That’s the one great thing about automatic pool cleaners, you can turn them on and leave them in and they will keep your water and the bottom of your swimming pool very clean. Now if this sounds like something you’d be interested in, then it would be wise to find out the different kinds of pool vacuums on the market and make your decision based on what you’ve learned.

Most people don’t even know that there are different types of pool vacuums to choose from. You can get an automatic pool vacuum or you can use a manual vacuum to clean your pool whenever you want. Of course it’s very easy to just buy an automatic pool vacuum and use that to keep your pool clean cause you don’t have to worry about it once you introduce it to your swimming pool.

Suction Side Pool Vacuum

There are three types of automatic pool vacuums that you can choose from. The first is called a suction side pool vacuum. The suction side pool vacuum uses the power of, you guessed it, suction to remove dirt and debris off the bottom of your swimming pool. It uses the water pulling power of your swimming pool pump and filter to create a siphon of water lifting dirt off the bottom of your pool.

Pressure Side Pool Vacuum

Another type of automatic pool vacuum is the pressure side cleaner. A pressure side pool vacuum uses water pressure to push dirt and debris off the bottom of your swimming pool and into a mesh bag or skimmer net. It does not use your filter to clean the water, a pressure side vacuum is all self-contained with a little help from your swimming pool pump.

Robotic Pool Vacuum

And last but not least is robotic pool cleaners. This is the most expensive but most effective pool cleaner on the market. This type of cleaner employs the same techniques as a pressure side cleaner by using water pressure to push dirt and debris into a mesh or skimmer bag but instead of using the filter to provide the water pressure, each cleaner has a built it pump. You can run a robotic pool cleaner when your pool isn’t running. It plugs into an outlet and you drop in right in the swimming pool. It’s the easiest of all the cleaners too.

So now that you know the different types of cleaners and would like to know more about them, click anyone of our links to find out more about each pool vacuum and our recommendations on which ones you should choose.

Now it’s time to think of what kind of automatic pool vacuum you want. Well I’m here to tell you about the very best automatic pool cleaner on the market. They are called robotic pool cleaners and they are the most efficient and easy to use pool vacuums to date.

How do robotic pool cleaners work? Unlike the suction side and pressure side pool vacuums the robotic pool cleaner does not need your swimming pool’s filter system to operate. A robotic cleaner is one self-contained unit that is powered by electricity. You plug it into an standard electrical outlet and drop it into your swimming pool and it runs by it self.

How does it clean your pool? It works like a suction side cleaner. Inside a robotic cleaner is a motor and a pump. The motor drives the unit around the bottom of your swimming pool while the pump creates suction which lifts dirt and debris off the bottom of your pool and into a bag located inside the unit, so all you have to do is empty the bag when it’s full.

The best thing about these pool vacuums is that you can drop them into your pool when it’s not running and it can clean your pool. Also these vacuums filter the water using a very thick mesh bag. And if you are worried about putting something electrical in your pool, don’t. They will not electrocute you, they are designed not to and they use very little power to operate.

The bad thing about these cleaners is the price. They are very expensive because they are robotic and can do so much, but if you have the money I would suggest picking one up, they are the best. You can even get ones that come with a remote control for trouble spots. Now that’s awesome!

The most popular version of automatic pool vacuums is the Pressure Side Automatic Pool Cleaner. It works very differently from your manual vacuum and much more efficiently. The reason why it’s the most popular is because it’s the most widely used method of automatic pool cleaning and it was introduced by a pool company you may have heard of; Polaris.

The Polaris Pool cleaner was the first residential pool cleaner to use the power of water pressure to clean the bottom of swimming pools. It works by hooking up the pool vacuum to the return line in your swimming pool (the hole that blows the water back into your swimming pool). The water pressure from that powers the wheels of the pool vacuum allowing it to move all around your pool at a very fast pace.

Not only does the water pressure power the wheels but it also powers a couple of small jets that spray up and into a fine mesh bag. What this does is create a vortex that lifts the dirt and debris off the bottom of your swimming pool and into the fine mesh bag. Then once the bag is full just pull it out and empty it, it’s that simple.

