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Pentiar Pressure Side Cleaners

Pentair Kreepy Krauly Racer

Pentair isn't known for their pressure side cleaners. If you think of Pentair you think of their famous Kreepy Krauly cleaner which they tag all of their cleaners with - something I don't like as it is confusing in some regards. But I digress.

Polaris owns the pressure side cleaner market but the Racer is a real attempt by Pentair to cut in and take some market share. The Racer is just good enough to do it.

It features a super large debris opening, four venturi to shoot water up into the debris bag, a large debris bag, extra wide tires and my favorite part is that it is driven by a drive shaft not unlike the Polaris 280 and their own Letro Legend cleaner. The drive shaft I think is the best and most reliable way to propel a pressure cleaner. The part is durable and very long lasting.

The front brush is a good touch making it not unlike the robotic cleaners on the market. Some more pluses are the LED lights for night cleaning, a nice handle on the back, quick disconnect on the cleaner to remove the hoses, extra wide feed hose and it can clean your pool in about 1 hour saving you energy and money.

A solid pressure cleaner by Pentair with lots of upgraded features. A real challenge to Polaris.

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Kreepy Krauly Legend

This is the Pentair Kreepy Krauly Legend Pressure Side Pool Cleaner. It is a great pressure side cleaner and is well engineered for efficiency, great pool cleaning coverage, and a long lifespan. Here I go over the cleaner's finer points and also walk you through some troubleshooting steps if you find the cleaner not moving in the pool when the booster pump is engaged. Some of the problems that posters here are experience may be due to improper installation of the cleaner but they may also be due to faulty parts like the back-up valves that get jammed. I would definitely register the product so you are under the one year warranty. Quality manufacturing is difficult nowadays and Pentair is not immune from this - but defects are rare and not the norm.

I think the overall design of the cleaner is important verses focusing on part defects. Take the now discontinued Hayward Viper & Phantom cleaners - they were just poorly designed (The Legend will plug right into the same wall fitting if you are replacing one of those cleaners). Not so with the Legend. It is designed to work and last a long time. They replaced the Velcro debris bag with a clip style so Pentair is always improving on their design. The parts last just as long as the parts for a Polaris 280 cleaner.

As it gets old, like any cleaner the parts will wear out and will need to be replaced. That is the great thing about this cleaner as the parts are easy to change and long lasting. You shouldn't have any problems for the first three or four years. But as the parts wear here are some things to look for.

Cleaner not moving:

Of course, make sure the booster pump is not burned out and turns on. Also, make sure the timer did not get messed up as it sometimes does during a power outage and the booster pump is running when the pool pump is not. The pool pump and the booster pump need to run together.

The first thing to check is the filter screen in the wall fitting. Sometimes that gets clogged with debris and will stop the cleaner. If you have a leaking filter or clean/backwash it with the cleaner attached, sometimes debris enters the cleaner line and clog up the screen. This will reduce the wheel RPMs and the cleaner will not work well.

If the cleaner is older then the next thing to check would be the two front wheels. The plastic teeth often wear down from the metal driveshaft check the wheels to see if that is the case and simply replace them. The bearings also go bad over time and will need to be replaced also. There are two in each wheel so eight total.

The back-up valve will also fail over time as the gears inside wear out. In that case water will shoot out continuously causing the cleaner not to work since no water is getting to the cleaner to operate the thruster and spin the wheels.

The rear float (Ballast Float) will crack over time and take on water which will make the cleaner roll on its side. Simply pull it off and replace it.

The driveshaft (Turbine Drive Shaft) also gets old over time, plus the two turbine bearings and need to be replaced. But they are pretty long lasting.

The cleaner itself is great. It will clean an entire pool in about 2 hours or less. It may not be energy efficient due to the booster pump, but it cleans the pool so well that you can run the pool two hours less just to compensate for the added power usage.

Overall it is a great cleaner and one I recommend if you are in the market to replace your existing pressure side cleaner or you are having your pool constructed and are thinking about going with a Pressure Cleaner.

Installation:
Here is the installation process of the Pentair Kreepy Krauly Legend pressure side pool cleaner. It is also the same installation procedure for the Kreepy Krauly Platinum cleaner which is a similar model only more "deluxe."

This video covers the complete installation but note that a booster pump was already installed at this location. With that said also note that this cleaner needs a separate booster pump with its own dedicated return line to operate.

If you are replacing an existing pressure side cleaner also note that the 1 ½" threaded fitting is the same for all of the pressure cleaners on the market (or discontinued) - and that the Legend will plug right in no problem. So if you have a Polaris or Hayward pressure side cleaner the Legend will be compatible. The installation instructions also suggest you lay the feed hose out straight on your deck for 24 hours to straighten it out before installing. I pretty much did everything else in this video except for that but it was working fine. It is a pretty easy installation process. If you need to add another 10 FT of feed hose note that you will also need 4 floats, one swivel and two mender nuts. After installing the extra feed hose measure the length like in the video but cut equal portions from all three feed hose sections now instead of just the two.

There is also a non-booster pump version of this cleaner that works off of your pools existing return line and it is called the Kreepy Krauly Legend II. The installation process is different from what is shown in this video.

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