Pentair Racer LS not too impressive

[BowserB]

Hi guys. New pool filled 9/30/18. New Racer LS pool cleaner, provided as part of the pool purchase. Is this normal? About half the time it is running, it is either stranded trying to get past the hose connection to the side of the pool (that connection is about 3" above a bench--poor choice of locations), or it is lying on its side on the sunshelf like a dying beached whale. A good portion of the rest of the time, it is just swimming through the water, not even touching the pool floor.

I've watched with specific items at the bottom of the pool. Mystery black item, Southern Wax Myrtle leaf. In three hours--during which time I've twice rescued it from the sunshelf and once untangled and moved it from the side fitting--it did get the wax myrtle leaf, but the other black mystery item is still there.

The first time I ran the cleaner was about ten days after filling, and it did collect a fair amount of sweepings from my daily brushing with the TFP whale tail brush plus ten days of blown in dirt and stuff. Now it seems not very impressive. Typical? I've got so much money in this darn pool already, I don't care if I need to throw this Racer in the garbage and spend a few hundred for a good appliance. What do other people do?

Thanks.

 

[whatispool]

Hi guys. New pool filled 9/30/18. New Racer LS pool cleaner, provided as part of the pool purchase. Is this normal? About half the time it is running, it is either stranded trying to get past the hose connection to the side of the pool (that connection is about 3" above a bench--poor choice of locations), or it is lying on its side on the sunshelf like a dying beached whale. A good portion of the rest of the time, it is just swimming through the water, not even touching the pool floor.

I've watched with specific items at the bottom of the pool. Mystery black item, Southern Wax Myrtle leaf. In three hours--during which time I've twice rescued it from the sunshelf and once untangled and moved it from the side fitting--it did get the wax myrtle leaf, but the other black mystery item is still there.

The first time I ran the cleaner was about ten days after filling, and it did collect a fair amount of sweepings from my daily brushing with the TFP whale tail brush plus ten days of blown in dirt and stuff. Now it seems not very impressive. Typical? I've got so much money in this darn pool already, I don't care if I need to throw this Racer in the garbage and spend a few hundred for a good appliance. What do other people do?

Thanks.

Not a great cleaner but still, something is wrong.

 

[Jcvader99]

I think your biggest issue is the connector position above a bench seat. No matter how good the cleaner works elsewhere, that was a horrible design choice and your builder should have known better.

I have a polaris and it has a jet in the hose that runs every 2-3 minutes to pull the cleaner from its current area into another. I don't know if the Racer LS has a similar function, but even that might not help it escape from the connector trap on the bench.

As for floating above the floor... the Polaris has a water jet on the back that is adjustable in about a 180-degree rotation. I have made some major improvements in the Polaris effectiveness by adjusting that several times to keep it on the floor, and also to modify its rotation pattern around the pool.

Other thought if you want to replace it would be a floor robot that doesn't use the pressure hose. Its expensive but does a double duty of vacuuming and scrubbing. I don't have one, so I can't speak to any of those.

 

[rphpool]

I have had a Racer since pool built. First take the tail off, close the tail valve, works better IMO. Second make sure propulsion jet is adjusted ( see manual ) to either climb more or less. 1 o'clock or 10 o'clock position works best for my pool. Be ready for parts to break ! While you are in warranty Pentair will take care of you. I just did a rebuild kit , under warranty. New drive gear, new wheels, new tires, new bearings ( which I modify to grip gears better ), new bag ( velcro gives out ). It should go in reverse after 2 1/2 minutes. Make sure you calibrate the water flow via manual ( more is not better ) so it will stay on bottom of pool. When mine is working 100% it does a great job of cleaning, even picks up golf balls that are hit off course!

 

[BowserB]

Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't see the propulsion jet adjustment...will look again. As to the position of the connector, the plumber apparently connected the booster to the wrong return. The right one is where it should be. My pool builder rarely was on the scene, and even though the pipes were uncovered for a week or more, I guess he didn't check the work. Makes me wonder what else might turn up. I'll check that propulsion jet adjustment, and removing the tail is a real possibility, Sugar Land--it sprays out of the pool at the most inconvenient times! Won't test for another week or so, though. I've sidelined the Racer, since another pool builder told me to not use the Racer until the plaster was 30 days old.

 

[duraleigh]

Something is incorrect in your pool size or gallonage. The size and gallons would give you an average depth of 2.5 feet.

I saw that because the size of your pool is VERY important to the cleaner's capacity. Post back your correct size/gallons and we'll have some more advice on your cleaner

 

[BowserB]

Something is incorrect in your pool size or gallonage. The size and gallons would give you an average depth of 2.5 feet.
I saw that because the size of your pool is VERY important to the cleaner's capacity. Post back your correct size/gallons and we'll have some more advice on your cleaner

Thank you, duraleigh. I wondered the same thing. The pool is freeform, kidney with the spa intruding quite a bit. Nonetheless, my only source for all of the specs is the pool builder. I don't even have the final drawing, which I've been asking for since July. I have a list of ten open items with this guy. We thought we were doing this young couple a favor and in return would get their serious attention to the building of this pool. We certainly did not get a bargain price, although it was competitive with the others. Well, as the old saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. I'm going to challenge this capacity. I think they never finished the final plans and now are guessing. The actual depth once beyond the 9" deep sunshelf is 3.5 ft to 6 ft.

One of the other pool builders warned us against hiring someone who worked for a pool company for some time and now is "a guy with a wheelbarrow, who thinks he is a pool builder." He has been onsite infrequently enough that my wife speculates that he has a full time job and this is on the side. I think he's just a very bad manager with good ideas and no follow thru. I will not mention the company or the guy's name, unless someone here is planning a pool in west or northwest greater Houston and wants to PM me with a list of those quoting. I found the company through homeadvisor.com. I'll not use that service again.

Sorry for the digression. Thanks for challenging the gallons, duraleigh.

 

[Dilly14]

I was not sure if the Racer issue was ever resolved. There are 2 tiny holes on the top of the cleaner at the front. They allow the air to escape the chassis. When the cleaner tends to float and the water flow is adjusted properly at the wall fitting, you can drill these 2 holes out slightly larger. This will allow the air to escape better and the cleaner to run on the bottom as it should. If your system has lots of air in the returns it will cause the cleaner to want to float up as well. I hope this helps.