Need suctions port for pool cleaner - best option?

[RoadRunrTX]

I have an 8'x15' spa-pool that's uniformly 5' deep. There are two main drains and a front opening water level skimmer in the wall. No top opening basket in the skimmer.

I'd like to use a suction driven pool cleaner like the Zodiac G3/.MX6 or Hayward The PoolCleaner. My understanding is they clean very well at a low cost and are extremely durable/simple/reliable/robust. .....but I don't think I have the suction service port required to drive one. I do have my equipment pad about 10' from the edge of pool, so the 40' hoses for suction cleaners could (I think) reach all the way back to the pad for power.

My overall goal is to have a really clean pool for the min investment of both time and money.

Would appreciate your creativity and wisdom. What's the best way for me to easily run a suction cleaner?

Have a suction port installed on the equipment pad? Something else?

Or should I just give up and buy an electric driven robot cleaner like the Dolphin Nautilus/Explorer? Thx!!

 

[Dirk]

There are mixed reports here about the reliability and longevity of robot cleaners. And not particularly good reports. A 3-5 year lifespan is regularly cited. I have a suction-side cleaner and love it. Much better for my relatively-clean pool than my pressure-side cleaner was. And because I'd rather stare at a mostly submerged vac hose in my pool than a robot's power cord draped across my yard, it's vac for me and no robots.

What is the material of your pool shell? Fiberglass?

What is outside of the shell? Is it buried and/or covered with a concrete deck? Or do you have access, or relatively easy access to the outside of the shell?

The skimmer will have a pipe running from it to the pad. Is that pipe exposed? Or could it be exposed with some amount of digging?

Is there a path, from the pool to the pad in which you could dig a trench and bury a run of 1.5-2" PVC?

You likely have options. It's just a matter of understanding what they are based on your configuration. Some pics would help our "thinkers" to envision the best solution.

 

[RoadRunrTX]

There are mixed reports here about the reliability and longevity of robot cleaners. And not particularly good reports. A 3-5 year lifespan is regularly cited. I have a suction-side cleaner and love it. Much better for my relatively-clean pool than my pressure-side cleaner was. And because I'd rather stare at a mostly submerged vac hose in my pool than a robot's power cord draped across my yard, it's vac for me and no robots.

What is the material of your pool shell? Fiberglass?

What is outside of the shell? Is it buried and/or covered with a concrete deck? Or do you have access, or relatively easy access to the outside of the shell?

The skimmer will have a pipe running from it to the pad. Is that pipe exposed? Or could it be exposed with some amount of digging?

Is there a path, from the pool to the pad in which you could dig a trench and bury a run of 1.5-2" PVC?

You likely have options. It's just a matter of understanding what they are based on your configuration. Some pics would help our "thinkers" to envision the best solution.

Thx. Good ideas.

The pool is gunite w/ pebbletech plaster finish. The pool deck is brushed concrete. There is a way to get access to the suction return lines in the ground before they hit the equipment pad. I'm investigating whether I can connect a suction cleaner directly to the skimmer basket/box at the pump. The pool shell is partially above ground (18" above ground; 3.5' below ground total depth 5')

 

[Jimrahbe]

RR,

Well, I am just the opposite from Dirk, I will never go back to a suction cleaner...

People are different and pools are different and you should get whatever works best for you.

I have a couple of rent house pools, and I tried to vacuum from the skimmer, but could not get it to work, as the pump at the time, needed more water than it could suck through the Vac hose.. Like you, my equipment pad is right next to the pool. So, I added a simple suction port.. Here is a pic of what I did..

091-1.JPG

• Jimrahbe
• Mar 10, 2021

Obviously, the valve in front of the pump allows me to suck water from the pool and/or the Vac hose.

Just to be clear... The original pump was a large single speed pump, the pic was taken after the pump was replaced with a VS pump.

