Suction side pool vac recomendations.

[-Greg-]

I currently have a Polaris 280 and booster pump that has preformed flawlessly for the past 2 years, however I am looking at more ways to reduce our electric bills (Edison is lowering our baseline once again this year). I plan on selling the 280 and pump and purchasing a suction side cleaner, the guy that built the pool is recommending the Polaris ATV. If anyone has any experience with this model, or recommendations on another model, it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Greg

 

[salinda]

I did this 2 years ago. I also live in California. Quite frankly, I wish I had kept the Polaris 280 and just had shorter run times on it until it really broke. I think I would have gotten more value for my money that way. That being said, I would first recommend looking into The Pool Cleaner - pressure side. Others have had good results with that. The plumbing modifications would probably be much smaller with that change. They would basically replace your booster with a valve is my understanding.

I switched to The Pool Cleaner for the suction side. I like it okay, but I just wish I had let the Polaris live out its "life." It took much less time to get the pool clean. The Pool Cleaner easily takes 4 hours. If I want to have a morning party, I have to turn on the pool earlier to get it clean looking or manually vacuum it, which I never had to do before. The suction side cleaner also takes some of the suction away from the skimmer. Since I went to a smaller variable speed pump, that had some effect too, but the surface of the pool just isn't as clean. Also, my steps now need to be manually cleaned as well as the water line. I like things easy.

Try running the Polaris every other day for only a couple of hours and see what happens to your bill. That is my honest opinion.

 

[mas985]

I have ThePoolCleaner suction side cleaner going on three years now and am pretty happy with it. It cleans the pool fairly quickly and climbs the walls to the water line.

They also make a pressure side cleaner that doesn't need a booster pump so you might want to look at that as well.

 

[-Greg-]

Thanks Mark and Salinda for the replies. Salinda I think I will take your advice and switch to every other day and see how that goes. I was also checking out the Halcyon booster pump online to see if it was any more efficient, however it is not, my final thoughts are that I am going to double check that it is wired up with 220 vs. 110.

Greg

 

[PondScum]

My wife bought a Polaris ATV on the advice of a salesperson at NPS (I was out of town). There was nothing wrong with the Hayward Navigator we had, it just needed some rebuild parts, but she didn't know it could be fixed. The Polaris seems slightly less prone to getting clogged with leaves, but its path seems less random than the Navigator. It seems to go over the same spots all the time, so it takes longer to vacuum the entire bottom compared to the Navigator.