Any recommendations for a vacuum type robot cleaner

[rdefino]

I have an above ground oval 18x34 and was looking to get a robotic vacuum that uses the existing filter suction. Is there any goods I should look at?

thanks

[SunnyOptimism]

Do you have a separate suction side port or do you plan to hook it up to the skimmer suction? If you have a separate port, do you have a valve on it that allows you to control the flow? What size pump do you have? That said, your choice is going to depend on how much suction you have, how much leaf litter and debris you expect to have to clean and how often you plan to run it (leave it in 24/7 or do you only want to put it in intermittently)

I have a Kreepy Krawly Sandshark (part of Pentair) with a Hayward leaf canister attached to it and it works fine. Pretty low maintenance and sufficient at cleaning up all the Mesquite tree debris that finds its way to the bottom of my pool. I leave my KK in the pool 24/7 unless we're swimming and I have a three-way control valve that lets me split the suction flow between my skimmer and vacuum port.

[rdefino]

Thanks for replying.

I have a 1 1/2HP pump and was looking to attach the vacuum to the skimmer port. I have no valve to control the flow, but I could put one in. Now do you mean a valve for the suction side?

Also, I do not get many leave at all in the pool.

[SunnyOptimism]

I have a 3HP pump that has enough draw on low speed to run both the skimmer and the suction port. Your pump will probably be sufficient. The Sandshark comes with a skimmer port adapter as well as a flow gauge and regulator, like this -



The spring guage tells you if there is enough flow and the Y-shaped regulator lets you adjust the flow to the the Sandshark for optimal speed. I'm not sure about other suction-side cleaners, but I would hope that they would come with similar tools.

Something to note is that fast moving vacuum cleaners DOES NOT EQUAL efficient cleaning. A lot of folks I know with automatic cleaners think that the thing has to be flying around the bottom of the pool to clean properly. It's actually the opposite. You want the cleaner to move at a speed sufficient to pick up debris and perform all necessary turns. That is not necessarily a fast speed.

Also, most suction-side and pressure side cleaners will claim that they can climb pool walls as if that's some kind of super-helpful feature. It's not. My KK can climb the walls a bit but I don't really care if it does. Wall cleaning is why pool owners have brushes. An automatic pool cleaner that is climbing the wall is probably not doing any good for your pool's overall cleanliness so don't get snookered into the cleaner that the pool store gets the most kick-back from just because the guy tells you it climbs walls.

If you don't get a lot of leaf debris in the pool, then you can probably skip using an inline leaf canister. I initially ran my vacuum without an inline canister and I eventually plugged up my suction line with mesquite debris. I had to blow out the line with pressurized air to clear the plug. That was not fun.

I know a lot of people like the Polaris product line and I might even give one a try if/when my Kreepy Krauly dies. However, the KK is pretty simple in it's construction and Pentair sells all the replacement parts for it so if anything goes on it, it is fairly easy to perform a DIY fix. I don't how Polaris is with wear & tear and replacement parts so perhaps a Polaris user might chime in on that.

And, of course, the caveat that accompanies all posts about automatic cleaners - just because you get one does not mean you will never have to manually vacuum ever again. I still manually vacuum my pool at least once every two weeks, sometimes more often. Pool cleaners do a good job at regular light to medium scale clean up. If your pool gets a heavy debris load in it, then you will definitely want to manually vacuum to get all of the nooks and crannies.

[rdefino]

Thanks fir the info, that's great.

So is this the model you have? This one says it's for IG pools. Is it ok to use on a vinyll liner?

[SunnyOptimism]

Thanks fir the info, that's great.

So is this the model you have? This one says it's for IG pools. Is it ok to use on a vinyll liner?

For a soft-side pool or any AG pool with a vinyl liner, I'd contact the manufacturer of your pool and ask what they recommend. You want to be careful with vinyl liners. Sorry if I lead you in a wild goose chase, I have an IG gunite pool and I tend to only think in those terms.

Cheers