Explorer E20 and New Raised Drain

[GaryV512]

Hi All, I just had my pool re-surfaced a couple months back. During the re-surface project, they removed my existing "flat/flush" main drain, and replaced it with a new (probably due to codes about people getting their hair sucked in?) elevated main drain cap.

With the flat drain, my E20 robotic vacuum had no issues at all keeping the pool clean, and was not tearing anything up.

With this new elevated drain, as you can see from the pics of the vacuum bottom, it's is scraping pretty roughly on the new drain. I don't see any drain breakage yet, but I'm concerned that if I continue, the vacuum will cause premature drain failure.

Am I justly or unjustly concerned? Are there other robotic cleaners that would work as well or better, and not cause an early drain failure? This one was about $500 from Home Depot about a year ago. Any estimate on the cost to get a drain cap replaced?

Many thanks,
Gary

 

[1poolman1]

Hi All, I just had my pool re-surfaced a couple months back. During the re-surface project, they removed my existing "flat/flush" main drain, and replaced it with a new (probably due to codes about people getting their hair sucked in?) elevated main drain cap.

With the flat drain, my E20 robotic vacuum had no issues at all keeping the pool clean, and was not tearing anything up.

With this new elevated drain, as you can see from the pics of the vacuum bottom, it's is scraping pretty roughly on the new drain. I don't see any drain breakage yet, but I'm concerned that if I continue, the vacuum will cause premature drain failure.

Am I justly or unjustly concerned? Are there other robotic cleaners that would work as well or better, and not cause an early drain failure? This one was about $500 from Home Depot about a year ago. Any estimate on the cost to get a drain cap replaced?

Many thanks,
Gary

All VGB-compliant (Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act) single, round covers are domed or raised. There are VGB flat main drains that are channel drains, about 32" long and would probably cost a few thousand dollars to get installed.

That scratching looks more like something that would happen as a cleaner goes over the edge of stairs/steps.

 

[GaryV512]

Yeah, I used incorrect terminology, they changed the drain cover, they did not change any of the piping underneath. I'll run it thru a cleaning cycle and confirm where it's scraping. I just don't want to damage things for the sake of cleaning the pool...

 

[JoyfulNoise]

The robot will be fine. The nuisance you will experience is that the robot will occasionally “high center” itself on the drain the cover and get stuck there until the programming executes a thrust turn. The combination of a robots low riding chassis and the height of the raised drain is a perfect storm for causing the robot to not clean as well. There are all sorts of clips, covers, mats, and gizmos that have been sold to try to mitigate the bot from beaching itself on the drain lid but none of them work reliably enough to recommend.

While it’s easy to complain about, the flip side is more important - any accidental drowning, especially one caused by suction entrapment, is one too many.

 

[Newdude]

There's 100 kinds so do your homework of course but they make main drain clips for this problem.

Click this link for an idea of what you need