Please let me know if you have any questions..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Dirk]

Well fiberglass would have been easier to deal with, but it is possible to add a suction port to a gunite pool. Though I don't know personally all the risks of doing that. You certainly wouldn't want to hit rebar while drilling through it. I'm sure there are other issues. Maybe another here has some experience with that idea.

The most I can verify with my limited experience is that it is possible to convert a pressure port to a suction port (if the piping to it is at least 1.5" PVC). That's how I went from a pressure vac system to a suction vac system. But I don't know that idea would help you. If your pool has a return port to spare, and each return has been home-run back to the pad, you could sacrifice a return port and convert it to a suction port. How many returns do you have? Do they home-run back to the pad? If they don't home-run, you might be able to dig up where they join underground and separate them, and then run one of them back to the pad and connect it to the suction side. The concrete deck complicates that idea.

These are pretty radical ideas, but possible.

The other possibility is to attach a suction vac's hose to the suction port in your skimmer, but you'd have to do so manually, regularly. I can't think of a way to automate that. And as Jim points out, it's kinda hit and miss how well that setup works.

 

[Dirk]

Like you, my equipment pad is right next to the pool. So, I added a simple suction port.. Here is a pic of what I did..

Jim, how did you get the suction to the pool? Were you running the hose over-ground, and then into the pool over the coping?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dirk,

Yes..

The equipment pad is about 6 feet or less from the edge of the pool... The Vac port that I installed, works just like one that would be in the side wall of the pool, except the hose has go over the top of the coping to get into the pool..

It worked fine, but after I used it for a while, I found that I like robots better.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Dirk]

So there you go, @RoadRunrTX. Add a port on the suction-side of your pad and run the hose over the ground and coping into your pool. Jim has confirmed it works, and that would definitely be the easiest and cheapest solution to get a suction vac into your pool.

Yes, it would be a little unsightly, but not that much more so than a suction vac hose emanating from the side of your pool wall. I like to pull mine out when swimmers are using the pool, so if you did the same the aesthetics would be a non-issue. In fact, because I have to get on my knees to pull out my vac, having the port at your pad, above ground level, would make that task considerably easier.

The only other issue would be the priming of the hose. When I throw my vac back into the water, I lower it such that I get all the air out of the hose. Then I attach it to the port. That way, when the vac is next engaged, there is no big slug of air getting sucked into my pump. There is no air at all. So either your pump won't mind such an air pocket, or you can devise a method of getting your suction hose connected to the port at the pad with little or no air in it. A simple solution shouldn't be too much trouble to devise.

 

[RoadRunrTX]

So there you go, @RoadRunrTX. Add a port on the suction-side of your pad and run the hose over the ground and coping into your pool. Jim has confirmed it works, and that would definitely be the easiest and cheapest solution to get a suction vac into your pool.

Yes, it would be a little unsightly, but not that much more so than a suction vac hose emanating from the side of your pool wall. I like to pull mine out when swimmers are using the pool, so if you did the same the aesthetics would be a non-issue. In fact, because I have to get on my knees to pull out my vac, having the port at your pad, above ground level, would make that task considerably easier.

The only other issue would be the priming of the hose. When I throw my vac back into the water, I lower it such that I get all the air out of the hose. Then I attach it to the port. That way, when the vac is next engaged, there is no big slug of air getting sucked into my pump. There is no air at all. So either your pump won't mind such an air pocket, or you can devise a method of getting your suction hose connected to the port at the pad with little or no air in it. A simple solution shouldn't be too much trouble to devise.

Many thanks to all!

I think I have a gameplan now. Discovered that the front opening (only) skimmer box does have a standard suction port at the bottom. Pool builder failed to remove cap over the port used to protect during construction. Still haven't signed off on delivery, so its his problem to fix. Don't expect it will be a big deal.

I should be able to sue the simmer box suction once its been uncapped. Wildcard is its a little tight getting a hose in their without a top opening....

I'm also getting more comfortable with the idea of an electric cleaner robot