Best Automatic pool cleaner?

[wishIcould]

I have a gunite 22 x 44 pool with a 18" 12x12 shelf. It is salt but I don't think that matters. We have the return and we do have power available in the area. I currently have a polaris 280 and I have replaced practically everything on it and seems it's on it's last legs now.

My big issue with the Polaris is the chord length is too short for my pool and no matter how often we buy longer and follow the instructions, it inevitable ends up strangling itself constantly. It also can not reach corners well and does not get up on the pool shelf at all.

Now we are looking for a new pool cleaner. Other notes, we get lots of sand in our pool (concrete break down from deck, anyone have suggestions to stop deterioration?).

What is best pool cleaner with a decent warranty that can get even my shelf cleaned ?

Appreciate all the great advice I get here. Thank you.

[PoolDoc]

There's not enough traffic on PoolForum currently for you to have a reasonable chance of a decent new answer. Use the Super Search page to search BOTH PoolForum and TroubleFreePool. An old answer is as good as a new one, since there has not been much (any?) innovation in pool cleaners, and since even if there WAS something genuinely new, it is always a BAD idea to serve as a new product tester for the pool industry!

(Keep in mind that the Super Search page doesn't search directly, but just creates a link for a special focused Google search. Don't use it more than 8x in 30 minutes, since Google interprets frequent use of their own "advanced search operators" as hacker activity.)

That said, I'm not sure that any non-robotic cleaner will outperform a properly adjusted Polaris 180/280/380 series. Of course, proper adjustment is a PITA, that even many service guys can't get right. And . . . I'm not sure any non-robotic cleaner will work perfectly in a large pool with a complicated profile. To some degree, it's a price you pay for 'getting fancy'.

Here's a general rule for pools that folks don't like hearing but it's still true: the more complicated a pool -- in any parameter [ surface, layout, features, controls, etc ] the LESS likely it is that it will work well. A local pool service guy, who cleans and maintains home pools that are mostly in the $100,000+ range tells me that NONE of his customer's really expensive pools work well!

Good luck!

[wishIcould]

thanks. It is a rectangle with a 18" deep section for little kids making it an L. Not complicated at all. A bit too big as my husband was overzealous on size.

[PoolDoc]

Complicated in your instance = longer than ideal for non-commercial pool vacs + has a shelf, which few if any cleaners handle well. A sharper pool builder would have installed TWO Polaris connection points, allowing you to use a shorter hose (= fewer tangles). But then you'd have to move the Polaris every day or so, so maybe not.

It could be worse, of course.

But auto-pool cleaners work best with rectangular pools without steps and with rounded corners. Deviations from that degrade performance . . . but obviously, that's not something they'd put in the sales literature.

It's not just the pool industry. There are examples of predatory salesmanship in every realm. The worst of it -- in my opinion -- is in the medical field. For example, many orthopedic surgeons won't even see you without scheduling surgery . . . EVEN then therapy has statistically superior outcomes. But, that's life.