Automatic Swimming Pool Cleaners

When it comes to cleaning your in ground or above ground swimming pool, you have several options. Some people look at this as a daunting task, while others enjoy brushing and vacuuming their pool and find it relaxing. Either way, it needs to be done, so I want to talk about your options.

When you have your pool built, your contractor should have supplied you with a manual cleaning kit which includes a pole, hose, brush, leaf net, and vacuum. You plug the hose either into a seperately plumbed vacuum line or the skimmer and you are in business. Depending upon your plumbing situation, you may have to turn some valves to get a good enough suction to get debris off the bottom of the pool.

Your other option, and a seemingly more popular option, is to invest in a robotic or automatic pool vacuum. There are several manufacturers to choose from with models ranging from $150 to over $1000.

Once you've decided to buy an automatic pool cleaner, you have to decide what type would work best for your pool. Your three main choices are pressure, suction or robot.

The suction cleaner is probably the most well known and used by pool owners. It hooks up to the suction side of your pools plumbing, be it a vacuum port line or the skimmer, and moves along the bottom and sometimes walls of yor pool "sucking up" debris as it moves over it. The debris is filtered by whatever type of filtration system you have hook-ed up for your pool equipment.

It would be important to decide prior to building your pool -if possible- what type of cleaner you may want. The reason being is that if you choose a pressure cleaner, many of them require their own booster pump to be incorporated into the plumbing lines, and to look aesthetically pleasing the line should be run under the pools decking. A pressure cleaner works basically the way it sounds. Rather than hooking up to a suction unit, it hooks up to a return. The water that is being pushed through the cleaner is redirected three ways: 1 to the sweeper tail that kicks debris up into the water which helps it to be filtered out through the main filtration system; 1 to the venturi; and 1 to the thrust jet.

A Robotic Cleaner is a dual motor, self contained, electirical cleaner which is plugged into an electrical outlet. The advantage is that it is self-contained with its own filter, and because they are not attached to the suction or pressure side of the pools circulation system, they create no resistance.

It is important to remember that any one of these automatic pool vacuums are not a cure all. You still will have to chemically balance your pool water; skim the top of the pools surface for any floating debris like leaves, pine needles, and even bugs, lizards, and frogs; and brush the waterline tile. I also recommend giving the walls a good brushing at least once a month.

You should check and clean you skimmer basket and pump basket weekly, and keep a close eye on your pressure gauge on your filter. If your filter gets too dirty you will need to backwash it if you have a D.E. filter or clean or replaceyour cartridge filters. If your pressure builds up too high, you are running the risk of springing plumbing leaks.

Some well known and used suction pool cleaners are the Kreepy Krauly, the Hayward Navigator & Pool Vac Ultra, the Aquabug, and the Baracuda G3 & G4. They range in price from approximately $150-$400 and come with warranties ranging from 1 year to 5 years for the Kreepy Krauly & Polaris ATV.

Pressure cleaners, while a bit more expensive tend to come with longer warranty periods. Polaris makes several different models of pressure cleaners, as well as Letro. You could spend as low as $200 oir as high as $1000 depending upon what make and model you choose.

The AquaBots and TigerShark are by far the most popular robotic cleaners on the market. Price wise they range from around $600 - $1800 for one of these.