My Dolphin ate My Pool. A Cautionary Tale.

I have a 4 year old, vinyl lined, 35,000 gallon "lazy ell" in ground pool with Grecian Ends. I have been using a Dolphin Dynamic Pro with Remote several times per week since the middle of July. I loved it.

However, two weeks ago I started getting overnight water loss of 5 inches. After refilling and dropping for three days, I turned off the pump and allowed the leak to free fall to try and determine the source.

In addition, my plumber and I pressure tested all of the plumbing, including the main drain. As the water passed the lights and headed for the bottom of the steps, I turned the water back on to maintain water pressure on the liner.

The Guy that does the leak detection service returned from the Bahamas and came out last Wednesday. What we found, by diving, were 150+ slits, the size of a dime to a quarter, around the shallow end only, where the floor meets the wall!
My guy made patches from the vinyl leftover from cutting out the stairs and the swimout. He had me all patched up in less than two hours. Some of the slits were covered by on long patch. I am 4 days with zero loss.

We believe the culprits are the nylon wheels on the outside of the tractors. I had the Dolphin set for wall climbing/waterline cleaning, and I had noticed that it almost never made it up the shallow end walls, because it is a 90 degree angle. Also the Grecian ends give it an irregular pattern to learn. But it would keep banging into the walls during its cycle, to try and climb. The liner at the bottom of the wall is snug, but if you press your finger in it does spring back like there is some space behind it.

I am actually going to run the Dolphin on the Floor Only mode and see if it will behave. Because it does clean amazingly.

On a brighter note, I did use the down time to replace my Hayward 2HP Super Pump with a Pentair Whisperflow 2 Speed Pump. I will post a review after I get my next electric bill. But the 1/2 hp setting is so quiet it Purrs. {and draws 3.5 amps instead of 10.5}

You have given me some confirmation for a thread I started a few months back.

Also had lots of cuts in liner at 90 degree angles between floor and walls.

Same kind of damage and same style of cleaner.
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That is one of the reasons I posted my story. I was pretty sure others might have similar damage.

Do you still use the Dolphin?

can you say 'class action lawsuit?":)

The unit was an Aquabot / Storm,

Has a similar design to Dolphin with the rotating scrubbers.

Units must get stuck trying to climb in the 90 degree corner and pull on the liner causing rips.

Be interesting to find out whether that is the only scenario where damage occurs.
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You guys wanna sell your Dolphins cheap to me?

:)

I just ran mine with the no climb option, and while the nylon wheels did bump into the walls exactly as I described above, it did not do it with the same force as when it was trying to climb.

Tomorrow I am going to dive the pool and check the liner out again. The water is too cold today.

If I can get by with out damaging the liner, I will keep mine. It cleans great.

If not, I can sell it here in Massachusetts for a fair price, to someone with a Gunite or Fiberglass Pool.

I dove in the pool tonight and no new slices, so I am going to cautiously continue to use my Dolphin.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hawksnestbay

I dove in the pool tonight and no new slices, so I am going to cautiously continue to use my Dolphin.

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Could you please give us an update on how it's going lately? We are thinking of getting one next season and want to learn all we can to help in deciding which one to get. :)

Hello- I did continue to use my dolphin, but with 0 selected for minutes to climb. No more slices.

It does hit right on the wheel, due to the angles in the shallow end. But because it only hit once, then backed off in the other direction, I believe the force is less.

Pool is closed now due to non cooperative temperatures.

I will continue to use it, and keep a patch kit ready.

Thanks for your interest.

I'm glad it works for you now! I'll for sure check into one next spring.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. It's what makes this forum so great. :)