Suction Cleaners

The first suction cleaner patent was created in 1937. They were then popularised by the Australian owned company, Kreepy Krauly in the 70's who still operate to this day along with other major brands. Since their inception, they have slowly fallen behind other cleaners.

Suction cleaners connect to your vacuum plate inside your skimmer box, using your filter pump's suction to move itself around while bringing debris to your skimmer basket, design flaws include:

• Poor energy efficiency as your filter pump needs to be running
• Throat cannot be any larger than a 50c coin due to low suction
• Limited direction, takes over 300% longer to cover the same area vs robotics

This cleaner has the lowest initial cost and is most suitble for pools that get a low volume of small sticks and leaves. Nuts often jam these units and larger leaves can cause clogging. 

 

Pressure Cleaners

The first pressure cleaner was invented in 1965. Andrew L Pansini designed this cleaner with a larger throat because his suction cleaner could not pickup big leaves. The first prototype failed as the filter pump was not powerful enough to move this unit around.

He teamed up with the inventors of the spa, "The Jacuzzi Brothers", and developed the booster pump, which would provide the cleaner with enough power:

Fast forward to today, these cleaners are very common in pools that get a high volume of large sticks, leaves and nuts. The main benefits of pressure cleaners include:

• Bigger throat/intake: 11.3cm (JetVac) vs 3.4cm (Aquanaut 250)
• Allows your skimmer box to collect debris from the top of the pool
• Seperate bag on the head of the unit for debris (if you prefer that)

There are however some drawbacks:

• Higher initial cost as pressure cleaners are more expensive
• Higher initial cost as you need to install a booster pump
• Higher operational costs as you're running a second pump

A second return line is required for these units, which is in a majority of pools today. If you would like a quote to have this put in, use the company search tool to find reputable pool builders/renovators. For a lot of people, these may be the only automatic cleaner option that won't come with any problems.

 

Robotic Cleaners

Maytronics Dolphin X40 (left), Poolwerx Aquawize (centre), Swimart Trident (right)

The first robotic cleaner was invented in 1967. They are classified as a unit that operates on electricity, independent to the rest of the equipment. They have drastically increased in popularity over the last decade because they:

• Can be left outside of the pool
• Can climb the walls to scrub algae
• Come with an ultra fine cartridge to pickup sediment
• Will still clean the pool if your other equipment fails
• Can be used whenever and however many times you want
• Have a sensor to map out the pool, covering the surface significantly better

The only reason that someone would choose another style of cleaner over a robotic is if the debris they get is only large sticks/leaves, it could also be budget related. They operate differently compared with suction and pressure options, connecting to a general purpose outlet, independent to the rest of the equipment.

In 1983, Maytronics was founded. Since then, they have led the robotic cleaner market through innovation and technological advancements with headquarters and repair centres all over the world. However, in recent years; competition has grown at a rapid pace with the likes of Zodiac and BWT manufacturing high quality robotic cleaners too, as well as several foreign budget brands that are generally not recommended due to a lack of quality/longevity (Aiper, Wybot, Hychlor).