A common complaint among Robotic Pool Cleaner owners is how long they last compared to the customers’ expectations for the robot. But how long your robot lasts is actually entirely up to the customer. The biggest cause of premature robot failure is improper use by the customer, which is in turn a failure of the retailer to properly explain how to use their robot.
Let’s look at why robots fail and what you can do to minimise these issues.
Overuse
If you look at the side of the box that your robot comes in, or in the manual, you’ll likely see that the manufacturer states that the robot should be used no more than three times per week. This is despite the contradictory fact that when you log into your robot on the app, the first timer option is to have the robot run every single day.
The reason the manufacturer states this is that the electrical components in your robot, like all things, have a predetermined life expectancy. Many manufacturers have a clause within their warranties that states 3 years or X amount of hours, meaning if you reach the maximum hours in 1 year as opposed to three, your warranty expires.
If you want your robot to last ten years, then you need to use it as little as possible. If you are running your robot around a clean pool that no one is using, then you are shortening its life unnecessarily.
Use your robot only as required, and when not in use, take it out of the pool.
Chemical Damage
Robotic Pool Cleaners work in the harshest environment of any domestic appliance. Chlorine is literally designed to destroy foreign matter in the pool, combine that with fluctuating acidity, salinity, temperatures, and other chemicals – your robot is coping it from all angles every time it is in the pool.
So what can you do about it?
Testing
To begin with, you should be testing your water regularly, not every two to four weeks at the pool shop, but at home with a simple test strip at least once a week if not twice. Only by doing this will you start to get an understanding of how your pool reacts to environmental factors such as temperature and rain. If your chlorine is high or pH too low, then your robot should not be in the pool, nor should your family, but at least they have a longer warranty.
Adding Chemicals
We see chemical damaged robots every day, and a common response from customers is that they always have their water tested, the chlorine is never high, or that they have a service company look after it. And herein lies the problem. Assume you take your water to the shop and they say the chlorine is low, great, it’s not high so it’s not damaging the robot, but what are the pool shops telling you to do? Add chlorine? Did you take the robot out when you added a shock dose of chlorine, acid, or 5 bags of salt? All these chemicals are heavier than water, so they go right to the bottom of the pool and what else is down there, your $3000 robotic pool cleaner!
The same goes for pool service technicians, are they taking your robot out of the pool when they add chemicals? They don’t have time to dose the pool and let the chemicals distribute through the pool, they are in and out as quickly as they can, and your robot is often left in a soup of aggressive chemicals as a result.
Want your robot to last ten years? If chemicals are being added to your pool, your robot needs to be out of the pool.
Lack of Servicing
When you buy a car do we expect it to last forever without servicing? No, we follow the rules and service as per the service schedule, and thus our cars last as we expect. A car can literally last for 50 years if the service schedule is followed, but in that time, the service schedule will replace nearly every wearing component, and we won’t bat an eyelid.
When it comes to robotic pool cleaners, servicing is often completely neglected, retailers fail to mention it, even the manufacturer never mentions it, but like a car, the motors and moving parts on your robot need to be replaced periodically if they are to last. Your robot should be serviced every two years under normal use conditions. But if you’re using your robot every single day, then service it every year.
Maytronics robots have the best warranty available on any robot and the high cost of a good quality robot has factored in some servicing under warranty, if nothing else, bring your robot in for a service before the warranty ends, and then once you’re past the warranty period, get it serviced at least every two years.
Neglect
Australians love our pools. During the hot summer there is no better place than in the pool, early morning swims to wake up, afternoon swims after work, and getting friends and family together over weekends, the pool is the place to be in summer! But, when the weather cools down the pool is quickly abandoned like in a zombie apocalypse movie. This period when pools first cool off is a killer for robots. As the weather and the pool water cools, with no swimmers in the water, your chlorine demand plummets, but often your chlorinator is still working away like it’s midsummer, slowly but surely increasing the chlorine level in your pool to the point where it will destroy anything in the water.
We see a massive influx of bleached white robots between June and July each year after pools have been left unchecked at the end of summer. Once the summer hangover has passed we pop our heads down to the pool and notice that our beloved robot is dead in the water.
How do we avoid this? Don’t neglect the end-of-summer routine, continue to test the water and reduce your chlorine output as required. If your chlorine spikes, take the robot out until the balance has been restored.
Contact paul@roboticsrepair.com.au or 02 8606 2425
