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Suction pool cleaners


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I dont think I can justify the cost of a full robot cleaner.  Does anyone have any good/bad experience of suction based automatic cleaners?  Do they work?  Are they worth the money?  Why are some €100 and some €500?  What should I be looking for?

I have a 10mx5m "double bubble" pool if that makes any difference.

A Barracuda seems to be common in UK or America but have not seen any on French sites.

Thanks in advance

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I have one and I am totally happy with it.. not expensive, no electricity costs... does its thing...

It now.. clears the leaves above the water (skimmer), while hoovering

the bottom and circulating the water .. all at the same time on the

same electricity

see:

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1174603/ShowPost.aspx

pool is 12*6

I did have to fiddle with it a bit to get it to do a good job but it was not difficult... I ended up removing the suction controller and rely on my setting of the valve..

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We used a Kreepy Krauly or Krawly for a few years and on balance were happy with it. See http://www.pentairpool.com/pdfs/kreepyfrDS.pdf  but also http://www.phil-schwartz.com/reviews/kreepykrauly/index.html . One word of warning don't leave the suction hose in the sunlight when not in use or it will fall apart after a short time, we found out the hard way!...........................JR
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Osie, you have to run the pump when you are using your suction cleaner and that uses a hell of a lot more electricity that my electrical one. I was very lucky cause I bought it off of the seller when we bought the house so the cost was only 500€. No need to backwash after using it either. Our Dolphin 2001 does the bottom, walls and cleans the waterline too and look just like a psyclodelic tank to boot [8-|]

Common to both is that you can't swim with them in the pool or you will stir up the muck that you are trying to get rid of. I just chuck ours in first thing and it is finished in 6 hours and quite often doesn't have to run the full time.

As has been said, if you are buying new then they are a lot more expensive, but I wouldn't swop mine!

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I have a Barracuda which I was left by the previous owners and I use it maybe a couple of times a year. With pools up to about 15x5m, I think the outlay is not worth it as cleaning by hand should not take more than 15 minutes and probably better. In any event the exercise is good.

Baz

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I agree with Jonzjob.

They are more pricey but do not fill your filter with rubbish and dirt. If you take a look in the robots filter bag after cleaning up from a storm it really is very dirty.  I also have a barracuda as backup which charges around the pool quite nicely and its worth backwashing and rinsing before you use as it increases the performance.

There are cheapy versions, bought a 49 euro one which did just as good a job as the more expensive barracuda IMO but the plastic only lasted two seasons before bits began to break off.

Nothing wrong with hand brushing and vacuum, the male equivalent of ironing [:D] but it does put the dirt into your filter so backwashing and rinsing is essential afterwards.

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When the Kreepy got a bit geriatric we replaced it with a Zodiac Indigo http://www.piscines-online.com/robot-piscine-electrique-zodiac-indigo.html and paid a h*ll of a lot less than this ad by haggling. Took an on-line ad at a lower price for it to Desjoyaux and got a good reduction on their asking price plus some free filter bags. Has worked well, touche du bois, but is not programmable and wanders around at random. Really does pick up everything given time. Has a 1.5 hour setting and a 3 hour setting. Does steps and round the top edge as well as the walls........................................................JR

PS It did try to swallow its own cable once but that is just a matter of positioning and it has not done it again!

PPS There seem to be quite a few French ads for Baracuda cleaners like this one http://www.piscines-online.com/robot-baracuda.html

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The bag in ours is disposable if you wish and only costs about 100€ for one replacement, but if you just hose it out it almost has a lifetime warrenty. i.e. if it goes wrong it kills you?

No, to be serious, all I do is to hose the heavy duty cloth bag out and it will last forever, or as near as. If I don't have time to wash it I just dump it in a bucket of water and do it when I do have time. So far it has given us 5 years of good service and as it is a 2001 mode, about 8 years old-ish. I have replaced the tank tracks and reconnected the cable by chopping a few inches off as it was getting a bit worn. Remember that I am a lekky.

Good bit of kit!

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No problem, it is sometimes handy to have a spare or two especially if its a change over day and there is no time. They are very cheap when you re-use the disposable bag. I just wash them inside out in a bucket, they are much quicker to clean than the cloth bags.

 

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It said in the ad that it's 'nasty' to get splashed when you are washing out yer bag, but it says that you can use the bags several times under certain circumstances. How do you clean them to reuse them without washing them?

So what, if you do get mucky from the splash from washing the bag just jump in the pool, that will wash it all off, no sweat cause that gets washed off too [:-))][8-|][B]

Cool man[8-|]

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[quote user="Baz"]

I have a Barracuda which I was left by the previous owners and I use it maybe a couple of times a year. With pools up to about 15x5m, I think the outlay is not worth it as cleaning by hand should not take more than 15 minutes and probably better. In any event the exercise is good.

Baz

[/quote]

We also have a Barracuda left by the previous owners nearly 8 years ago.  It's OK but always misses patches, despite all sorts of adjustments or running it exactly as per the instructions, and I have to run it for a long time in order for it to clean 95% of the pool.  In the time I've had it I have had to replace the valve in the head end (from memory about 80€) and this year I had to replace the rubber 'foot' (not the disc) which cost 50€ including P&P from Australia, half the price compared to France.

Like Baz, it's more efficient to manually vacuum and only takes 15 minutes to get a perfectly clean pool with not too much effort, which personally I enjoy doing. Also the Barracuda (genuine one not a version of) recommend leaving the thing in the pool  all the time (it's in the instructions) and not to remove it therefore you have to swim around a hose which also interferes with the skimmer function as it traps surface debris.

Each season I start of with the Barracuda but get frustrated and revert to the manual vac.

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For the hydralic cleaner... it is only on when the pump is on for circulating the water therefore I would put that down as an energy saver...

another reason I like the hydraulic is that it can stay in the pool all day/night doing its job... I just take it out if someone is bothered by him while swimming..

I should note that I have not yet had the pleasure of an electric one... so can not compare but am more than happy for the time being with the hydraulic...

As far as manual cleaning ... I have 1million other things that I need to do and which are more important than standing round a pool pulling and pushing a rod for 1 hour.

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  • 9 years later...
The Polaris Vac-Sweep 280 is a powerful pressure-side pool cleaner for all in-ground pools and easily connects to a dedicated pressure line. Featuring the iconic three-wheel design, the 280 vacuums , sweeps, and scrubs the bottom and walls of any size or shape pool.
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