Oh boy, just when I thought I had something figured out, I realize I don't. So there are pressure cleaners, suction cleaners, AND robots. I thought that suction cleaners were robots but now some of the things I read that were a bit confusing make more sense. I probably knew this at one point, but have been researching so much about pools, the information got pushed out of my brain to make room for more information...
I would like to have a vacuum or pressure dedicated line installed in the new pool just in case we run out of money and have to wait a bit before buying the robot, and the way things are adding up, that might just happen. Plus I made the mistake of mentioning to my spouse the cost difference between a robot and other cleaners, oops. Now, I might have to wait until my birthday for a robot. When I asked pool builders about having a pressure line vs. vacuum/suction line installed, they knew what a vacuum line was but didn't know what a pressure line was so I thought maybe pressure cleaners were no longer used. I know a pressure cleaner line also requires a booster pump and is therefore more expensive to install. But I also read they handle large leaves better which we unfortunately will have an issue with due to a neighbor's tree we can't control that is right over the future pool. And the tree drops large, really hard seed pod clusters (like 6 large acorns attached with hard stems). Then again, we live in Arizona so fine dust is also a concern. Is there a downside to having a dedicated vacuum/suction line or pressure line installed other than the added cost? Which one would be best for a new pool build? We are not doing an in-ground pool cleaning system. And where would be the best place to have the suction or pressure line placed? BTW, manually cleaning the pool until we can get a robot is not an option because who knows when that will happen and we are busy and very lazy.