Replacing a Foxx pressure side pool sweep

[tyandnikki]

We are first time pool users (just bought the house last fall...in ground pool included). My grandparents built the house and pool 30 years ago. The only pool sweep they ever had was a pressure side pool sweep made by foxx. It worked great for a number of years. Now there are all sorts of pool sweeps to choose from. The pool is 22' by 42' with an 8' deep end. About half way down the slope there is a wrinkle that comes off of the bottom about 2-3 inches tall and runs from one side to the other. I am afraid that with all of the new sweeps that role around the bottom, there would be potential to snag on the wrinkle and possibly tear it. The liner is only a couple of years old, so I don't really want to be replacing it any time soon. The old sweep used to float on top of the water with two hoses that hung down and sprayed jets of water to stir up the water so stuff would go to through the filter. Therefore, there wouldn't be any worry of tearing the liner.

Anyway...there are still pool sweeps made by pentair that are just like the old one. I didn't know if anyone on here might have any experience with a sweep like it or not. I don't know how to post images yet, so I will post a link to one.

http://www.pool-cleaners.com/pentair...cleaner.htm#50

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ty

[PoolDoc]

Unfortunately, my experience in this area is very limited, but someone else can probably help.

[Watermom]

Hi tyandnikki and welcome to the Pool Forum! Glad you found us!

[tyandnikki]

Thanks for the welcome. I've been looking at this forum for a while and it seems to be very helpful. As a novice, I need all the help I can get.

[waterbear]

Since you already have the booster pump to operate the sweep you would do better to upgrade to something like a Letro Legend (also made by Pentair and also called the Kreepy Crawly Legend) or a Polaris 280 (probably their best unit) The sweep you have is an older design that is not really used much now and the ones that have their own collection bags do a better job and will even take care of leaves. All these cleaners have wheel options for vinyl pools so that should not be a worry.

IF you are worried about the wrinkles in your liner (and if they are big they might snag a cleaner but remember that these cleaners are desinged to climb over drains and even climb the walls of the pool) then check out the Polaris 165. It also is a bit better than the PoolSweep, IMHO, has a collection bag, but the main unit floats on the surface so it should not get hung up on anything. Iit does not require a booster pump and just connects to a return. If you go this route than I would suggest replumbing the cleaner port into another return for the cleaner with a valve to control water flow in place of the booster pump.

[tyandnikki]

Thanks waterbear. I noticed that the polaris 280 has a tanktrax option. It looks to me like that would be even better about going over the wrinkle.

Does anyone know of any pros or cons to the tanktrax? I couldn't find any reviews about them.

Thanks again.

[waterbear]

Thanks waterbear. I noticed that the polaris 280 has a tanktrax option. It looks to me like that would be even better about going over the wrinkle.

Does anyone know of any pros or cons to the tanktrax? I couldn't find any reviews about them.

Thanks again.

The Tanktrax is designed for vinyl pools but even the ones without the tractor tread on the wheels work fine in a vinyl pool. Whether it is less prone to hanging up I could not tell you since in my area the vast majority of pools are plaster and fiberglass except for above ground and above ground cleaners are different since they do not need to climb walls.
My concern would be the unit tipping over since it is a three wheel cleaner. The letro is a 4 wheel cleaner and might be more stable in that regard.

IT is a shame that Zodiac discontinued the Mars HP pressure cleaner. It's design would have been perfect for you but it has not been made in a few years (Since Zodiac bought Polaris).