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Thread: My Dolphin: Now I'm getting rid of it

  1. #1
    CarlD's Avatar
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    Default My Dolphin: Now I'm Worried...

    About 12 days ago I shipped my Dolphin Dynamic back to SmartPool for servicing. It's been NOT cleaning the pool, leaving the shallow end untouched even after 8 hours. It's not climbing the walls, either, and in one direction it's only moving at 32fpm and the other 40fpm. It's supposed to move at 50fpm.

    My water is clean, no algae, the walls and bottom aren't slimey or anything like that.

    As per their directions, I removed the floats, added a weight, even ran it without a bag to no effect.

    Now, of course, Smartpool is saying they cannot find anything wrong with it--in their tests it works "perfectly". Sorry if I'm skeptical.

    Then they threw the wild one at me: "What's your pH?" says she "7.5". "Well, you need to lower it to 7.2"
    7.2??? you have to adjust pH to 7.2 to get the cleaner to run? I told her it's not in the manual and it ran for nearly 2 years with pH at 7.5. Of course they also wanted to know if I laundered the bags in the washing machine. Yes, I said, so they don't have that as an excuse, either.

    They are sending it back to their techs to test it again, but I gotta tell you all: I AM worried. I spent $1200 on this cleaner and if their response is to say there's nothing wrong with it and I need to continue to do bizarre things when it USED to work, I will withdraw my recommendation to all of you to purchase Dolphin products.

    I find it truly odd that a cleaner that worked fine for years, with no visible signs of wear, now needs floats removed, a lead(!) weight added, and now a pH that is generally too low for normal usage.

    I also generally dislike companies that always assume all problems are user error, even as you try all of their solutions and they don't work. I'm getting the feeling that they are trying to avoid actually doing ANYTHING to fix my machine.

    But, we shall see. I will keep you posted.

    In the meantime, I've un-retired my Polaris 165 and it's working fine. I put a handful of sheet cotton in the bag to act as a fine filter which works nicely. I do need to use my PoolBuster for a touch-up after, but the Polaris is doing OK. It's not nearly as effective as the Dolphin (when it's working), it doesn't brush the pool for me, and doesn't super-filter it either. But at least IT works!

    Carl.
    Last edited by CarlD; 06-24-2006 at 08:42 AM.
    Carl

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    Default Re: My Dolphin: Now I'm Worried...

    That is definitely a new one, how can a slight pH differential impact the speed of an electric motor? Did they explain or just state it as a "fact" ?

  3. #3
    CarlD's Avatar
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    Default Re: My Dolphin: Now I'm Worried...

    Quote Originally Posted by cleancloths
    That is definitely a new one, how can a slight pH differential impact the speed of an electric motor? Did they explain or just state it as a "fact" ?
    She said above 7.2, the vinyl walls get slippery...BS as far as I'm concerned, especially when it's been between 7.3 and 7.6 EVERY time I ran it the last 2 years.
    Carl

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    Default Re: My Dolphin: Now I'm Worried...

    Yeah that's interesting about the ph, this is the second season for my dolphin and my ph is always around 7.6 in my vinyl pool and i can't get it to stop climbing the walls Ha!
    I am very interested in how it turns out for you as i would like to get 4 or 5 years out of this investment before having to worry about serious repairs.
    I wonder if wear on the rollers could effect this and not be visibly noticeable at least not enough where you would think about replacing them. I remember reading you should keep the rollers wet, not sure how to accomplish this as i put it in the shed after each use.

    anyway wish you luck!


    Randy

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    aylad's Avatar
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    Default Re: My Dolphin: Now I'm Worried...

    The only time I know of that walls get slippery with pH above 7.2 is when they're also turning green....

    I can't believe they're giving you the runaround. Hopefully they can find the problem and fix it. My Polaris is out of commission right now (need new wheel set and hose, haven't had time to go get them), but the Poolbuster is spoiling me--what a great piece of equipment!!

    Janet

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    CarlD's Avatar
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    Default Re: My Dolphin: Now I'm Worried...

    Quote Originally Posted by aylad
    The only time I know of that walls get slippery with pH above 7.2 is when they're also turning green....

    I can't believe they're giving you the runaround. Hopefully they can find the problem and fix it. My Polaris is out of commission right now (need new wheel set and hose, haven't had time to go get them), but the Poolbuster is spoiling me--what a great piece of equipment!!

    Janet
    Jan, I can't believe it either--I'm still waiting. They said call back this afternoon.

    Meanwhile I'm now looking at AquaBot, Tiger Shark and Blue Diamond cleaners--in case Dolphin keeps going down this unfortunate road.

    Meanwhile the Polaris 165 is doing a good job and the PoolBuster spoils me too! Since I replaced the motor/battery pack and got the finer filter it's been a real animal! It looked SO much like I was going to be wasting my money but it's really worked out well! I haven't pulled out the suction side vacuum in 2 years!
    Carl

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    CarlD's Avatar
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    Default Re: My Dolphin: Now I'm Worried...

    OK: Update....
    SmartPool says they still can't find anything wrong, but.....
    The motor's running "a little" slow so they are going to replace it (the motor has a 3 yr warranty, still active) and I should have it tomorrow (I'm not that far from Lakewood, NJ).

    OK, if the motor has all the electronics in it I may be in business. "Slow motor". Yeah, I TOLD them it was slow--32fpm rather than 50fpm on the bottom. That means the pump is weaker too, which means it doesn't suck itself down to the floor, or to the walls, so it doesn't climb the walls. It all fits.

    So...when it comes home I'll try it and let you know...

    Maybe I'll be happy , maybe I'll be blue

    (how did I calculate speed? My pool is 16' wide--I CLOCKED it with a stop-watch using the remote to direct it!)
    Carl

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    aylad's Avatar
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    Default Re: My Dolphin: Now I'm Worried...

    Keeping my fingers crossed that the Dolphin is well........

    Jan

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    Default Re: My Dolphin: Now I'm Worried...

    Good luck with that! It sucks that such an expensive thing is giving such problems.

    I just bought a Dolphin Diagnostic and it works pretty well. (Doesnt go as high on the walls as I'd like, but that can be adjusted from what I understand.)

    I do, however, remember reading somthing in my manual about PH levels. (Not that your levels are unacceptable. Im sure 7.2-7.5 cant really matter that much, and they certainly arent treating you like a good customer. Good luck!

  10. #10
    CarlD's Avatar
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    Default Re: My Dolphin: Now I'm Worried...

    They could be worse. Maybe the fact that we have 17,000 members across the US, Canada and other sovereign nations (Hello across the Pond and Down Under! Olla!) helped?

    I've been treated FAR worse...there's a particular company that makes audio systems for motorcycles based in Europe that is VERY expensive and treats customers like dirt....There's an American outdoor clothing company that's the same way....
    Carl

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