Pressure Cleaners
Pressure
Cleaners: In-Ground Pools
These cleaners are those that attach to
the pressure side (return) of your
circulation system. The water that
is being pumped or "pushed" back to the
pool powers these units which have their
own hydraulic power plant inside. Being
on the pressure side, these units have
distinct advantages. They are
helpful in distributing clean filtered
water around the pool and having their
own debris bag means that they don't
compromise the filter system. Even
with the bag full, a pressure cleaner
still operates, stirring debris up;
it just won't suck up any more debris
until the bag is emptied.
These
cleaners attach to one of the existing
return ports and are powered by the pool
pump (Polaris
360,
Letro Legend II, Jandy Ray-Vac, etc.), or to a dedicated
cleaner line and an additional Booster
Pump (Polaris 180,
280,
380 and
Letro
Legend).
For a complete list of swimming pool
pressure cleaners, please visit our
cleaners page. The water that flows into the unit
splits into three directions; the
sweeper tail, the thrust jet and the
venturi.
The sweeper tail is a
little "stirrer-upper" as I call it, which helps to get fine debris
off the walls and floor and into the suspension where it can then
head towards the filter. The thrust jet is a series of ports
and gears which motor the unit around the pool in a random pattern.
The venturi is the port where leaves are sucked up into a bag (that
you empty when full) as the unit rolls over debris. An in-line
back-up valve reverses the flow every few minutes to change its
pattern and remove it from possible obstacles.
The Polaris 180, 280, 380, and the Letro Legend require a booster
pump to power the unit. These cleaners need about 30 PSI to operate
effectively. Most filter systems don't run that high of
pressure to run these cleaners effectively. The return pipe is
cut after the filter and feed water is directed to the booster pump
which then pumps water through a dedicated line midway down the pool
wall. This line can be run under the deck and through the pool wall,
or over the deck for a cheaper installation. Without the booster
pump, these units would crawl along slowly, picking up very little
debris.
Polaris 360 model
operates at only 15 - 17 PSI, and thus is not intended for use with a
booster pump. Letro followed suit and introduced the LEGEND II. These two cleaners I call "low pressure side cleaners." This
has given these manufacturers a whole new "market share" by reducing
the cost of installing one of their cleaners. The 360 & Letro
operate in a very similar fashion to the booster pump cleaners and
connects to one of the existing return ports. A test is made
at that return port to determine if the circulation system can
deliver the proper amount of pressure to operate the unit.
The 360 will not work
well for pools with floor returns or "slit" returns of crushed
copper pipe, or pools with small, slow circulation systems. The 360 and Legend II can be as effective in cleaning the pool as
the booster pump driven models. The big advantage to the
booster pump models is that they are usually run with a time-clock,
and can thus turn themselves on and off automatically.
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