Pool Cleaner questions

[Bcheckov]

I need a pool cleaner to replace the Polaris that was part of the pool when I bought the house 8 years ago. I tried the Aiper Seagull S.E. cordless robotic pool cleaner but it skips around the pool floor, doesn’t clean places completely, gets hung up on the main drain covers and doesn’t climb walls. Rather disappointing.

I am so confused between the robotic and suction cleaners. The suction cleaners connect to a separate pump and can be timed to run a certain number of hours each day. But it can put a strain on the main pool pump, right?

The robotic cleaners connect to a power cord that connect to an outdoor plug. It is totally separate from the pool’s pump system. Is this right?

Which one cleans better? Is more reliable?

I saw a leaf canister but am not sure how it is hooked up between the cleaner and the skimmer. And what and where does the “hairnet” go?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I am so confused between the robotic and suction cleaners. The suction cleaners connect to a separate pump and can be timed to run a certain number of hours each day. But it can put a strain on the main pool pump, right?

A suction cleaner attaches to either a wall port that is specifically attached to the suction side of your plumbing OR at the skimmer using either a vacuum plate or a special diverter valve that plugs into the opening at the bottom of the skimmer. A suction cleaner runs, typically, whenever your pool pump is running and needs no special booster pump. Sometimes there are valves at the suction side of the pump that allows the pool owner to isolate the skimmer, main drain, and/or suction port, assuming one was plumbed to the pool. There is no "strain" put on to the pump, it's simply another suction line into the pool. If one uses the skimmer as a suction port, then I suppose you could set it up in a way that would cause the pump to lose prime but that would a user-error, not a feature of the cleaner.

Was the Polaris cleaner a SUCTION cleaner OR a PRESSURE cleaner?? Most of the time, when people say they have a "Polaris" they are talking about a pressure-side cleaner.

The robotic cleaners connect to a power cord that connect to an outdoor plug. It is totally separate from the pool’s pump system. Is this right?

Correct. Electronic cleaning robots plug into a wall outlet and have nothing to do with your pool's plumbing system.

Which one cleans better? Is more reliable?

Define "better" and "reliable"?

In my pool, a suction cleaner is all that I need. It works fine at picking up debris and being easy to use. Suction cleaners are simple to fix when necessary and can go many season before needing a "tune up".

Based on current reporting, TFP is seeing that electronic robot users are getting 3 to 5 years out of their robots before they suffer a "catastrophic failure". Typically when an electronic robot cleaner fails, replacing it with a new cleaner makes more financial sense than trying to replace expensive parts. Rebuilding them is not really an option. So you have to be prepared to buy a new robot every 3-5 years. That's often a price many people are not willing to pay.

I saw a leaf canister but am not sure how it is hooked up between the cleaner and the skimmer. And what and where does the “hairnet” go?

Leaf canisters are not a necessity and they are only used with SUCTION cleaners. A pool owner might want to use a leaf canister if their pool experiences heavy debris loading (like large leaves, acorns, etc) as that kind of debris can cause a blockage to form in the suction plumbing. Suction side blockages are labor intensive to fix and can often require a rooter service to be needed to blow out the line if it happens.

 

[Bcheckov]

I have a Polaris PB4-60 booster pump and it said on it that it is for pressure cleaning. If the old Polaris cleaner I had lasted for my 8 years here before it died not to mention how long the previous owners had it, I am thinking a Polaris pressure cleaner is the way to go. But I had never heard of an Aqua or Hayward or Aiper before. I need something that does pick up lots of leaves. Neighbor’s scrub trees (mulberry, tree of heaven and black locust) are growing sideways over my exterior fence and getting closer to the pool fence. Flowers and leaves are a big problem.

 

[mknauss]

Your signature shows "Aiper Seagull SE Cordless Robotic Pool Cleaner"

 

[Bcheckov]

Your signature shows "Aiper Seagull SE Cordless Robotic Pool Cleaner"

Yes, that is the cleaner I currently have. I used to have a Polaris cleaner but it broke. There is a separate booster pump that I could use but I was trying the cheaper Aiper cleaner first.

 

[markayash]

I loved my Polaris SE but like others mine failed right at 3 years and I can’t justify $700 every 3 years.

I went back to a Polaris 360 that uses my existing pump for pressure.

