Swimming Pool Automatic Cleaners

Here is an overview of swimming pool automatic cleaners, the differences and how they work

Automatic Pool Cleaners fall into 4 categories. In order of superiority (and price) they are:

• Electric
• Return Flow with booster pump
• Return Flow
• Suction.

All automatic swimming pool cleaners work in the same way in that they wander around the bottom of the pool at random sucking up leaves, dirt and fine material until they covered the whole of the pool. How they suck and what they do with the dirt varies from cleaner to cleaner.

Electric swimming pool cleaners are the top of the range. They work separately from the filtration system on a cable pluged in to the wall . They collect all the debris and fine material in their own bag. They typically work on a set cycle time. The Tiger Shark and Dolphin are such cleaners. The Dolphin Dynamic Plus version even has a remote control so you can steer it in to any difficult areas. Electric cleaners are ideal for even the biggest commercial pools.

We don’t show Return Flow with Booster Pump swimming pool cleaners on the website because unless you already have a booster pump plumbed in to your system and connected to the wall of your pool you can not use one. If you do have a booster pump then call us. The Polaris 280 is the best value for money in this category.

Return Flow swimming pool cleaners are not common and the Polaris 360 is the only one worth considering. It connects to the inlet of your pool and is powered by the water returning to your pool from your pump. In most cases you need at least a 0.75HP pump to make it work. The water flow makes the wheels rotate and it jets water into its collecting bag. Leaves and debris get caught up in the jet and trapped in the bag. You normally leave it running for 4 to 6 hours. Meanwhile the skimmers are working normally. Fine dust is blown up into the water for the filter to deal with.

There are many brands of Suction swimming pool cleaners and they all work in much the same way. Brands include Kreepy Krauly, Barracuda, Hayward and Sta-Rite. We consider the Baracuda Super G Plus is the best suction cleaner based on its new design and its price but the Hayward Navigator is an excellent swimming pool cleaner too. Suction cleaners attach either to a vacuum point on the wall of your pool or directly in to the skimmer. They have a big circular rubber foot and 'jump' around the pool, they will climb the walls if the wall to floor joint is rounded off. They suck all the leaves, debris and dust back to your filter, bigger debris will be trapped in the strainer basket of your pump. You normally leave it running for 4 to 6 hours, the skimmers won’t work at the same time as a suction cleaner.