Robotic cleaners not good for SoCal?

[letterk]

Based on the many glowing reviews here and other websites about the robotic cleaners, I purchased a Maytronics Dolphin Explorer e30 about 6 months ago. It only goes in the pool when I'm using it, and I clean it every time it's used. It's been working great until the recent Santa Ana winds. For those of you not familiar, we get very strong winds, and with it comes a nice thick layer of dirt at the bottom of the pool and tons of leaves. I removed the bulk of the leaves manually before running the robot. Unfortunately, the robot just doesn't seem capable of dealing with this kind of dust. While it removed most of the dirt, now it just kicks up the rest without actually removing it. I can see it clean a strip that's under it, but the area it just cleaned becomes dirty when it goes by another direction. I've run it about 15 times over the past week and the pool just isn't clean. I talked to my pool guy and he said he doesn't recommend them around here. The filters and rubber gaskets wear out too fast and they can't handle the fine dust well. He said none of his customers keep them very long due to the same issues I'm having. Just looking for confirmation before I spend another $500 on something else.

 

[Bperry]

Based on the many glowing reviews here and other websites about the robotic cleaners, I purchased a Maytronics Dolphin Explorer e30 about 6 months ago. It only goes in the pool when I'm using it, and I clean it every time it's used. It's been working great until the recent Santa Ana winds. For those of you not familiar, we get very strong winds, and with it comes a nice thick layer of dirt at the bottom of the pool and tons of leaves. I removed the bulk of the leaves manually before running the robot. Unfortunately, the robot just doesn't seem capable of dealing with this kind of dust. While it removed most of the dirt, now it just kicks up the rest without actually removing it. I can see it clean a strip that's under it, but the area it just cleaned becomes dirty when it goes by another direction. I've run it about 15 times over the past week and the pool just isn't clean. I talked to my pool guy and he said he doesn't recommend them around here. The filters and rubber gaskets wear out too fast and they can't handle the fine dust well. He said none of his customers keep them very long due to the same issues I'm having. Just looking for confirmation before I spend another $500 on something else.

There should be a fine filter option you can use. Mine came with an open filter for leaves and a super fine filter for dust. Both work great. What kind of filter material does the e30 come with?

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

I feel your pain. I'm somewhat blocked by the mountains north of me, but when the winds come more from the east, I get some heavy winds. I've only been hit hard once this season, but I spent 3 days or so clearing the mess. Like you, I use a leaf rake to collect the bigger stuff, then set the suction to the main bottom drain on high speed. I brush towards the deep end and keep the pump running for several hours. I then set up the suction cleaner. It takes a few days before the water clears up.

I don't have a robot, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be effective on the large debris and the very fine sediment that gets blown into the pool. Robots probably have a place in pool maintenance, but battling against Devil winds may be a bit much.

 

[Jimrahbe]

L,

I find that pretty hard to understand... Are you using the pleated filters? That look like this...

Seems to me like anything fine enough to get through these filters would not settle to the bottom of the pool...

I can understand having to run the cleaner a couple of times, but I can't understand the cleaner not capturing it..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[AQUA~HOLICS]

I think your pool man is correct in saying that they are not as popular as suction side cleaners here on the west coast. Having a dedicated pool sweep line in new construction is the norm now a days. When I’m in SCP or PEP all I see are suction side cleaners being purchased. That Santa Ana wind event last week was a strong one!

 

[Jimrahbe]

I still do not understand.. I agree that a suction side, or pressure side, cleaner can suck up a larger volume of leaves, etc.. But they can't come close to picking up the small stuff that a robot can.

If the problem is cleaning up the "dirt" then if a robot can't do it, then I doubt a water powered cleaner can do it either..

Still a puzzle to me..

Jim R.

 

[mknauss]

I get very fine dust in our pool. The Active20 picks it all up in one pass. Use the pleated filters.

 

[jmastron]

The Explorer E30 doesn't come with the pleated filters, only the mesh filters. When I bought ours from Marina in September, I got a set of pleated filters for $50 more; might check what they sell them for alone. I haven't opened the pleated ones yet because this time of year leaves are most of what I really care about -- and the mesh filter seems finer than the Polaris bag they replaced so it's at least as clean. I can see the pleated ones doing a lot better for fine dust.

