Cleaner advice for pool surrounded by oak trees

[TSDChris]

Howdy from South Texas. Ive lurked around this forum years ago when we were building the pool, but i believe this is my first post. I appreciate any advice in advance!

We have a 28k gal free form pool with sunshelf in the San Antonio, TX area. around 3.5foot on the shallow end and around 8-9ft on the deep end. As you can see in attached pictures, there are a bunch of oak trees surrounding the pool. While its a great asthetic, i cant say ill ever put a pool around oak trees again, as they make a GIANT mess 3 times a year (leaves falling now, pollens in a month or two, and acorns in the fall). I have been running a Polaris 3900 sport (i think thats what it was called a few years ago) and its due for some repairs and maintenance as its about 6 years old. Instead of throwing money into the Polaris, ive debated on replacing it with a new pressure side cleaner and keeping it around for spare parts or going to a robot. For the most part, the 3900 has been ok. it likes to get stuck on our steps, and in the parts of the year when the trees are putting off excessive debris, it will fill the bag quickly. I have gotten to the point where ill take a section of hose out to shorten it just so it wont get by the steps and get stuck, but then obviously i have to constantly brush and clean that area by hand. So, while its been pretty reliable, i wouldnt mind something that does a better job and is less prone to getting stuck than this cleaner.

So here are the questions Id like yalls advice on:
1. Stay with a pressure side cleaner or go to a Robot?
2. Which pressure side cleaner or which Robot would be best for our scenario? amount of debris it holds, ability to pick up lots of oak leafs and acorns, and least prone to getting stuck in areas of the pool are the most important features to me.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

I don't think you are going to find a cleaner that works better than a new Polaris 380 with a leaf bag.

Amazon.com

 

[HermanTX]

I have a Aiper Scuba 1 (S1) cordless robot and have been very pleased over the past year. You can search forum for some recent reviews. The basket is adequate size to capture lots of debris on the floor. You do need to be worried about the slope if you have a very deep pool (mine is not) as some robots have been challenged to climb the slope.

 

[Dan-H]

My pool gets a lot of leaves from surrounding trees. A couple of times a year the debris overwhelms the built-in skimmer and the Polaris 360.

Last spring I bought a Betta SE plus surface skimmer. It does a great job capturing leaves before they sink has improved overall cleanliness and reduced the amount of manual work to keep things clean.

When the wind blows leaves away from the built in skimmer it also blows the Betta to the end of the pool where the leaves have collected.

TBH I've thought about buying a second Betta for fall and winter.

 

[Katodude]

I will second the Betta as a good idea here, however, with one caveat. It will not work as well with a pressure cleaner as the Betta might get hung up on the hose.

My favorite combination now is the Betta and Aiper S1. For around $900 it will keep your pool pretty clean.

Just my personal opinion. But please read all the reviews, there is some pretty good information in them that you can extrapolate to your particular pool.

 

[march2012]

My pool gets a lot of leaves from surrounding trees. A couple of times a year the debris overwhelms the built-in skimmer and the Polaris 360.

Last spring I bought a Betta SE plus surface skimmer. It does a great job capturing leaves before they sink has improved overall cleanliness and reduced the amount of manual work to keep things clean.

When the wind blows leaves away from the built in skimmer it also blows the Betta to the end of the pool where the leaves have collected.

TBH I've thought about buying a second Betta for fall and winter.

I bought a betta too and all winter it collected about 20 leaves. The skimmer baskets were completely full (didnt check them) and the bottom of the pool had about 2 gallons of leaves.

Maybe my skimmers work too well for the betta to get anything?

I just got an evo 614IQ (per the latest recs here) and it worked great so far. People reported that it has problems picking up acorns though. So ymmv depending on how big your acorns are.

 

[1poolman1]

Howdy from South Texas. Ive lurked around this forum years ago when we were building the pool, but i believe this is my first post. I appreciate any advice in advance!

We have a 28k gal free form pool with sunshelf in the San Antonio, TX area. around 3.5foot on the shallow end and around 8-9ft on the deep end. As you can see in attached pictures, there are a bunch of oak trees surrounding the pool. While its a great asthetic, i cant say ill ever put a pool around oak trees again, as they make a GIANT mess 3 times a year (leaves falling now, pollens in a month or two, and acorns in the fall). I have been running a Polaris 3900 sport (i think thats what it was called a few years ago) and its due for some repairs and maintenance as its about 6 years old. Instead of throwing money into the Polaris, ive debated on replacing it with a new pressure side cleaner and keeping it around for spare parts or going to a robot. For the most part, the 3900 has been ok. it likes to get stuck on our steps, and in the parts of the year when the trees are putting off excessive debris, it will fill the bag quickly. I have gotten to the point where ill take a section of hose out to shorten it just so it wont get by the steps and get stuck, but then obviously i have to constantly brush and clean that area by hand. So, while its been pretty reliable, i wouldnt mind something that does a better job and is less prone to getting stuck than this cleaner.

