| When used with the Thruster, any time that I removed the Kreepy Krauly from the pool and placed it back into the pool, if the Thruster was not perfectly aligned it will suck air into the pump which over time could seriously damage the pump. Also, this problem sometimes occurs unexpectantly even after the Kreepy Krauly has been left in the pool for several weeks. |
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Another issue that I had with the Kreepy Krauly, given its noisy performance was the fact that in the summer of 2004, I installed the Pool Pilot Digital chlorine generator. The Pool Pilot controls the pump as well as generating chlorine. An interesting feature of the Pool Pilot is that, if the temperatures drop below 40F, it will run the pump for an hour to prevent the equipment from freezing. I live in Santa Barbara, so the temperatures only drop below 40F at around 3 AM, perhaps 5-10 times a year. However, with the Kreepy Krauly attached, if the temperature drops below 40F, you're in for an early wakeup call!
If those problems weren't enough for me to retire my brain dead Kreepy Krauly, there was an occassion when the unit happily sucked up a small orange that somehow fell into the pool. Fortunately, I was home at the time when I heard my pool's pump choking on something. I shut the pump off, removed the Kreepy Krauly and noticed that the orange was stuck at the skimmer opening. Luckilly, it was something that I could see. I can just imagine what would have happened if the orange was stuck in an inaccessible location. Even so, the orange was wedged snugly into the skimmer opening and I couldn't grasp it with my fingers. I ended up taking a knife and cutting it into small pieces so that the pump would be able to continue its normal operation.
After using the Kreepy Krauly for 3 years and becoming increasingly dissatisfied with it, I refused to spend another penny on replacing its flimsy replacement parts and I decided to research my other options for obtaining a new pool cleaner.
Our swimming pool is relatively small, about 13,000 gallons, is kidney shaped, has irregular shaped steps and a ladder. Given my Kreepy Krauly experience I knew that I could rule out any of the cheap cleaners and suction side cleaners. My pool doesn't have a booster pump or vacuum port, so that eliminated many other cleaners as well. Basically, I became convinced that one of the robotic cleaners would be the most suitable however, the majority of these cleaners are priced at around $1000 (or more).
During my research I did come across the AquaJet cleaner which claimed to be the fastest pool cleaner on the market. Interestingly it's made by a subsidiary of AquaProducts (the makers of the more expensive, AquaBot robotic cleaners). After awhile I had narrowed my choice down to the AquaBot and the AquaJet (which was priced about $100 less). The deciding factor then became the cost of replacement parts: the AquaBot has brushes and other moving parts that would need replacement over time, whereas the AquaJet doesn't seem to have anything that would wear out routinely, so I purchased the AquaJet for about $600. In contrast, I paid approximately $300 when I purchased the Kreepy Krauly, plus $100 for the Thruster and probably about $200 in replacement parts in the 3 years that I used the poorly made unit.
Most robotic cleaners have computer chips onboard in order to control the movement of the unit and propel themselves with a tractor-like motion. However, the AquaJet doesn't have a chip inside and it propels itself by jet propulsion technology. It randomly traverses the pool on its four large wheels (only the front pair turn from side-to-side) reversing itself at a configurable interval (from 1 to 90 seconds) continuing this cycle for 2 hours until shutting itself off. Since the front wheels pivot the back-and-forth motion forces the AquaJet in a random pattern easily cleaning every accessible part of most pools in two hours.
It is a relatively painless process removing the filter bag for cleaning. Simply snap the bottom panel of the AquaJet off (held on by 2 clips) and remove the filter assembly. It then takes about 30 seconds to remove the filter bag, which has an elastic band, from the assembly. Once the bag has been cleaned and dried it takes about a minute to replace it on the filter assembly. It might take some practice positioning the bag on the assembly. Finally, snap the filter assembly back into place and the AquaJet is ready to clean the pool.
AquaJet (side view)
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AquaJet (front view)
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Over time, the power cord of my AquaJet would become tangled to a point where it seriously impeded the performance of the unit. After placing the unit in the pool, within 5 minutes the cord would tangle itself and I'd have to babysit the unit to ensure that it cleaned the pool. I called the AquaJet support department and they didn't have any similar reports but they did send me 3 cable protector channels (free of charge). They said that they were intended for their AquaBot product in the event that the robotic cleaner tried to eat its power cord. One note about AquaJet's technical support: when I emailed them, they were non-responsive. However, when I called their toll-free number they were very friendly and helpful. They even called me back to provide additional possible solutions to the tangling problem. |
| The AquaJet instructions did claim that the device performed best in square and rectangular shaped pools so perhaps the tangling issue was due to my kidney shaped pool. If that is the case, I would imagine that any pool cleaner that has a power cord would become tangled in my pool so perhaps this problem is not isolated to the AquaJet, however it is a problem to me so I needed to find a solution. |
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| The AquaJet has a detangling device on the plug-end of the power cord, however, this device does nothing. Furthermore, the detangling device actually gets in the way of storing the power cord because it is bulky and rigid. I was able to unscrew the detangling device, however it cannot be removed without breaking it entirely, since it cannot slide past the plug. However, I was able to move the detangler to the AquaJet side of the cord. I then connected three sections of the Kreepy Krauly's suction tubes and slid them onto the AquaJet cord towards the unit. |
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When the AquaJet is now placed into the pool, most of the power cord that is in the pool is covered by the Kreepy Krauly flexible tubing. This prevents the covered section from becoming twisted and tangling. The length of the power cord is 40 ft., however only about 15 ft. is actually in the pool because my pool is relatively small, I only give the unit enough cord such that it can reach all locations in the pool. |
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After running the AquaJet with the Kreepy Krauly suction tubing several times, I realized that this
adhoc solution does in fact keep the AquaJet's power cord from becoming tangled. However, when
storing the Aquajet between uses, I keep the Kreepy Krauly
tubing attached (to save some effort in removing it and reinstalling it the next time that the
AquaJet is used) which makes it a bit more of a hassle to store because of the extra bulkiness of
the tubing.
