Damn! Look at all the debris at the bottom of your swimming pool. What about the algae? Those leaves the wind has been dumping in your precious pool? And who’s going to fish out that spoon that fell in the pool the last time your crazy cousin visited?
Cleaning the pool manually is a lot of work, whether you do it yourself or hire someone to do it. Of course, if you hire someone, you can go on with your daily routine as they clean the pool, but robotic pool cleaners do it best. If you have never worked with one before, here a couple of essential things to think of before investing in one or borrowing one from your neighbor, friend, or relative.
The Swimming Pool Type
When it comes to residential swimming pools and robotic cleaners, you are likely to come across two types of robotic pool cleaners; in ground and above ground. When looking for a robotic pool cleaner, it is essential to consider the kind of pool you have, as these automated cleaners are sometimes made to handle just one type of pool. Is it in-ground or above ground?
How Dirty is Your Pool? What are we dealing with?
People are different and this dissimilarity means people’s pools can be dirty at different levels. Furthermore, some people do have pools but they are not necessarily swimming pools. I earlier introduced two main kinds of swimming pools – above ground and in-ground pools – but these two categories of pools can be subdivided further. Particularly in-ground pools come in various shapes and designs. Some designs are not even meant for swimming but just for aesthetic purposes.
Some of us are clean, neat, organized and responsible but as it is human nature, there are opposites. Some people are just untidy, disorganized, filthy, and irresponsible. But this does not necessarily mean that they won’t clean up at some point to either please a member of the opposite sex or due to the sudden enlightenment that there is a cleaner side of life.
Stagnant water tends to attract strange creatures like algae, water lilies, alligators, water-shield, frogs, crocodiles, the neighbor’s kids, stray cows, curious bears, stray bullets, and even stray vehicles. I may have gone to the extreme because I can’t think of any robotic pool cleaners that can automatically help you to get rid of an alligator in your pool, but I was just giving examples of the things you are likely to deal with depending on the kind of person you are and the nature of your environment.
As far as automatic swimming pool cleaning is concerned, there are robotic swimming pool cleaners that can handle algae, debris, stray bullets, leaves and pretty much most of the common dirt you are likely to find in swimming pools (I hope it isn’t crocodiles). Some of these cleaners are more efficient at dealing with these things than others. That’s why it is wise to consider the kind of dirt the cleaner can handle to determine whether it will be efficient at cleaning your pool.
Filters
Filters are essential in each robotic swimming pool cleaner, as they are part of the features that determine what the cleaner can do in terms of handling different kinds of dirt. The thing is, the more filters it has, the more kinds of dirt it can deal with, and probably the more efficient it is.
Climbers
Some robotic swimming pool cleaners can climb the vertical edges of the pool and even the stairs (if present). They cannot only climb them but they can also clean them (cool, right?). Others are terrible climbers and that means you’ll have clean floors with filthy edges. Which one do you think you should go for?
Power
Some robotic swimming pool cleaners not only use electricity from your outlets but they also use solar power to handle some tasks. These are powerful intelligent machines and may use up a good portion of your electricity to complete their tasks. You want to invest in something that is energy sensitive and will eliminate one problem for you without creating another.
The Other Things
The above are the main things to consider but you can go a step further and take into account how heavy the thing is – you don’t want it pulling you into the water when you are pulling it out of the pool, unless you intended to swim immediately it’s done. The warranty is also important. Finally, you could go for ones with remote control and blue tooth capability if you would like more comfort.
I know this isn’t much but it should get you a decent robotic swimming pool cleaner that will not only do the job but also do it well. Let me know how it goes!