So here are the questions Id like yalls advice on:
1. Stay with a pressure side cleaner or go to a Robot?
2. Which pressure side cleaner or which Robot would be best for our scenario? amount of debris it holds, ability to pick up lots of oak leafs and acorns, and least prone to getting stuck in areas of the pool are the most important features to me.

Thanks in advance!

View attachment 631883View attachment 631884

That many trees, especially oaks, will overwhelm any cleaner made. The Polaris 3900, with its double sided bag, has about the largest capacity of any pressure-side cleaner. They are somewhat expensive to repair if you buy the parts separately, but for about $155.00, on Amazon, you can get the rebuild kit, basically the entire bottom half of the cleaner, and it will run like new as long as the two wheels on the right side are good, they don't come with the kit. That's an OEM kit. You may have to get new tires as well, abut $15.00 for the 3 for aftermarket ones that seem to hold up well.
You can't get an OEM rebuild kit for the 280 or 380 for that money.

 

[Hal3]

I live in San Antonio and have Oak trees as well. About two years ago I replaced a pressure powered Polaris with a Dolphin Active 20 robot. Amazing difference! You may still have to help it by emptying the leaf basket frequently and netting some leaves off the bottom during heavy leaf season. I am very happy with the robot.

 

[SWPoolUser]

Howdy from South Texas. Ive lurked around this forum years ago when we were building the pool, but i believe this is my first post. I appreciate any advice in advance!

We have a 28k gal free form pool with sunshelf in the San Antonio, TX area. around 3.5foot on the shallow end and around 8-9ft on the deep end. As you can see in attached pictures, there are a bunch of oak trees surrounding the pool. While its a great asthetic, i cant say ill ever put a pool around oak trees again, as they make a GIANT mess 3 times a year (leaves falling now, pollens in a month or two, and acorns in the fall). I have been running a Polaris 3900 sport (i think thats what it was called a few years ago) and its due for some repairs and maintenance as its about 6 years old. Instead of throwing money into the Polaris, ive debated on replacing it with a new pressure side cleaner and keeping it around for spare parts or going to a robot. For the most part, the 3900 has been ok. it likes to get stuck on our steps, and in the parts of the year when the trees are putting off excessive debris, it will fill the bag quickly. I have gotten to the point where ill take a section of hose out to shorten it just so it wont get by the steps and get stuck, but then obviously i have to constantly brush and clean that area by hand. So, while its been pretty reliable, i wouldnt mind something that does a better job and is less prone to getting stuck than this cleaner.

So here are the questions Id like yalls advice on:
1. Stay with a pressure side cleaner or go to a Robot?
2. Which pressure side cleaner or which Robot would be best for our scenario? amount of debris it holds, ability to pick up lots of oak leafs and acorns, and least prone to getting stuck in areas of the pool are the most important features to me.

Thanks in advance!

View attachment 631883View attachment 631884

I would have said 1st get a leaf cover, but your design would make that problematic. I have post oaks and live oaks, so know what you are talking about. With our pool, over 20 years, and I have only used a couple of cleaners. First was the polaris. Worked great but couldn't keep up with the leaves, or the 'tassels' from the trees in the spring. Hense the leaf cover. Saved me about 40 hours of work each season. I went with the Mayfield Dolphin M400 Supreme robot a few years ago. It was so much better than the polaris over all. Did the walls, waterline, and parts of the stairs. But after several years I replaced the cord. The replacements (ie 3 cords) kept corroding at the contacts in the swivel (salt water pool) and at $200 ea. I'm now looking at cordless cleaners. Which brought me here. I suggest finding some teenagers who want money.
Best of luck. Beautiful pool.

 

[Dan-H]

I will second the Betta as a good idea here, however, with one caveat. It will not work as well with a pressure cleaner as the Betta might get hung up on the hose.

Good call on the Betta getting caught on the hose. I have a non-booster Polaris 360, and I removed some floats so more of the hose is underwater.

I realize removing floats may not be an option with booster pump style Polaris as the hose is smaller diameter and might lead to tangling.