I have purchased an older home that came complete with an older in-the-ground pool. I have no historical information on the pool so I am starting from scratch. I was also gifted with a Polaris 280 pool robot. After I cleaned all the gunk out of the pool and out of the robot (two inches of bleached algae) , I powered up the booster pump and gave it a try. After fixing several leaks around the booster pump and on the pressure hose to the Polaris, I tried again.
The robot is turning within the RPM range described in the on-line owners manual found at the Polaris site but it doesn't seem to matter where I point the rear directional jet, the Polaris only goes around the edges of the pool. Once in a great while, when it bounces off of the steps, it will start to go into the middle but it will make a U-turn and go back to the edge instead. I have noticed that when it does bounce off of the steps and try to go to the middle, that the two front wheels will touch the ground first and that the rear (right) wheel never touches the pool bottom. When that happens, the Polaris will make a U-turn back to the edge. I have water coming from both of the central jets that push the debris into the bag but it doesn't seem to be enough to push the Polaris to the pool floor. I reduced the volume of water going to the whipping tail and thereby possibly increased the water to the vacuum jets. I have even tried adding 3 ounces of weight (just behind the trailing wheel) to the Polaris (no change).
Observation 1: With the booster pump off, the rear wheel of the Polaris does not touch the floor of the pool.
Observation 2: I put a big rubber band around the idler wheel (right side center wheel) and now both right side wheels a being driven. There was a small gap between the right side drive wheel and the idler wheel. The rubber band fixed that and now all the wheels go around.
Question: Is there a way to increase the power of the two central jets so that the Polaris will be able to get traction on the pool floor and vacuum the middle of my pool? Is there some adjustment that I am forgetting?
The robot is turning within the RPM range described in the on-line owners manual found at the Polaris site but it doesn't seem to matter where I point the rear directional jet, the Polaris only goes around the edges of the pool. Once in a great while, when it bounces off of the steps, it will start to go into the middle but it will make a U-turn and go back to the edge instead. I have noticed that when it does bounce off of the steps and try to go to the middle, that the two front wheels will touch the ground first and that the rear (right) wheel never touches the pool bottom. When that happens, the Polaris will make a U-turn back to the edge. I have water coming from both of the central jets that push the debris into the bag but it doesn't seem to be enough to push the Polaris to the pool floor. I reduced the volume of water going to the whipping tail and thereby possibly increased the water to the vacuum jets. I have even tried adding 3 ounces of weight (just behind the trailing wheel) to the Polaris (no change).
Observation 1: With the booster pump off, the rear wheel of the Polaris does not touch the floor of the pool.
Observation 2: I put a big rubber band around the idler wheel (right side center wheel) and now both right side wheels a being driven. There was a small gap between the right side drive wheel and the idler wheel. The rubber band fixed that and now all the wheels go around.
Question: Is there a way to increase the power of the two central jets so that the Polaris will be able to get traction on the pool floor and vacuum the middle of my pool? Is there some adjustment that I am forgetting?