Mars HP pressure side cleaner and NO booster pump

I just installed my Mars HP (Zodiac) pressure side cleaner. I do no have a booster pump but my pool is plumbed with a separate 1 hp Pentair Pinnacle pump to run the water features and the pressure return to the pool. There is a separate inlet in the pool so the water goes from the pool to the pump and directly back to the pool to the pressure return when the water features are turned off. (This loop does not go to any filters, etc. It just goes through the valves that either select the pressure line or the water features.) Everything seems to be working perfectly. My wheel rotations are within the 40-48 rpm recommended (43-44 rpm) per minute and the Mars is even climbing the sides and the steps. I know pressure side cleaner booster pumps are designed to produce a lot of pressure with a lower GPM than a pool pump so I am wondering if anyone forsees any problems with how I have it hooked up. If I need to it would be a no brainer to install a booster pump in the setup. Of course, when I turn on the water features the Mars doesn't move very fast at all but I intend to unhook it when I go in the pool or turn on the water features so I don't see that as a problem. Any feedback would be appreciated!

Edit: I was playing with the valves for the water features and now can run them and still have the tire rotation on the Mars at 43 rpm. When I shut off the water feature the rotation goes up to about 44 rpm so I guess I can run the cleaner and use the water features at the same time if I wanted to.

A booster pump is not that much different than any other high head pump standard in pools today. They just tend to be lower in HP and cheaper (i.e. not as efficient) but the head curves are not too different. They are able to produce high pressure because they are in series with the main pump not because they have any special characteristics. Any two pumps in series can almost double the pressure or head of a single pump. Parallel pumps can almost double the GPM.

Assuming I read your setup correctly, it sounds as though you are getting enough pressure and the only down side I can think of is that the loop doesn't go through the filter. If you should suck up anything, it might get sent right through the cleaner which could cause a problem.

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Originally Posted by mas985

Assuming I read your setup correctly, it sounds as though you are getting enough pressure and the only down side I can think of is that the loop doesn't go through the filter. If you should suck up anything, it might get sent right through the cleaner which could cause a problem.

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The suction intake has a very fine grate over it. It looks like a spa drain intake with all the tiny holes in it. The builder put it on so nothing would get sucked into the pump. There is also the filter screen in the pressure cleaner fitting. I don't think it would be too much of a problem. I guess only time will tell. Thanks for the input. It's what I was thinking but it's nice to have confirmation!

Waterbear,

Wondering if you could post some feedback on how your Mars has been working for you? Whether it has been standing up to the wear and tear of usage. Any feedback you can provide would be excellent. My builder is recommending this unit for my i/g pool built last summer. He says these are cheaper then the polaris units and has had good experience with them. Since I only have the one pump they would be installing a booster pump. They are steering me away from the robots and the polaris units.

Also, what kind of run times do you need to use for it to run its course?

I am also picking up a poolbuster for spot cleaning areas it misses.

Thanks for any assistance.

So far so good. The unit has been running 3 hours a day and my pool is spotless. Since my pool is small one hour a day is probably enough but I have my water features running in the evening for 3 hours and the cleaner works when the auxillery pump is on. It even climbs the steps! (most of them. The top step just isn,t deep enough under water.) The unit is much simpler in design than either a Polaris or Letro pressure side cleaner (I won't even get into the Hayward Phantom or Viper). The Polaris units work well but there are a lot of parts that need replacing on a regular basis. The Mars really is amazing in how it is made. No gears, just propellers that are water driven. They are a bit cheaper than the Polaris units and Zodiac probably used a lot of what it knows about the Polaris units when they designed the Mars HP. (Polaris is owned by Zodiac.) All in all I am extremely pleased with the unit. We shall see if I am still pleased a year or two down the line. The early units only lasted a year or two and then started falling apart but they have been significantly redesigned, right on down to the scrubber on the whip tail.

Thanks for taking the time to reply so quickly Evan. It is appreciated. One more small question, since you work in the pool store environment you might have an idea on my concern.

I just finished watching the video on the website. It shows it climbing the stairs, it also says it climbs the walls. How will this rotating wheel affect my vinyl liner. Would you expect it to cause any damage or does it not really climb the walls like they are suggesting. Perhaps you can't answer for certain but your opinion would be appreciated.

That, and why they aren't recommending a robot are my only concerns left now after your feedback.

Thanks.

It climbs the walls in my pool but not all the way because the fiberglass surface does not provide the traction that plaster will. I suspect that vinyl will be about the same as fiberglass in that respect. the wheels have soft tires that are safe for all pool surfaces according to the literature. Most of the movement of the unit is created by water jets, not traction from the wheels so I don't foresee any problems with a vinyl pool.

As far as robots go, just check out CarlD's horror story about his and the lack of service he got from the factory! Several of the robots that have come out in the past few years just don't seem to work right. Also, although there are models with brushed on the bottom for vinyl pools I think they might create more wear on a liner than other types of cleaners. I am not a big fan of robots.