Robot, booster and in floor cleaners compared
Robotic cleaners run on their own low voltage power supply and filter into their own bag, independent of the pool pump. Pressure side cleaners need a booster pump and return water pressure. In floor systems are plumbed into the pool floor and driven by the filter pump through a rotating valve.
What are the three kinds of pool cleaner?
A robot is an independent appliance. It has its own motors, its own filter bag or cartridge, and a low voltage power supply that sits on the deck. It does not use the pool pump at all, does not load the pool filter, and can run whether or not the pool is circulating.
A pressure side cleaner, the Polaris style unit most people picture, runs on water pressure delivered by a separate booster pump on the pad. It drives itself around, sweeps debris into a bag it drags behind it, and needs the booster pump running to do anything at all.
An in floor system is not a cleaner you can point at. It is a set of pop up heads built into the pool floor and steps, fed by the filter pump through a rotating gear valve that sends pressure to a few heads at a time in sequence. It sweeps debris toward the main drain rather than collecting it.
There is also the suction side cleaner, which plugs into a skimmer or a dedicated line and uses the filter pump vacuum. It is the simplest and cheapest of the group and it sends everything it picks up into the pump basket and the filter.
What does each one cost you in running time?
A robot is the cheapest to run by a wide margin. Its motors are small, it runs a cycle of a couple of hours, and it does not require the filter pump to be running at all. On a pool where you are trying to keep the pump on a low speed schedule, this matters more than it sounds.
A booster pump cleaner is the most expensive. That booster is a dedicated pump, usually a single speed motor running at full draw for the entire cleaning cycle, and it runs on top of the filter pump which also has to be running. Two pumps for the duration of every cycle is a meaningful line on a summer electric bill.
An in floor system costs you pump speed rather than a second pump. Those heads need real pressure to pop up and sweep, which means the filter pump has to run at a high speed while the cleaning cycle runs. On a variable speed pump, that is the most expensive speed you own.
A suction side cleaner is cheap to run but expensive in a different currency. Everything it picks up goes into your pump basket and your filter, so it increases filter cleaning frequency and it can starve the pump if the basket loads.
What goes wrong with a robot?
Bags and cartridges first, and this is entirely a maintenance item. A full bag means the robot is pushing water it cannot filter, so it climbs poorly, misses debris and works its motors harder. Emptying it after every cycle is the single highest value thing an owner does, and it takes a minute.
Then the wear parts. Brushes and tracks or wheels wear smooth, and a robot that has stopped climbing walls usually has worn tracks rather than a failing motor. Those are replaceable and it is a normal service item rather than a fault.
Then the cord and the swivel. A cord that has been dragged, kinked and left in the sun eventually fails internally, and the swivel that stops it tangling wears out and lets the cord twist into a knot the robot cannot pull.
Then the power supply, which lives outdoors on a deck and takes weather, and finally the drive motors and control board, which is where a robot reaches the end of its economic life. The rule of thumb is the same as any appliance: when the repair approaches the cost of a current unit, buy the unit.
What goes wrong with a booster pump cleaner?
The booster pump itself, which is a single speed motor running hard in the heat with no variable speed to relieve it. Boosters fail on bearings and seals like any pump, and a booster run dry because a valve was closed fails fast.
Then the cleaner mechanicals. Wheels, bearings, the drive belt on units that have one, the backup valve that periodically reverses the unit so it does not get stuck, and the hoses. Hose float and hose length are both genuinely important and a hose that has taken a set no longer lets the cleaner reach the whole pool.
Then the bag, which needs emptying like a robot bag, and the jets inside the cleaner which scale up in hard water and lose thrust.
The failure people notice first is a cleaner that sits in one corner. That is nearly always hose length, hose float, a stuck backup valve or a worn wheel bearing rather than anything to do with the booster.
What goes wrong with an in floor system?
Heads stop popping up. That is usually the head itself, which is a small spring loaded assembly living in the floor of a pool full of hard water, and they wear out and scale up. Individual heads can be replaced without draining on most systems.
The gear valve, which is the heart of the system, wears out. That is the rotating distributor on the pad that sends pressure to each zone in turn, and when it fails you get some zones running constantly and others never running. It is a real repair and it is the expensive one.
Pressure loss, which is where the whole system quietly stops working. In floor heads need a specific flow and pressure to sweep effectively, and anything that reduces flow, from a dirty filter to a pump programmed too slow to a partly closed valve, leaves the heads popping up limply and moving nothing.
And scale, which is the local factor. Hard water deposits in the head bores and around the moving parts, and a system that swept beautifully for five years in this water gets progressively lazier without any single part having failed.
The North Texas part
Three local factors matter here. Pollen and cedar season loads every kind of cleaner far beyond its normal duty for about six weeks in spring, and a robot bag that lasts a week in June fills in a day in March. Hard water is the second, and it is hardest on in floor systems, because scale in the head bores and the gear valve is the classic reason a ten year old in floor system in this region sweeps half as well as it used to. August heat is the third, and it hits booster pumps specifically, since a single speed booster running full draw on a pad in afternoon sun is operating well above its comfortable ambient temperature. If you are choosing a cleaner for a North Texas pool with heavy tree cover, the robot has a real advantage in that it keeps the debris out of your filter entirely.
When to stop and call
Emptying a robot bag, rinsing a cartridge, clearing a cleaner hose, checking a pump basket and looking at whether in floor heads are actually popping up are all obvious homeowner jobs and you should absolutely do them. Call for a booster pump that is noisy or will not start, for an in floor gear valve, and for the case where the whole system has quietly lost pressure, because that last one is usually a flow problem somewhere else on the pad rather than a cleaner problem at all.
Robot suction or in floor pool cleaner difference, judged by what breaks
Buy for the debris you actually get. Fine silt, big leaves, and pine needles suit different machines, and the robot suction or in floor pool cleaner difference matters far less than matching the machine to your yard. Walk out and look at what is on the floor on a Thursday. A cleaner that clogs on your debris every week will end up in the garage by August.
Ask what parts cost and how long they last before you buy. That is the real robot suction or in floor pool cleaner difference over five years: belts, brushes, bags, booster pumps, and cleaning heads all wear, and some are far easier to get than others. In floor systems are the hardest to repair because the parts are in the shell. We service Polaris, Zodiac, and Maytronics Dolphin units.
Common questions
Does a robot replace weekly service?
No, and it is worth being clear about that. A robot handles floor and wall debris. It does not test water, dose chemicals, brush the tile line, empty the skimmer, clean the filter or walk the equipment pad. It makes the vacuuming part easier, which is one item on the list.
Can I run my pump slower and keep my in floor system?
Only down to the pressure the heads need, and that limit is real. This is the most common conflict on a pool that gets a variable speed pump upgrade, and the answer is usually a schedule that runs low speed for filtration and steps up for a defined cleaning cycle.
Why does my pressure cleaner keep getting stuck in one corner?
Hose length, hose float, the backup valve or a worn wheel. Those four cover almost every case. It is nearly never the booster pump, since a booster that is not working produces a cleaner that does not move at all.
Related guides
- Pollen Season and Pool Filter CareFor about six weeks every spring the filter is the whole job. How to tell pollen from mustard algae, and why the usual cleaning schedule stops working in March.
- Quieting a Loud Pool Equipment PadNoise rises steeply with pump speed, so running slower for longer is the single biggest improvement available. Mounting and plumbing changes handle the rest.
- Where the Energy Goes on a Pool Equipment PadAlmost all of the money is in the pump, and almost all of the savings are in speed rather than hours. Everything else on the pad is rounding error.
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