 

[Bcheckov]

I loved my Polaris SE but like others mine failed right at 3 years and I can’t justify $700 every 3 years.

I went back to a Polaris 360 that uses my existing pump for pressure.

Do you have many leaves in your pool?

 

[Dirk]

When you say "Polaris" and "booster pump," that indicates you had a pressure-side cleaner, not a suction-side cleaner. Big difference. The booster pump pushes water through a pipe and down the cleaner's hose into the vacuum head, which uses Venturi action to send crud into a little bag attached to the vac head. You then periodically clean out the bag. The main pump must also be running while the booster pump runs, so a pressure-side vac system is the least energy efficient way to vacuum a pool, because two big pumps are running.

Robots work on their own, no extra pool pump needs to be running. Totally independent. But, yes, they plug in to a 120V outlet and so there is a cord running across your deck and into your pool (which is what I don't like about them). According to reports, reliability is not their strong suit.

Suction-side cleaners do not need a booster pump. Your main pump sucks water through the vac head and whatever gets sucked up ends up in your main pump's basket, or in your main pool filter. It can stay in your pool 24-7, but is easily removed for swimming, if you like. It's much lighter than a robot, so getting it out of the pool is less work. And there is no bag to clean, so once in the pool, you never have to remove it if you don't want to (I do, when it's more than just me swimming, but otherwise I ignore it). For the seven-ish non-pool-season months of the year, I don't even think about my pool vac, or need to do anything about it.

Others will tell you that running a robot uses less electricity than a suction-side vac, which needs the main pump running. And that is technically true, since a robot uses less energy than your main pump. But while a suction-side vac is cleaning, it is also filtering your water though your pool filter (a robot doesn't do that), so it can be considered part of your water filtering runtime. And while the main pump must run higher for vacuuming than for general filtering, it's not exactly fair to say a suction-side vac uses a whole lot more electricity than a robot, when you consider you'd be running your main pump anyway. This is truer if you have a variable speed pump (you don't specify). And, no, a suction-side vac does not tax your pump in any significant way, other than running it at slightly higher RPMs, which is what it is designed to do.

As @JoyfulNoise describes, a leaf catcher is only used with a suction-side vac, when you have a lot of debris to clean up that you don't want to run through your pipes and into your pump basket and filter. I don't use one, because my pool stays relatively clean all year round, and I only have to clean my filter once a year (and have even skipped a year one time).

So between the weight and cord of a robot, and having to clean its little dirt catcher regularly (which means pulling it out of the water often), its expense and its tendency to need replacing, a robot isn't for me. My Pentair Rebel suction-side cleaner has been going strong for about five years and keeps my pool spotless. It is just now starting to get stuck once in a while, probably it's gears getting a little worn. Rather than trying to repair it, or waiting for it to die, I just this morning ordered another one, but only needed to replace the vac head (not all its other parts). That was about $225 (plus tax and shipping). Which works out to about $50 a year. Which is pretty darn affordable cleaning! I'll keep the mostly-still-working original as a backup.

Oh, sorry to go on, one other thing. I used to have a Polaris pressure-side cleaner, with that stupid tail that would spray me and my windows. A pool plumber was able to reroute my plumbing and convert my pressure-side plumbing to suction-side, so I was able to switch to a suction-side cleaner. The same may or may not be possible for your pool, but a decent pool plumber could determine that for you. The main thing is the diameter of pipes. Mine were 1.5", which, knock on wood, have so far been free from getting clogged up. I was able to get rid of a failing booster pump. And I found that the Rebel cleaned at least as well as the Polaris.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

I used to have a Polaris pressure-side cleaner, with that stupid tail that would spray me and my windows.

There is a remedy for that. The replacement tail scrubber called the Tail Sweep Pro doesn't spray. Of course, it doesn't come standard with any of the Polaris cleaners, so you have to buy it separately.

 

[markayash]

Do you have many leaves in your pool?

Yea I have a ton in the fall and get what I call tree junk year round.
I think the Polaris does a better job picking up leaves and stuff mainly because I let it run all the time. One issue with robots are they usually run 2 hours and stop so you have to start them again.

I think robots will get better and cheaper but there are a lot of folks who had similar issues like I did and basically have to throw them away

I got a used Polaris 360 online and saved a lot of money and it Looks like new so lucked out