I replaced a very old Kreepy Krauly with a Polaris 280 and the 280 had such a small vacuum opening, the oak leaves just plugged it up easily. So I went back to the 25 year old Kreepy Krauly with a larger mouth opening, and it still worked ok. But its wheel rubber is wearing down and it struggles due to age. Can anyone recommend a reasonable side pressure crawling cleaner with a wide mouth and large bag like my old Kreepy Krauly. Does the current Kreepy Krauly have the same mouth and bag size design? I have a rough pebble bottom with odd stairs and places to get trapped. So in an ideal world, it would have a large mouth, large bag and 4 wheel drive. The Pentair 280 had 3 wheel drive and did not work well and got stuck frequently. Ideas, opinions?
Pressure pool cleaner with a wide mouth and large bag
- Thread starter pgrovetom
- Start date
The only 4-wheel pressure cleaner I'm aware of is the Polaris Quattro. There may be others. The Quattro cleans pretty well, but I'm not sure its "mouth" is any larger than the 280's. It uses a pair of nested baskets instead of a bag, which you may like or dislike.
I have an earlier model that pre-dates the Kreepy Krauly name: a Letro Legend II (p/n: LL105). It will be starting it's 28th season of service this year. I can still get most of the parts needed to keep it running great. Have you tried servicing your unit?
Although not 4-wheel-drive, Pentair still makes the LL505PM Kreepy Krauly Platinum.
Although not 4-wheel-drive, Pentair still makes the LL505PM Kreepy Krauly Platinum.
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Look into the Letro Jet Vac (now owned by, of course, Pentair). Ugly, now made in Australia last I heard, and has the largest throat of all the pressure cleaners (though the 280 will pick up golf balls). If you do get one, it is absolutely needed that the installation instructions be followed exactly as written, especially with regard to cutting the hoses. They are more sensitive to that than the Polaris or Pentair cleaners.
Sold a bunch of them when they came out after Polaris stopped the 180 in favor of the 380 that was just a modified 360 and was damaged by the pressure of a booster pump (they made a lot more modifications to stop that). In a very leafy environment, its the first one I recommend, though many see a picture and say ,"You're not putting that ugly thing in my pool." That is no exaggeration.
I was even more impressed when I went back to a customer's pool to find that he had installed a Leaf Master bag (about 5 times the capacity of the bag that comes with the machine), it was completely full of oak leaves, and the device was still moving, not vacuuming, but at least sweeping. The wheels are not powered, it is literally "jet powered" by the thruster-jet out the back. It also reverses and, when the machine stops working as well, you open the top (a few screws) take all 4 gears and "rotate" them like car tires; bottom one to the top and the rest just down one position). Yes, parts are still readily available.
Hi Poolman, That VacJet is really funky-looking, but intriguing! It has a cartoonish "Jetson's" vibe.
I found the Australian manufacturer, Aqua-Quip, and their US distributor PoolCorp/Pool360. Unfortunately, the unit is shown as "Inventory is not currently available".
I found the Australian manufacturer, Aqua-Quip, and their US distributor PoolCorp/Pool360. Unfortunately, the unit is shown as "Inventory is not currently available".