Dolphin or Pentair robot cleaner failing - TRY THIS!

[Household6]

My Pentair Warrior SI has finally succumbed to the issues many others have reported (purchased April 2020 from Marina Pools, but certainly not their fault).

Earlier this year was having issues with Wall-E not going to the shallow end. Upon @JoyfulNoise suggestion I broke him down to the propeller and sure enough it was wrapped in dog hair. Removed. Reassembled. Worked great for about a month.

Last week it started doing this thing where it would go forward about 12”, backward about 12”, then stop. Tore it down. Impeller had nothing on or around it. However, the impeller was very resistant to spin with a push from my finger.

Still not willing to dish out $600 for a new motor assembly, I took to YouTube and found this

Could it be this simple?
A bearing that cost $1 and a $25 tool (that I might be able to borrow from a parts store)?

Stay tuned folks - IM GOING IN!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

My Pentair Warrior SI has finally succumbed to the issues many others have reported (purchased April 2020 from Marina Pools, but certainly not their fault).

Earlier this year was having issues with Wall-E not going to the shallow end. Upon @JoyfulNoise suggestion I broke him down to the propeller and sure enough it was wrapped in dog hair. Removed. Reassembled. Worked great for about a month.

Last week it started doing this thing where it would go forward about 12”, backward about 12”, then stop. Tore it down. Impeller had nothing on or around it. However, the impeller was very resistant to spin with a push from my finger.

Still not willing to dish out $600 for a new motor assembly, I took to YouTube and found this

Could it be this simple?
A bearing that cost $1 and a $25 tool (that I might be able to borrow from a parts store)?

Stay tuned folks - IM GOING IN!

You can spend the time and money rebuilding the impeller motor but the drive motor will likely die next. Once you start having motor assembly issues, the robot has one foot in the grave. You may be able to get another season out of it or you may only get a few more days. There’s no way to know.

At the end of the day, if you’re outside warranty period, then it makes no sense to repair the robot. It’s more economical to simply trash the robot and buy new.

Honestly, Maytronics knows all this and the least they could do to be environmentally responsible is to establish a program whereby pool owners with dead bots can send them back for recycling. People throwing hundreds of bots a year into landfills with motors, wires, printed circuit boards, plastic, rubber, etc, is just irresponsible. Worth a complaint to the FTC and EPA in my opinion.

 

[Household6]

You can spend the time and money rebuilding the impeller motor but the drive motor will likely die next. Once you start having motor assembly issues, the robot has one foot in the grave. You may be able to get another season out of it or you may only get a few more days. There’s no way to know.

At the end of the day, if you’re outside warranty period, then it makes no sense to repair the robot. It’s more economical to simply trash the robot and buy new.

Honestly, Maytronics knows all this and the least they could do to be environmentally responsible is to establish a program whereby pool owners with dead bots can send them back for recycling. People throwing hundreds of bots a year into landfills with motors, wires, printed circuit boards, plastic, rubber, etc, is just irresponsible. Worth a complaint to the FTC and EPA in my opinion.

Went out to pull WallE out of the pool and take him apart and the fool thing was working again. That lasted a day.

Pulled out the ole manual a few days later. It was humbling and a good reminder.

New motor assembly is $450.
I’ll pay that and hope it gets me another 3 years, total cost around $300/yr for 5-6 years. It saves me that in time.