Which replacement pool sweep

14 years ago

We have a Polaris 380 pool cleaner that is over a decade old. Our pool was just refinished with Wet Edge Pearl Matrix and when we put the pool sweep back in we noticed that it's wheels aren't working right. They jam and the sweep stops moving. We don't yet know if it is repairable, but I want to be prepared in case we need to replace it.

While at Leslies I noticed that there are now a lot more models of Polaris and another brand, Dolphin. Some claim to be robotic and I've got no idea what they mean by that.

Our pool is about 35,000 gallons and around 800 sq ft surface area. It is kind of t-shaped with the top of the T going from 11 ft to 5 ft deep and the base of the T is a shelf 2 1/2 feet deep. There are tall trees (redwoods and deciduous ones) within 10 feet of the back of the pool.

The shallow end being a step was a change made to the pool when we remodeled - before it sloped up from the deep end and was about 4' deep at its shallowest with not much area where I could stand since I'm short. We want something that will get up onto the shallow end and clean it.

Should we replace it with the same kind or get something different? Is the Polaris 3900 Sport (seems silly that that they call it that and model their newer models to as much look like sports cars as they can manage) any more reliable? We've had a number of repairs on the Polaris over the years.

Is there something that will work better? The guy at Leslies says that the robotic models cost less to run, but I'm concerned that they might not hold as much debris.

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Comments (5)

carolmka
14 years ago
Have you tried replacing the rubber tires on the wheels? The one thing I like about polaris is that you can replace parts. We just replaced out rubber 'tires' and it has made a big difference. We have the 280 and love it.
poolguynj
14 years ago
If the jamming started right after the new finish, chances are it's grit in the gears stopping them. Open it up, flush the grit out and if the tires are rounded on the outer edges, replace them.

It's a good bet that it can be fixed for less than the cost of a new unit but my general rule of thumb is if it's more than 1/2, replace it so you don't have to deal with continuing issues as it wears.

Robots are electrical. They will have either a power cord umbilical or battery power (relatively new to the market).

Scott
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Cloud Swift
Original Author
14 years ago
The jamming started almost as soon as we put it in the water after the new finish was on. I wouldn't think that there was enough time to get grit in it. As instructed, we had been brushing the pool twice a day for the first 7 days and running the filter 24 hours a day so the pool was quite clean. Perhaps some grit or something got into the sweep while it was sitting in the shade on the deck during the refinishing of the pool.

It sounds like the robots need to be stored on the caddy and have the hose coiled when they aren't running and with all the trees we run the sweep every day. That's a big downgrade from the pressure side sweep where we may haul it up and empty the bag most days and then just put it back in the pool.

The sweep we had has done well at keeping the pool clean so that narrows my question to whether we should get the 3900 instead of the 380 or whether we should consider some other brand of pressure side cleaner if it needs to be replaced. Is the 3900 more durable/reliable or better in some other way? There's a $200 rebate on the 3900 which brings the price to about the same as the 380.
poolguynj
14 years ago
I like the 3900 better. It's easier to work on.

Scott
Cloud Swift
Original Author
14 years ago
The verdict came in on the old sweep. The bearings were shot on one side and something else was worn. Over 200 to fix and there was a lot of wear overall so potentially other repairs needed in its future.

When we brought the brought the cleaner in Monday morning, we mentioned disappointment that it failed the day after their sale ended and the salesman said perhaps they could give us the sale price since it was only one day. After a little pushing that's what they did. Even though I think that it's silly to call it "sport", the styling and blue color of the thing look better in our pool. :)