Rebuild Pool Vac Ultra or the Pool Cleaner?

[carlscan26]

It was on the side of the box. I never heard of it either so maybe it's new and they haven't started selling them yet? It's not on their web site either.

On the left under the picture of the cleaner with the funny box cover it says: "Return Side Pressure OR Dual PoolCleaner*"

The footnote * is under the blue star with the picture of the pressure hoses and it says: "Dual PoolCleaner ships in "pressure mode" but can be converted to a suction cleaner with OPTIONAL conversion kit."

 

[kal2002]

For those of you who just ordered The Pool Cleaner, did you consider the Baracuda MX8 that sounds comparable to The Pool Cleaner? Here is the link to the discussion: the-zodiac-barracuda-mx8-suction-side-cleaner-t31224.html?hilit=baracuda%20mx8

 

[carlscan26]

Yeah I considered it. The poolcleaner has been around a while whereas the mx8 is newer and is unproven reliability wise. I have seen the mx8 in person and it's impressive. But I think the poolcleaner is built with better plastics and I believe it also has fewer parts. The poolcleaner also uses similar hoses to the hayward and is compatible with the hayward leaf canister which I already had. Being able to inter change hoses means I dont lose what I spent on new hoses for the navigator just 6 months ago. The mx8 has a different hose type and has a different leaf canister system too.

People speak well of both cleaners - I have not run across any significant complaints with either. So you'd probably be fine with either one. Same as a Toyota vs a Honda I guess.

 

[mrhappye]

It was on the side of the box. I never heard of it either so maybe it's new and they haven't started selling them yet? It's not on their web site either.

On the left under the picture of the cleaner with the funny box cover it says: "Return Side Pressure OR Dual PoolCleaner*"

The footnote * is under the blue star with the picture of the pressure hoses and it says: "Dual PoolCleaner ships in "pressure mode" but can be converted to a suction cleaner with OPTIONAL conversion kit."

I had not seen that before and is certainly is not on the web site. I wonder why the Customer Support did not even mention this to me when I explained the possible difficulty I may have with the pressure side cleaner because of my plumbing setup. A dual use cleaner would have been a no-brainer. I wonder if the conversion can be done later if need be. Might be nice to be able to switch from pressure to suction.

 

[carlscan26]

Try calling them back and let us know what they say.

 

[carlscan26]

Also The PoolCleaner doesn't have any issues with vinyl pools or at least no warnings about using it on vinyl pools.

 

[mrhappye]

Try calling them back and let us know what they say.

I sent an e-mail. They are closed for this week. I will post the answer when they respond.

 

[kal2002]

Yeah I considered it. The poolcleaner has been around a while whereas the mx8 is newer and is unproven reliability wise. I have seen the mx8 in person and it's impressive. But I think the poolcleaner is built with better plastics and I believe it also has fewer parts. The poolcleaner also uses similar hoses to the hayward and is compatible with the hayward leaf canister which I already had. Being able to inter change hoses means I dont lose what I spent on new hoses for the navigator just 6 months ago. The mx8 has a different hose type and has a different leaf canister system too.

Hey carlscan26, I am sold on The Pool Cleaner for the same reasons. Thank you for all your advice. I just need to make sure that I get one for a concrete pool. I read somewhere on this forum that someone got one for vinyl pools accidentally. I guess the difference is in the tires.

 

[carlscan26]

The difference is in the tires. It's not that big a deal. On the plaster versions there is a solid bump in the tires to keep from getting stuck on drains etc. (there's also a super sized one for tall obstructions). On the vinyl and fiberglass tires rather than being one solid bump piece it's several segmented pieces that raise up more like a hill-like bump. Same effect but not as hard I guess? It sounds like they are fairly interchangeable depending on the situation. They have a few other special situation tires too described in the manual but it really seems like the default types serve most people's needs.

 

[kal2002]

The connection for the hose is a true swivel so the hose doesn't get coiled up. I saw it make one loop while I let it run, 5 mins later the loop was gone.

I ditched the bypass valve it comes with and adjusted my pump speed to get it to 12rpm - that was 1500 rpm on my system and about 240 watts. It easily climbed my walls and after playing with the float location it wouldnt break the surface. Rereading the manual it gives a range to mount them in - turns out if you put the floats exactly in-between that range it balances it just right to where it starts to fall a bit below the surface. Pretty cool too see it climbing the walls.

We just received the 4-wheel Pool Cleaner. After reading the instructions and hooking it up to where the Pool Vac was, it works great cleaning the bottom of the pool but we could not get it to climb any wall. It tries but it just ends up sitting at the bottom of the wall. The wall inside the pool does not have sharp angles. The Pool Cleaner sometimes cleans across the bottom of the wall at an angle but it cannot climb. We installed The Pool Cleaner at the same pump speed as when we had the Pool Vac. We did not use the bypass valve either since we did not use it with the Pool Vac. The hose was also making loops even though it swivels almost 360 degrees. What are we doing wrong?

 

[carlscan26]

You need to adjust it so that the wheels turn at about 11rpm. I actually run mine down around 9 or it surfaces.

 

[carlscan26]

I just noticed that you have a pebbletech finish - the cleaner crawls the sides by holding itself to the side with enough suction that the tires will have traction. You may need to go higher than 12rpm if you really want it to climb the walls.

 

[kal2002]

So are you saying that pebbletech is the problem? We wondered about that. We turned it up to the max and it still would not climb. It tried but no go. The manufacturer of The Pool Cleaner is sending us a new set of front tires without that extra piece of plastic on the tires hoping that will solve the problem. That is super nice of them to do so. I will keep you posted.

 

[carlscan26]

Are they sending you the solid tires? They've helped other with very steep deep-end transitions where the cleaner had trouble climbing out; I forgot to mention those to you, sorry.

I'm guessing on the pebble tech, but if it's "coarse" enough then I could see it not having the ability to pull tightly enough agains tthe pool wall that the cleaner would have neough traction. Yur only solution there is a krepy-krawly type cleaner.

Wall climbing to me is a nice to have, since most dirt and elaves end up on the bottom. That being said, I feel it gives me some buffer with my wall scrubbing as I tend to forget to do that regularly.

Good luck!

 

[kal2002]

I feel it gives me some buffer with my wall scrubbing as I tend to forget to do that regularly.

I feel the same way. I prefer not to have to brush the walls regularly - one of the reasons why the Pool Cleaner sounds so appealing.

We received and installed the solid front tires from the manufacturer. Right after the installation, The Pool Cleaner actually climbed to the top of the water line but that was it. We were told that the new tires need to be broken in for about 2 weeks before it climbs well. I will keep you posted. Also, the 2-wheel version is supposed to climb better than the 4-wheel one but our pool needs the 4-wheeler.

 

[carlscan26]

Nice! Hopefully it doesn't crawl out in two weeks! Let us know what happens!

 

[carlscan26]

Try calling them back and let us know what they say.

I sent an e-mail. They are closed for this week. I will post the answer when they respond.

Did you ever hear back from them?

 

[ride525]

I feel the same way. I prefer not to have to brush the walls regularly - one of the reasons why the Pool Cleaner sounds so appealing.

From ThePoolCleaner Website, Tech Support:

Note: It is NOT imperative for a cleaner to go up the wall as there is no dirt or very little dirt on the walls.