weakly turn the wheels in air, but was not able to do it in the pool. And the tail scrubber didn't flap around at all where normally it would shoot you from 10' away if it slipped above water level.
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