Hi All,
Thanks ktdave for the pointer to the thread, I have not seen a "Pool Skim" before so thanks for that as well.
http://www.poolskim.com/
There is another similar being the "Pool Devil" in that it uses the return to pool but is different, look here if you haven't seen it.
http://www.rkdm.com/pooldevil/index.htm
Now as I have been asked some questions I will do my best to answer them, at the same time I would like to point out the big reasons why "Pool Boy" is different and perhaps raise a question of my own.
Titanium asked.
1. How the Pool Boy can be effective and move very much water using only 40 watts.
That's a good question as like you once upon a time I would have said that's not enough, however results show it is enough for a 10M * 4M pool, obviously more power would do it faster, and a larger Pool might require a larger pump, but initially that was not my design goal. I said to myself when the main pump, main skimmer, suction cleaner, return to pool jets, other suction driven or preassure driven skimmers are running debris falling on the pool surface is promptly "within some minutes" collected by one of these..
However what about all the rest of the time!, and this raises my question, how long is all the rest of the time? In my case I run my main pump now mid summer for 3.5 hours mid evening, and 3.5 hours early morning, always during darkness for chlorine reasons, thus this leaves 24 hours minus 7 hours equals 17 hours.
So for myself anyway there was nothing cleaning the pool for those 17 hours, except me, possibly like you, and this is what I believe Pool Boy addresses.
Might I ask how long you guys run your main pumps for? I would hope not all the time to keep these suction and pressure skimmers running?, as that would be an enormous waste of energy and money not to mention wear and tear on pumps etc. Apart from keeping the surface clean I see no reason to run for any longer, this 7 hours allows me to generate sufficient chlorine and filter the water so that it is crystal clear, of course this would vary with conditions!, for reference I would drop this to about 3 hours mid winter.
So back to your question, a 40 W submersible pump can move 3600 L/hour, and that is the same as 1 L/second. As Pool Boy has what I call an efficient weir door/ skimmer door, in that water cannot travel under it or beside it, that means the water traveling over it is approx 1 cm deep and 22 cm wide, 1 L is 100 cubic centimetres, thus the water traveling over the top of the weir is traveling at around 4.5 cm/s. Of course a weir door cannot just draw the top 1 cm from the surface so this speed is only at the top of the door, and the surface debris approaching Pool Boy is far slower than this but accelerating as it approaches, thanks to surface tension the surface of the pool is like a big blanket, so as you pull the blanket towards you it brings everything floating along with it!
Further, that was the water coming in and it is really the water going out that gets the whole pool contents moving. Obviously if "Pool Boy" draws water in it has to expel it and as it expels it on the opposite side to the weir, this serves to cause all the water in the pool of course slowly, yet fast enough to circulate assisting in bringing debris to "Pool Boys" opening.
2. Why is his pool motor so darn loud?
It's not that loud but it is certainly audible, it's not enclosed, the shows producers made a big thing of that, strangely enough!!! I did not write the script. Might I slip this in that "Pool Boy" in operation is near silent..
3. How the Pool Boy can compete effectively against the PoolSkim, given that the PoolSkim is a) only $90 or so and b) is already in production.
I think I have answered this above however I am happy to summarise.
a) Pool Skim or Pool Devil only operate when your main pump is operating, Pool Boy instead only runs when your main pump is off.
b) If you run your main pump 24 hours a day "Pool Boy" cannot compete, so I would recommend that you buy one of these other products. However if you are running a 800+ W pump for as many as 24 hours each day just to keep the Pool clean I would suggest you consider "Pool Boy" an alternative, as it will save you a dollar or two not to mention the environment in the long run.
I would really like to know if main pump running times have ever been discussed here, I am sure they have so I wonder if someone might lead me to any such discussions.
Thanks for listening, I am happy to answer any or all questions.
Regards
John Bailey
