Need help from Arizona folks

[Arizoniann]

We have lived in AZ for three years now, our pool is three years old. I've been following TFP from the beginning, fully embracing their methods We have an in-floor cleaning system, and it works great during the fall, winter, and spring months. I brush the walls and floor once a week during those months, and rarely see visible dirt at the bottom. But during the summer, with the monsoon season, I'm needing to brush every day. And when I do brush, it seems like my drain isn't sucking up the dust/dirt. Before brushing I switch my filter to drain only, and I turn the speed down to low rather than high, because I wasn't sure if the high speed would cause the dirt to float right past the drain.

Does this sound normal, to need to brush every day with an in-floor cleaner? I brush and, it seems to have helped, but later in the day the dirt is back. Did all my brushing only mix the dirt into the water and then it finally settled? Is my drain not working properly to suck it all up? I was thinking of getting a robotic cleaner to help out during the summer months. Any Arizonans have in-floor cleaners that could comment on whether or not it's normal to have to brush every day with an in-floor cleaner? Do you also have a robotic cleaner to supplement?

EDIT: We have a play pool 3 1/2 feet, 5 feet, 4 feet.

 

[chiefwej]

It’s my opinion that infloor cleaning systems don’t work very well in play/sports pools. In a pool with a deep well the heads stir up the dirt and debris, and it settles at the bottom of the deep well where it is picked up be the main drain. In a sports pool, with a relatively flat bottom, the dirt and debris is just stirred around. If it lands at the main drain, it’s just by accident.

I have a sport pool with an infloor system. Although my friends and neighbors’ infloor system in their pools (with deep wells) seem to work fine, mine doesn’t. So I recently bought a Dolphin S-300 robot, and I couldn’t be happier. Now I drop my robot in and two hours later my pool is clean.

 

[Arizoniann]

I am looking at the Dolphin s300i [emoji4]

 

[jonpcar]

We live in Gilbert, too, and have had our infloor cleaning system on our play-pool since 1993. Monsoon season is always a bit tougher...especially this last week, haha. I don't brush my pool nearly as much as I probably should as I tend to just up the pump time after a storm (still avoiding the on-peak electricity costs). Generally I run the in-floor cleaning system 3 hours a day which is probably overkill...after a monsoon I approximately double that for a couple days and it usually does the trick. During cleaning, I like to pull 100% from the bottom drain as that is where most of the sediments will float around when the in-floor system stirs it up.

After a big storm, I DO brush and this is how I do it...Start this routine after your pool pump has been turned off for awhile so that the sediment (dust) from the storm settles on the pool floor. I turn on the pool side returns rather than the in-floor cleaning system because it will stir up the bottom dirt before I push it towards the drain. I suck full pump speed from the floor drain and then brush the dirt slowly and steadily from the edges of the bottom of the pool towards the drain, "rounding it up" closer and closer to the drain. I don't bother with the walls at this point as a vast majority of the dirt settles on the floor. As I get close to the drain, I can see the dirt being sucked into the drain (and thus the filter). After finishing, I still run the pump a bit longer as described in the previous paragraph for a couple days.

Bigger debris (palm fronds, branches, etc) I just dive in and take out myself when I am in the pool. My in-floor cleaning system doesn't deal with those.

 

[Arizoniann]

I'm not able to turn off my pop-ups. They run when the filter is on. But thank you for your input!

- - - Updated - - -

 

[chiefwej]

Just buy the robot. No more brushing and a pool that is spotless. With the s300i you get the cart, which makes it very easy to put in in and take it out. Occasionally I do two, two hour runs of the robot, but then I can be a bit picky about water clarity. Although it doesn’t like sticks and palm fronds, it quickly and efficiently removes all the other debris and dirt with no effort, other than toss it in, push a button, pull it out and rinse the basket and filter. You will be amazed at the amount of fine dust that the fine pleated filter can remove after one of our storms. No more brushing or trying to coax the debis into a drain. A complete cleaning and brushing the pool now takes less than 5 minutes of my time.

 

[bacevedo]

That's good to hear chiefwej!

I'm also in Chandler, AZ and am looking at getting a robotic cleaner. I'm looking at the Active 20 from Marina Pools. I think I'm going to pull the trigger today because I'm tired of having to manually vacuum or sweep my pool after the monsoon storms. My suction cleaner (MX6) works OK but doesn't keep enough pressure in my pump, so it acts like it's sucking air, which I'm sure isn't good for it. Plus, I don't like leaving my cleaner in the pool all of the time and it's a hassle to get all of the valves adjusted just right!

 

[Arizonarob]

Oh boy, all da AZ peeps up in this one.
Chandler here too. I don’t have pop-ups but yup, you do have to brush more this time of year. I have a suction side port with a Aquanaut robot that wanders the pool taking care of the floor. I’ll usually brush right after a haboob, and then a couple random times a week.
When the Aquanaut dies, I’ll probably get a 300i.

 

[peacefulkancer]

Chandler checking in... pool has turned to a mess this monsoon season between the dust and tree debris.

Just purchased the S200 from Marina, which arrives this Friday.

 

[Arizoniann]

I appreciate everyone’s input so much. I did change my filter schedule to run on high the final three hours of the cycle, and that has made a big difference, but I’ll re-evaluate after the next dust storm.