For the past several weeks my little Pool Vac XL has been zipping along the bottom and sides of my pool, getting the job done with few issues. About the only time it would stop would be if it sucked up too many leaves or sticks which ended up jamming the impeller. But once I cleared the jams, it was back to scooting along the pool.
Until a couple days ago, that is. I've been keeping the bottom of the pool clean, skimming all the leaves and sticks every morning as part of my pool maintenance routine. I try to skim them up before the pump starts (the pump runs from 7am to 4pm), which reduces the chance of the Pool Vac sucking up debris. But a couple of days ago, it just stopped. Or almost stopped. It was still moving, although just barely. What's strange is, when I pick it up, its feet are kicking like crazy and if I put my hand up against the inlet at the vac's base, there's good, strong suction. So there's plenty of suction to spin the impeller, which is what is making the feet kick away. Reasoning that something else in the mechanism must be off, I totally dismantled it, looking for any hidden issues, and I didn't find any. No hidden debris, no obvious wear on any of the internals. The external wear items -- the feet and skirts -- still have plenty of life left to them, or so it seems. So I don't lose the pump's prime, I keep the vac's hose below the surface of the water, and I dunk the vac and shake it some to get all the air out of the unit. And as soon as I hook the hose back up, its feet start kicking merrily away. But as soon as it hits the pool floor, it just stops.
Even though there was good strong suction at the end of the hose, where it connects to the vac, I went ahead and cleaned the filter this morning, hoping that might do it. The filter was dirty, but not that dirty. Not enough to choke off the suction to the point where its function would be impaired. But it didn't make any difference. The vac is creeping ever so slowly across the floor. I don't know what else to check. I've run out of ideas. But I've got to be missing something. Any ideas what I might have overlooked?
Until a couple days ago, that is. I've been keeping the bottom of the pool clean, skimming all the leaves and sticks every morning as part of my pool maintenance routine. I try to skim them up before the pump starts (the pump runs from 7am to 4pm), which reduces the chance of the Pool Vac sucking up debris. But a couple of days ago, it just stopped. Or almost stopped. It was still moving, although just barely. What's strange is, when I pick it up, its feet are kicking like crazy and if I put my hand up against the inlet at the vac's base, there's good, strong suction. So there's plenty of suction to spin the impeller, which is what is making the feet kick away. Reasoning that something else in the mechanism must be off, I totally dismantled it, looking for any hidden issues, and I didn't find any. No hidden debris, no obvious wear on any of the internals. The external wear items -- the feet and skirts -- still have plenty of life left to them, or so it seems. So I don't lose the pump's prime, I keep the vac's hose below the surface of the water, and I dunk the vac and shake it some to get all the air out of the unit. And as soon as I hook the hose back up, its feet start kicking merrily away. But as soon as it hits the pool floor, it just stops.
Even though there was good strong suction at the end of the hose, where it connects to the vac, I went ahead and cleaned the filter this morning, hoping that might do it. The filter was dirty, but not that dirty. Not enough to choke off the suction to the point where its function would be impaired. But it didn't make any difference. The vac is creeping ever so slowly across the floor. I don't know what else to check. I've run out of ideas. But I've got to be missing something. Any ideas what I might have overlooked?
