AG Pool Cleaner Suggestion

[TNBandmom]

For all the years we've had this pool and our first one, the pool cleaner has been me. Sometimes the rest of the family would help but most of the time they would go too fast and I would just have to do it anyway. When we bought this pool it came with a baracuda. I tried using it but it wouldn't clean the whole pool and would consistently go up the side of the pool too far and then stop so we would use it when we were in the pool and could babysit it. I've been reading the forums and pool school article but can't decide which might be a good fit for me. I would like to get a cleaner that would clean the pool that I didn't have to babysit so I didn't have to spend free time always cleaning.

Pool is AG 30ft round 52" deep. Sand filter. The pump is 1.5hp according to hubby. Not sure of the sand filter size but it took 200 lbs of sand yesterday to redo. It has a hayward multiport on top.

Also I have lots of big tall pine trees that make a box around the yard along with 2 large oak trees and 4 pecan trees that blow into the pool.

I was wondering if any of the <$200 cleaners would work or I would need to go with the $200-500 range.

Any suggestions?

 

[MikeInTN]

IMHO, you'll probably have to go with one of the >$200 cleaners. Anything $200 and below will more than likely be a suction side cleaner like what you have.

I've heard and read good things about the Pool Rover Jr. You might want to do a search here for that one and see how people feel about it.

 

[hooperkj]

I got an Ez-Vac as part of my AG pool package a couple of years ago. It's useless because it always gets hung up on my pool's "wedding cake" style entry steps.

 

[dmanb2b]

pool rover jr...we LOVE ours...vacummed manually once all season...now we just brush the walls and floor once a week and run the rover every other day for 2 hrs...love it

 

[TNBandmom]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've been still fighting with metals and green due to that. But now I've finally gotten that resolved. Seems from the suggestions here and various older posts, Paul Rover Jr was the pick. I've just finished ordering one. Can't wait for it to get here and try it out.

 

[NWMNMom]

You will be so happy with the PR Jr. We love ours - it does all the work. You just drop it in, pull it out and clean out the bag as needed. Love ours!!!

 

[flyweed]

I've read great things about the PR Jr...I however, bought the RoboKleen last year..it was priced right...I have never been happier! we have some long needled pine trees, an oak and 3 box elder trees near our pool that drops all kind of garbage into the pool...what the skimmer misses, the robokleen picks up off the bottom..I mean this thing picks up huge oak leaves, tons of those long pine needles..etc...it does a great job. You can find it the cheapest usually on ebay.


I have a 33 foot round AGP by the way

 

[Pool-creetin]

I was looking at the pool rover jr and since I have a dish bottom its no longer an option. I get to see if the main drains help out with the silt and fine particles. Now i am looking at the polaris 380 and the pool cleaner,

 

[TNBandmom]

It got here today. So I had to check it out this evening. It was funny in it's track path. By reading I thought it would go all the way across the pool but it didn't. Sometimes it would, sometimes halfway and some times about 1/3. But still we let it run for almost 2 hours before pulling it out. It did get quite a bit out of the pool. the filter was pretty dirty and it did get quite a bit of very fine stuff. It will be interesting to see how much it gets after I leave the pump off over night tomorrow and let it clean it Saturday during the day when I will be able to have the sun on the pool water. I definitely liked it getting the stuff out and not be and having it not go into the filter or having to vacuum to waste.

 

[NWMNMom]

I would suggest you fiddle around with the settings on the controller and the peg on the PRJ itself. I can get mine to go all the way from one end to the other on my 33' long pool by getting the settings just right although I think it works so much better if it does shorter circuits all the way around. It really does a nice job, especially after we have wind or a storm since my pool is line all along one side by pine trees so twigs and needles galore drop in there. It gets everything.

 

[TNBandmom]

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll try that this weekend. We have alot of pine trees too and I hate trying to vacuum up the pine needles. It always chokes the manual vacuum. They are calling for high winds this weekend and I was dreading all the junk getting in the pool. Maybe it will not be so bad now.

 

[DeckSgt]

With mine, I had to go up to 45 seconds on the timer dial on the power supply. When going in a straight line, it will make it to the other side, sit for about 4 seconds, then reverse direction. I am using the fine mesh bag that came with the unit. I have read that the other bag, the "leaf" bag, will cause it to move slightly faster, thus reaching the wall sooner.