Suction or pressure side cleaner?

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jspeacock1978

jspeacock1978

0
Jul 10, 2012
54
Northern California
Pool Size
16800
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Jandy Aquapure 1400
We're starting down the path of pool remodel. Here in California we've had terrible air quality for almost a month and my pool has filled up with ash. I've run my pump to filter the water and the booster pump to get the Polaris 280 to pick up some of the debris, but admittedly even with the silt bag installed, I'm pushing a majority of the stuff into the water.

The booster is very expensive to run. Its pretty old and sucks power. During the remodel I have the opportunity to either upgrade the pump or move to a suction side cleaner that will run when the pump is on. I like the idea of being more efficient, but there is an oak tree nearby that does tend to dump leaves in the pool in the late fall. I've seen some filters I can put inline between the vacuum and the wall.

Is it worth moving to suction side during the remodel? I'll be doing some automation at the same time so I may be able to redirect flow for the vacuum ...
 
I think a suction side cleaner is a step back from a pressure side cleaner.

The only pressure side cleaner I would buy today is the Polaris Quattro Sport.

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Otherwise consider a robot cleaner.
 
In adverse conditions such as this, I would vacuum from the skimmer once the ash settles on the bottom - do you have a manual vacuum?

Also a skimmer sock or hairnet will capture ash from the surface while the filter pump is running and stop it going into the filter cartridges.
 
My robot is doing a fantastic job getting the ash from the bottom and out the pool. I am running the bot every third day and have trapped the filter wash water in a bucket a couple of times, ugly. My skimmer nets are trapping it from the surface. So far so good. Robots are made for this type of contamination.
 
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I have a suction side cleaner and the cyclone to trap leaves and such before it gets to the pump.. it works great but both types only get the bottom of the pool... I think I am going to a robot as they are more efficient and scrub everything including tile line...
 
I haven't thought about a robot - I have a buddy who has one and hates it. He says its a pain to take it out and store it. I do like the idea of something scrubbing the tile line.

Wow, that S200 looks pretty cool. Light weight, inexpensive with a HUGE leaf trap. So what's the difference between a $700 robot and a $1500 one?
 
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jspeacock1978 said:
I haven't thought about a robot - I have a buddy who has one and hates it. He says its a pain to take it out and store it. I do like the idea of something scrubbing the tile line.

Wow, that S200 looks pretty cool. Light weight, inexpensive with a HUGE leaf trap. So what's the difference between a $700 robot and a $1500 one?
Click to expand...
More neat stuff, you want to drive your new bot right, 200 bucks... you want it to tell you the pool temp, 200 bucks and so on... :)
 

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@markayash - what do you do with the cord? Do you remove the robot when you go swimming? Your comment on fine dirt is pretty exciting.

@cowboycasey - nice doc - that doesn't make my life any easier! Now I want a robot with WiFi. :LOL: Can I tie any of these into an automation system or do I just use the robot's controller?
 
I think all of them use internal software and controller... some leave them in the pool and move the cord over by it and some take it completely out of the pool... Not sure what method I am going to do but my suction side stays in the pool from Mar to Nov :)
 
I could do a page on this easy, but I'm too weary of this discussion to do so just now. Mostly because I am pro suction-side cleaner and we are a dying breed (and the other kids are mean to me when I talk about my vac 😢 ). To be fair, my pool's cleaning needs are met with a suction vac. That's not true for every pool, I expect. I have a ton of trees and shrubs surrounding my pool, but they are all pool-friendly. So I'll just make two points:

- Other than cleaning out the pump basket every couple of weeks, I could ignore my suction-side vac for an entire year if I chose to (I take it out when there are more than a few swimmers). No other cleaner can make that claim.

- I had my pressure-side vac line converted to a suction-side vac way before my remodel. Like mine, yours can probably be done at any time, so this decision is not critical, as it can be made later, or you can change your mind about it. There might be some reasons this wouldn't be true for you, but I can't think of any.
 
jspeacock1978 said:
@markayash - what do you do with the cord? Do you remove the robot when you go swimming? Your comment on fine dirt is pretty exciting.

@cowboycasey - nice doc - that doesn't make my life any easier! Now I want a robot with WiFi. :LOL: Can I tie any of these into an automation system or do I just use the robot's controller?
Click to expand...
I have a small sitting area in my pool and I just sit it there and curl up the cord..I have my power supply mounted inside a room and a cord cover going to the pool so no one will trip but its off to a side where not a lot of foot traffic
 

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