 

[reggiehammond]

The Explorer E30 doesn't come with the pleated filters, only the mesh filters. When I bought ours from Marina in September, I got a set of pleated filters for $50 more; might check what they sell them for alone. I haven't opened the pleated ones yet because this time of year leaves are most of what I really care about -- and the mesh filter seems finer than the Polaris bag they replaced so it's at least as clean. I can see the pleated ones doing a lot better for fine dust.

Good catch; the pleated filters will definitely catch all the dust you could ever imagine. When I first got my robot, I was SHOCKED at how much silt, sand and dust it pulled out from what I thought was perfectly clean TFP water.

 

[the_sphynx]

I am in SoCal and have had a Dolphin M500 that worked fantastic on the mud and crud that comes with the Santa Ana winds. The motor on it died not too long ago so I decided to go with the S400 this time around since that M500 was a heavy machine. So far, it hasn't been a problem. Mine uses both filters actually and it gets all kinds of stuff out there in the pool.
Even the M500 had to do 10+ passes most of the time to get all of the Crud off the bottom of the pool after a 2-3 day Santa Ana event. We haven't had any "bad" wind storms yet but a couple to see that the S400 will likely do the job.
Here's to hoping you filter change helps a lot.

 

[KJB1]

I have an old Dolphin Nautilus that still works great. It took 2 run cycles (no clue how many passes) to pick up the dirt from the recent Santa Ana winds. I’m close to “wine country” so there is no shortage of dust. I had a suction side cleaner for a few months and I hated the hassle of the hoses and switching from the skimmer to the vacuum etc. With the skimmer and Robot going at the same time the pool cleans up nice and fairly quick.
Get some skimmer socks too if you don’t have them

 

[letterk]

Thanks for all the comments. I have a dedicated vacuum line, but stopped using it when I purchased the robot. First couple months, I was amazed at how clean the pool was. I ran it right after the last vacuum cycle and it certainly picked up more dirt than my old one ever did. My concern is that now 6 months later it isn't working nearly as well. The robot came with the flat fine filters, not the pleated filters. But again, at the beginning it worked great and picked up the dirt you can't even see. Now it doesn't. If the filters have gone bad after 6 months, this is going to be a very expensive option. But my pool guy said it's also the seals going bad and letting water pass around the filters. Has anyone used any grease on the gaskets to help prevent this?

 

[mknauss]

Has anyone used any grease on the gaskets to help prevent this?

I would not do that.

My filters are nearly 5 years old. They do not wear out. And there is no bypass.

Something else is going on.

 

[Jimrahbe]

K,

Robots tend to work or they don't work.. I've been using robots for about 15 years and have never seen issues with degraded performance over time..

I am not sure what "seals" he could be even talking about.. My S200, which looks identical to your E30, does not have anything that I would consider a seal.

I think your pool guys has been smoking too much Chino Blend...


Jim R.

 

[Oly]

Get the pleated fibrous filters and the mesh basket that fits inside them, that will remove the dirt and dust, guaranteed. Here we have delt with ash fallout from wildfires for the last several years and the bot makes quick work of getting it out of the pool. Ask your pool expert to put you in contact with all those SoCal folks willing to sell their robots for cheap and start a resale side business.

 

[KJB1]

Thanks for all the comments. I have a dedicated vacuum line, but stopped using it when I purchased the robot. First couple months, I was amazed at how clean the pool was. I ran it right after the last vacuum cycle and it certainly picked up more dirt than my old one ever did. My concern is that now 6 months later it isn't working nearly as well. The robot came with the flat fine filters, not the pleated filters. But again, at the beginning it worked great and picked up the dirt you can't even see. Now it doesn't. If the filters have gone bad after 6 months, this is going to be a very expensive option. But my pool guy said it's also the seals going bad and letting water pass around the filters. Has anyone used any grease on the gaskets to help prevent this?

You are cleaning the filters right? There is no real seal on mine. Plastic filter surround meets plastic filter frame/holder. Some dust is sure to get by but 100% HEPA style filtering isn’t really the goal.