Why Your Cleaner Stops Moving
Your automatic pool cleaner was doing laps yesterday, and today it is just sitting there. Before you assume it is broken, check the suction. Most of the time it is something simple. A suction cleaner has no motor of its own. It borrows power from your pump, pulling water through the skimmer, the pump basket, and its hose. Block that flow anywhere and the cleaner stops.
Check one, the pump basket. If it is packed with leaves, water cannot get through and suction drops. Turn the pump off, empty the basket, and check the lid O-ring while you are there. Check two, the skimmer. A clogged skimmer basket or a skimmer door stuck shut starves the whole system. Clear the basket and make sure that floating door moves freely.
Water, Hose, and the Canister at the Cleaner
Check three, water level. If the water drops below the middle of the skimmer opening, the pump pulls air instead of water. Top the pool up to the middle of the skimmer mouth. Check four, the
hose. Walk its full length looking for a kink, a crushed section, or a split that hisses and leaks air. One bad section can kill the suction for the whole cleaner.
Check five. If your cleaner has an inline filter canister, open it up. A canister full of leaves blocks flow right at the cleaner, even when everything else is clean. Work in that order: pump basket, skimmer, water level, hose, inline filter. Five minutes, no tools for most of it. If suction is still weak after that, it is time to have a tech check the pump itself.
Key Takeaways
A suction cleaner has no motor of its own; it borrows power from the pump, so a blockage anywhere in the flow stops it.
Check one, the pump basket: empty a leaf-packed basket and check the lid O-ring while you are there.
Check two, the skimmer: clear a clogged basket and make sure the floating skimmer door moves freely.
Check three, water level: keep the water at the middle of the skimmer opening so the pump pulls water, not air.
Checks four and five, the hose and the inline filter canister: one kinked, crushed, or split hose section, or a canister full of leaves, can kill suction for the whole cleaner; if suction is still weak after all five, have a tech check the pump itself.
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