|
Bio:
|
Automatic Pool Cleaner Pros and Cons
Owning a pool comes with several responsibilities, and many pool owners have a lot of questions in the beginning. From everything to do with water balance and chemicals, to which maintenance products to use. However, there is one question that almost every customer asks.
Which Pool Cleaner is the Best?
The short answer – it depends on your situation. It’s all going to boil down to which features you want, what your current pool set up is, how much you are willing to spend now and in the future, and how much of an effort you want to put in to using the cleaner. There are 3 main types of automatic pool cleaners: Pressure Pool Cleaner, Suction Side, and Robotic. Let’s go deeper into each one.
Pressure Side Pool Cleaners
There are two types of pressure side pool cleaners, one requires a booster pump in order to work, the other runs strictly off of your main circulation pump. There are many different manufacturers of pressure side cleaners, the most common ones being Polaris and Pentair. Hayward recently released their pressure side cleaner the Trivac, and a company called Red Leopard makes the Mercury pressure side cleaner.
Polaris has a full range of pressure side cleaners, from entry level to top of the line. Most manufacturers will offer pretty significant rebates during the summer season, and will sometimes offer extended manufacturer's warranties (Standard warranty 1yr) when purchased through a local brick & mortar pool supply store, like The Pool Boys in League City, TX.
Pressure Side Cleaner Pros
All cleaners should be taken out of the pool when shocking, as well as periodically to rinse off chemical water. The reality is that no one takes these steps and generally leave them in the pool 24/7 to run their daily schedules. This means you aren’t messing with the cleaner very often, other than to empty debris out of the bag.
Pressure side cleaner parts are usually less expensive when it comes to repairs. If you take care of your cleaner and get things repaired when needed the upkeep is fairly inexpensive. If you let problems go unattended it will generally lead to more problems and costly repairs.
Parts are widely available.
Some manufacturers offer large rebates and extended warranties.
Cost of a pressure side cleaner is usually less expensive than a robotic cleaner. (Although, when you add in the cost of a pressure pump to run it, they start to compare to robotic cleaner costs).
Pressure Side Cleaner Cons
Most pressure side cleaners require a separate booster pump which increases your monthly electricity usage.
When your pressure side cleaner requires a separate booster pump to operate, you will be required to bear the cost of a new pump when your current one eventually wears out.
Additionally, a separate time clock is used (or relay with automation systems) which add to the list of things to potentially go wrong.
Pressure side cleaners that work off of your main circulation pump (don’t require a separate booster pump) require a lot of water to be pushed to them in order to work. This takes quite a bit of circulation away from the pool filtration system, and pool returns, which is necessary to keep the pool crystal clear.
Cleaners aren’t meant to stay in the pool 24/7. This is true for all cleaners. Pressure side cleaners run on a schedule every day so why take it out? Leaving the cleaner in the pool 24/7 increases its exposure to corrosive chemicals in the water, such as chlorine or shock. Over time, these chemicals break down parts in the cleaner and discolor the cleaner. The truth of the matter is – everyone leaves them in the pool, pretty much all the time.
More “wear items” on pressure side cleaners. This means that there will be required maintenance/tune-ups necessary to keep the cleaner functional. Things such as tail scrubs, wear rings on the tail, bearings, and tires will need to be replaced periodically.
Pressure side cleaners create suction to pick debris up, they are not pressure cleaning the pool surface. Therefore they are not doing anything to “scrub” your pool’s surface.
In most cases, these cleaners will not climb all of the way up the walls and won’t get the tile line.
Suction Side Pool Cleaners
Suction cleaners are becoming less popular, at least here in Gulf Coast market. It seems to be an “old school” setup, even though some builders are still putting them in. Hayward, Zodiac, and Pentair all have their different versions of suction cleaners. These cleaners use the suction created by your main circulation pump to “suck up” debris from the floor of your pool.
Suction Side Cleaner Pros
Suction pool cleaner do a good job of keeping your pool floor clean, especially since they sit so close to the surface.
They are generally less expensive than pressure side and robotic cleaners, although there are some higher priced models.
These cleaners run off of the suction from your main circulation pump and don’t require additional equipment, which means there is no real increase to your household electricity usage.
Suction cleaners are easy to repair and parts are fairly inexpensive.
|