Overall, I'd rate the AquaJet an 8/10. If the cord didn't tangle, I'd rate it a 9/10. By adding the Kreepy Krauly tubing to the AquaJet it behaves perfectly in the pool now. Ironically, after years of griping about the many inadequacies of the Kreepy Krauly, its somewhat funny that I'm now using its parts to rescue the AquaJet from tangling itself. |
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The only minor complaint I now have with the AquaJet is that thoroughly cleaning the filter bag is a bit time consuming. The AquaJet comes with two filter bags: a mesh bag for catching medium sized debris and a cloth bag for catching fine debris. Since my pool always has tiny amounts of debris in it, I always use the cloth filter bag. After removing the unit from the pool the filter bag always contains some algae, bugs, hair, dirt and other small items that are hardly noticeable in the pool but clearly obvious when examining the filter bag. That is to say, on any given day, my pool looks clean, however, if I run the AquaJet it catches tons of debris that I didn't even notice was in the pool in the first place.
The cloth filter bag has many pleats which help trap dirt particles, however, these pleats can take some effort to fully clean. To thoroughly clean the filter bag it requires me to spray the bag with a hose or in a sink section-by-section, constantly maneuvering the bag to reach its entire surface area. If cleaning the bag could be done in less than 5 minutes, I'd add another point to my rating of the AquaJet. However, on any given day, it could take about 10 minutes to adequately clean it.
The instructions indicate that the bag only needs cleaning when it collects enough debris that it impedes the AquaJet's performance. However, I clean it after each use because I don't want the algae that it traps to re-enter the pool at a later date.
The AquaJet certainly does an effective and speedy job cleaning the pool and it far exceeds the Kreepy Krauly in every way. I can't compare it to other robotic cleaners, but I doubt they'd outperform the AquaJet and furthermore, they would likely require far more maintenance. The AquaJet blasts the pool surface with streams of water and then vacuums up anything in its path. If I notice a wall has some algae on it before placing the AquaJet in the pool, by the time the AquaJet has finished its 2 hour cycle, that area is perfectly clean. Additionally, if I brush any area of the pool after the AquaJet has finished, I never see any particles moving about, so I know the AquaJet has effectively cleaned the pool.
| Clean filter bag: | After running the AquaJet: |
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You can see from the pictures above just how much debris and algae that the AquaJet trapped after its 2 hour cycle. Amazingly, I had run the AquaJet the day before as well so all of this debris is from a single day. Also, when I placed the AquaJet in the pool on this day, I didn't even notice any debris. As noted earlier, if I had been using the Kreepy Krauly (or any other suction type cleaner), all of this debris would have gone directly to the filter. The typical suction cleaner bypasses the skimmer basket so all debris will end up in the pump basket or the filter. Since using the AquaJet, I have not had to clean out the pump basket as of yet, whereas, with the Kreepy Krauly, I needed to do so atleast once per week.
Another advantage to the AquaJet is the fact that when I eventually do clean my pool's main filter cartridge there is hardly any debris in it. When I used the Kreepy Krauly, I would have to clean the filter atleast once a week in the summer and it would take about 30 minutes to get all of the debris off of the cartridge. Now when I clean the filter there is little debris in the cartridge and I can clean it in 5 minutes or so. Usually the only reason I need to clean the main filter cartridge is when I suspect that it is covered with algae. Otherwise, I could probably go the entire summer without cleaning it (rather than less than a week when the Kreepy Krauly was used). Also, since my filter cartridge now stays cleaner for longer periods of times, I would expect that the life of the cartridge will be increased significantly.
Update - November, 2008
I receive many emails regarding the Aquajet and after all of these years (first posting this review in 2005) it still
performs well. I have recently been informed that the Aquajet is no longer being sold. However, the parent company
of Aquajet is selling a nearly identical model,
Aquabot Turbo T-jet. Additionally, the
Aquajet technology appears to be licensed by iRobot (the makers of the popular Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner) and they sell the
iRobot Verro 300.
Recently, the reset button on the transformer failed completely (it had been a bit flaky for about 6 months) and needed to be replaced. I contacted customer service and they indicated that the entire timer module needed to be replaced (about $75) since they do not sell the reset switch seperately. However, I disassembled the timer (don't attempt this unless you know what you're doing since it will likely void any warranty and could cause injury or death) and disconnected the reset switch. I then stripped the 2-red wires previously connected to the reset switch, plugged the transformer in, switched the main power on, and connected the 2-red wires for about 1 second and the transformer switched on as expected indicating that only the switch needed to be replaced. I was able to locate a similar (normally open) reset switch from a local electronics store. I then soldered the 2-red wires to the replacement switch and reassembled the transformer.
The cost of the replacement part (the reset switch) was under $2.00 which was far less than any replacement part that I had purchased for the Kreepy Krauly and it's the first part that needed to be replaced (including the filter bags) after about 4 years of frequent use. So I'm pleased that I haven't had to pay for any costly replacement parts.
This review is copyright Phil Schwartz 2005-2008.
First published: August, 2005
Last updated: November, 2008
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