Some background up-front: I have about a 11k gallon pebble tec pool with a SWG. I purchased a small suction-side Poolvergnuegen 4 years ago when I bought the house and it has performed admirably over that time.
I have replaced the vanes and wheels twice, and the hoses once at frustratingly high cost each time.
As of a couple weeks ago, the poor guy stopped cleaning the whole pool, he just spins a 6' diameter circle around the deep end. Both wheels are obviously turning and the suction certainly feels strong. Upon taking it apart, the gears are all starting to get pretty worn. A quick search on Amazon shows I am in for a couple hundred bucks to replace all these worn plastic parts.
Naturally, I figure it is a good time to look at other options.
Since I have a SWG, my pump time is not significantly impacted by my cleaner. The pool gets clean in the time required to maintain appropriate chemistry.
It seems like the potential big selling points for me are:
So, my questions are centered on these selling points. How well do robots actually clean the waterline (particularly a Dolphin S200/Active 20). How much do you guys budget for replacement parts/maintenance on these robots? I'm guessing if I go the lazy route and leave it in the pool 24/7 running the auto-cycle, I will be in a similar situation of plastic parts wearing out about 5 years in. Is this accurate?
Alternatively, does anyone know of a cheaper way to rebuild a Poolvergnuegen other than piecing together parts off of Amazon?
I have replaced the vanes and wheels twice, and the hoses once at frustratingly high cost each time.
As of a couple weeks ago, the poor guy stopped cleaning the whole pool, he just spins a 6' diameter circle around the deep end. Both wheels are obviously turning and the suction certainly feels strong. Upon taking it apart, the gears are all starting to get pretty worn. A quick search on Amazon shows I am in for a couple hundred bucks to replace all these worn plastic parts.
Naturally, I figure it is a good time to look at other options.
Since I have a SWG, my pump time is not significantly impacted by my cleaner. The pool gets clean in the time required to maintain appropriate chemistry.
It seems like the potential big selling points for me are:
- Waterliine cleaning: My Poolvergnuegen never made it halfway up the walls, so a decent amount of manual scrubbing was required. I see youtube clips of dolphins traversing walls with ease and then scrubbing the waterline.
- Maintenance costs: probably at the inconvenience of dragging the cleaner in and out every few days, it seems like the robots "wear" less than suction cleaners. My $360 Poolvergnuegen has cost at least $500 over the 4 years of use due to the regular wear of the wheels and vanes. If I rebuild again, that will likely jump to $6-700 for 5 years. This is up to the cost of a S200.
So, my questions are centered on these selling points. How well do robots actually clean the waterline (particularly a Dolphin S200/Active 20). How much do you guys budget for replacement parts/maintenance on these robots? I'm guessing if I go the lazy route and leave it in the pool 24/7 running the auto-cycle, I will be in a similar situation of plastic parts wearing out about 5 years in. Is this accurate?
Alternatively, does anyone know of a cheaper way to rebuild a Poolvergnuegen other than piecing together parts off of Amazon?