The great thing about this cleaner is that it does not use your filter to clean out the debris. The dirt gets held in the bag so it’s all self contained. It also cleans a pool much faster that other cleaners because it uses the water pressure from your pool, the better the pressure the faster it goes. And you can get a pool vacuum like this in very wide price range. I’ve seen these cleaners go for as little as $200 and as high as $1,000. And they work for both in ground and above ground swimming pools.

There are very few problems with owning a pool vacuum like this, in fact it’s the one I recommend the most, but there are some you need to be aware of. Since it uses your pool pressure, your swimming pool needs to be running for the cleaner to work. And the only other thing is that these cleaners need to be taken care of. They have a lot of moving parts and mechanics and can get warn out quickly.

Other than that the pressure side automatic pool vacuum is your best bet if you want to break free from the hassle of having to pull out your manual pool vacuum.

The good news is you can buy yourself an automatic pool vacuum so that you don’t have to manually vacuum your swimming pool anymore. And there are three types of automatic vacuums but we are going to talk about the oldest and most cost effective pool vacuum method, the suction side automatic pool cleaner.

Its operation is pretty much determined in the name. It uses the power of suction to lift dirt and debris off the bottom of your swimming pool. It does this by hooking up to your swimming pool’s filter and pump (much like your manual pool vacuum). The cleaner, once hooked up, slowly moves around the bottom of your swimming pool lifting dirt off the bottom and into your pump letting your filter clean up the mess.

It works the same way as your manual vacuum except with this automatic pool vacuum you just leave it in the pool and it does the rest. You can leave it in your pool until it’s done and you can also swim in your pool while it’s working so you don’t have to wait.

The benefits to a pool vacuum like this means you won’t have to empty a filter bag attached to the cleaner because it does not have one. All of the dirt and debris is filtered out by your swimming pool’s pump and filter. Also it’s the most inexpensive automatic pool vacuum on today’s market. That’s because it employs the same method of vacuuming as your manual vacuum.

However there are some disadvantages of having a suction side pool cleaner. One is that it does use your filter to clean and because of that your swimming pool will need to run in order for it to work. Also now you have to trust your filter to get out all the mess, which it may or may not do. And you must be careful of large objects and rocks because whatever your cleaner sucks up goes into your pump and filter or if it gets blocked by a large object it could burn out your pump motor.

Even though there are good and bad things about this cleaner (as there are with the others) the main thing is it frees you up from one more chore in your house and it’s the cheapest of all automatic pool vacuums.

Before starting I would like to mention that you could buy an automatic pool vacuum such as a Polaris pool cleaner or an Aquabot, but if that is not in the cards then you can certainly vacuum your pool the old-fashioned way and we’ll tell you how.

What You Need.
Before you begin you will need a telescopic pool pole, a vacuum head, a vacuum hose and a vacuum plate. All of these products can be found at your local swimming pool supply store.

The first thing you need to do is attach your vacuum head to the end of the telescopic pole. Once that is finished, attach one end of the vacuum hose to the top of the vacuum head and now place the entire thing into your pool leaving the handle of the pole outside the pool for you to control. Now just make sure you turn the vacuum head upside down at the bottom of the pool first to create the suction.

Take the other end of the hose to your filter system. With your filter system running, place the end of the hose over the return nozzle (the nozzle where the water shoots back into your pool). This will push water through your vacuum hose causing bubbles to rise up from the pool vacuum head. We do this because it blows all the air out of the hose. Since we are creating a siphon we do not want any air inside the hose.

Once the hose is filled with water and no more bubbles are rising from the pool vacuum head, while keeping the end of the hose underwater, attach the vacuum plate. Cup the end with your hand so not to lose water out of the hose and place the vacuum plate face down on top of the skimmer basket in your skimmer where the water is sucked into your pump.

If your hose is filled with water it will start pulling the hose water through the pump into the filter and back into the pool. It may take a minute for your pump to prime. You’ll know you’ve done this correctly if the pump lid has no giant bubbles in it. If it does, your pump will keep trying to prime itself, if it doesn’t finish priming then that means there is too much air. If this happens, repeat this process of filling the hose with water and placing it in the skimmer.

Once you get this right it’s smooth sailing. You can start by turning your vacuum head back over and slowly moving your pool vacuum across the bottom of your pool picking up dirt and debris.