Does Polaris Bag Affect Suction?

[giajenx]

My husband bought a cheapy bag for our Polaris 3900 and it doesn't seem to be picking up as much. Does bag quality affect the unit's ability to suck up acorns? I've attached a pic of the one my husband bought and also one of the brand name.

Thank you.

 

[ajw22]

I have used different bags on my Polaris without seeing any difference in performace.

I don't think you can blame your husbands choice of bag for your cleaner problems.

 

[jmastron]

I think it can -- do those replacement bags on the right have stitching partway up like the left one does, or is it just a big open flag shape? Watching our old Polaris 280, the leaves getting sucked up and over that barrier seemed to be an inherent part of keeping them out of the way so the main jets have a clear path straight up. Once the side section got packed it would still fill the main section, but at a slower pace.

Other things that can affect performance include the porosity of the mesh and the stiffness of the "neck" where it connects to the plastic ring. When I tried a bigger "leaf bag" with our 280 ; it didn't work well at all; it would fill a bit then just clog at the neck. I think the stiffness and lack of "side pouch" was the issue. The smaller regular bags actually packed more in, so I just used those and replaced them every year or so as they'd get torn up.

Now, I never tried non-OEM bags like above with zippers; the cheapie regular bags I got early on were velcro closure, which was awful, and I just went back to OEM Polaris bags after that figuring any potential hassle wasn't worth the $10-$20/year savings.

 

[markayash]

I used a “leaf” bag and decided to try a finer one and it didn’t seem to work as well on my older Polaris.
But 90% on my junk is bigger leaf’s so returned it and kept using the screen looking one.

 

[ajw22]

Note that Polaris has a few different bags with various shapes and materials. I do prefer using Polaris bags then no name knock offs.

 

[giajenx]

Thanks y’all. @jmastron the white ones are more like a flag. No stitching other than the seam around the outside. @markayash I’m assuming that a leaf bag is larger than the ones in the pics I posted? Our big problem right now is acorns. There are two huge live oaks around our pool. The old Polaris bag used to fill up with acorns with no problem. But now I’m wondering if it’s the bag or if there’s some other mechanism in the tubes or in the unit itself that is making it weaker.