pool cleaners

[Farm boy]

our house came with a pool complete with the regular push along pool vacum cleaner
my wife is sugesting we get a barracuda or similar:eek: are they any better or a waste of money
greg

[Zed]

we had one and I sold it. they coil up in circles and get all wrapped up on themselves. they put CONSTANT pressure on your pipes and if there is an air leak in the system it excacerbates it. If you leave them connected you never get to skim the surface. the hoses comes in 1.5 (?)M lengths for lotsa $ and if you leave them out they craze and become brittle. better off by hand. I use a small head with a 12 m hose from bunnies. the pool gets a little brush every time I vac. takes time but in my experience its better.

[Bodgy]

There are two basic types, the Barracuda, Kreepy Krauly that run off the pools filter pump, or the Dolphin type that have their own separate, dedicated pump.

The second type are held to be much better - for obvious reasons - but also very exxy.

Lately the second type manufacturers have released a similar cleaner that can run off the pool filter pump. These are meant to be very good and fairly priced.

I've got a Barracuda, thats allright, but tends to describe the same arc in the pool over and over, unless you keep altering the hose weight position.

Whatever you do, you'll still need to occasionally hand clean

All Zed's says is true, he's got a point too. If my idiot children took any notice of me I'd have them manually vacuum the thing weekly and ditch the Barracuda

[craigb]

Timely thread for me.

I've a Barracuda that I've had for the past 5 years. Unfortunately, lately it's suffered from a "failure to proceed"

My diagnosis of the probelm is that there is air getting in to the system somehow and spoling the effectiveness of the suction.

Replacement parts are v. expensive so I've been trying to bodgy-up (no offence Bodgy ) a fix using electrical tape. It works for a little bit but that's all. .

When it was working I found it to be pretty effective and I have a lot of gum trees near my pool so It's had a pretty fair challenge (I also have an extra skimmer mounted on the pool return line that takes care of a lot of the leaves).

It's true that they suffer from getting stuck in a pattern though.

What bugs me though is that I have to go out and spend $450 on a piece of plastic crap that probably costs less than $20 to manufacture.

[Bodgy]

Craig, have a serious go at surfing the net for pool cleaners, theres a number of on-line retailers and you'll get a new, good quality cleaners for those $$,

Technology seems to have moved on a bit in the last 5 years.

Does the leaf collector work? I hesitate to pay $80 for a plastic tube.

[craigb]

Does the leaf collector work? I hesitate to pay $80 for a plastic tube.

Yes the leaf collecter works really well.

When I had the pool renovated 5 years ago, the pool guy suggested the extra skimmer because of the trees.

What he did was to plug the return line that is at the bottom of the pool and then mount the leaf collector in the return line that is at the top of the pool. The water rushing back into the pool creates a whirlpool the sucks the leaves into the skimmer. Attached to the skimmer is a large mesh bag that holds the leaves.

It's hard to describe and if I could remember the name of it I'd try a google.

I do know that the pool guy said that it was an Oz invention though.

I'd certainly recommend it to anybody that has a lot of trees near their pool.

[Farm boy]

thanks for the replys guys
after reading your thoughts and opinions i might keep getting the wife to vacum with what we have
a few guys at work have the new system you were talking about bodgy and had them installed when they got there pool built
our house has a few leaks so i might get a new hose at bunnings and leave it at that,if these pool cleaners served you beer in the pool they would be good however the wife will have to do for the moment
greg

[Bodgy]

Craig, I know the one you mean, I'll have a look. I was thinking of the in line leaf trap between cleaner and filter.

I have many Gum trees but also a huge Jacaranda. I wonder what idiot planted a Jacaranda over a pool?

Farm Boy, probably the best approach. If HI would be in it, I'd take the manual option too.

[craigb]

I have many Gum trees but also a huge Jacaranda. I wonder what idiot planted a Jacaranda over a pool?

.

I had one of those too though in my case the people that put the pool in put it under the Jac .

The only way to make the pool viable was to get rid of the Jac (those buggers shed four times a year )

Don't get me wrong, I like Jacs, just not over my pool.

My real regret was that I wasn't into ww at the time so the wood from this mature tree went into the chipper and for firewood.

I really feel guilty about that now.

[LineLefty]

I dont realyl get it. We have a kreepy krauly, came with the pool.

I just happily goes about its business and keeps the bottom of the pool spick and span. We scoopy the leaves every coupla days from the surface and clean out the skimmer box.

Why the bloody hell would you manually vaccum it? What a waster of time! In my exp the kk's work just dandy.

If your KK stops working, try backwashing your filter for a good 5 minutes. Gets the pump pressure (well, the little dial) back up to where it should be and the KK stats kicking along again.

[silentC]

When I had a pool in Sydney, I used to vacuum it by hand, did it for about a year. Then a mate told me I was an idiot. I bought a Barracuda the next day and it was probably the smartest pool-related thing I did.

Buy one tomorrow. You NEED one.

[E. maculata]

"barry" has lived in our pool for 10 years I'm aware of, best unpaid labourer you're ever gunna have, pool ownership is a joy with him, the rare times he's been sidelined has been a dead loss of my energies. $800 divided by 10 years is a pretty good investment.
Also IMHO if you have air leaks in your pool filter system you have lots more to worry about than vacuum efficiency, what about pump cavitation for a start? I seem to recall if it was manufacturer installed they have a 7 year warranty, the local pool people offered to repair a broken elbow fitting on mine 7 years after it was commissioned , I declined as it cost me 2 hours and $8, and they're good peoples.

[craigb]

Funny, I call it Barry too.

I must have got a dud one. Already in five years I've had to replace the diaphram once, the diaphram holder because it has this POS bayonet fitting that the plastic lugs break off (although I think they've fixed the design of that with the newer ones) and now the diaphram hoder is once again cactus.

I guess that $450 over 5 years (plus $150 in replacement parts ) works out at a couple of bucks a week but I still reckon they should last longer than that.

I don't have any air leaks in the pool plumbing though so at least I'm lucky there.

Thing is, I don't even want a pool it was just here when we bought the house.

[Grunt]

If you pay Al a few bucks, he'll come around in his speedos and clean your pool.

[E. maculata]

If you pay Al a few bucks, he'll come around in his speedos and clean your pool.

Grunt you are one sad sick puppy .

Craig, we've got 6mm pebblecrete so it's pretty harsh on Bazzas' foot and skirt and yep I've put a new universal, and skirt on him, $80-100 all up at the time apart from that he's been unstopable, mind you I reckon i've got this pool maintenece thing down pat these daze. To be prefectly frank though, i think he's just about beggared now wing and a prayer stuff, and as we're selling up in the next 2 months not in a hurry to replace or repair.