Above Ground Pool Cleaner

The Best Ways To Clean The Pool

This is my top pick for an above ground pool cleaner. I have owned above ground pools for 30+ years. The first half of this time I spent with the hand vacuum. Then I acquired one of the first editions of The Aqua Bug. Over the following years I used many different types of automatic pool cleaners but the bug has always been my favorite. This cleaner works most effectively on flat bottom pools.

Here is a word of warning about automatic pool cleaners. I don't hand vacuum anymore, I let my cleaner clean the pool. But I use it only once or twice a week and I supervise it with a watchful eye. I love these things but if they run every time the filter runs they will eat up your vinyl liner. Pool cleaners will always have a place where they stay in one place for long periods of time. That's when they do the damage. I just keep them in motion and when the pool is clean the cleaner comes out. While the pool is getting cleaned I can get all my yard work done. Or I can lay on an air mattress for an hour while my pool is being cleaned. I have not had a hand vacuum for many years, I love my automatic cleaner. But just like my children I never leave them unattended.

For about a hundred and forty dollars you cannot beat this cleaner. It has a Smart Drive system that really works. Not only does it keep moving most of the time, it moves over different spots. That's really the key to keeping a pool clean, not cleaning the same spot twice while neglecting others. In The Swim carries the bug for above ground pools.

I mentioned above that I have used many different types of cleaners. That was never because I was unhappy with my bug, I just got them for free and tried them out. I always went back to my bug.

Getting the initial setup correct is the key to enjoying the Lady Bug, or any other automatic pool cleaner. Follow the instructions very closely and try it their way first.

Keeping the pool cleaner out from under the ladder is important if you want it to operate effectively. You can use milk jugs or the ladder guards if they are sold for your particular ladder. There are other methods being used but these are the two most common. Letting the cleaner get stuck around the ladder for long periods of time is a sure way to get pin holes in your liner.

There are two factors that can be played with and adjusted if needed to get your bug in motion. The angle of the return flow and the length of the hose are variables that can be fine tuned so that your cleaner will not have a favorite place, at the far end of the pool, where it spends most of it's time.

Keeping your above ground pool cleaner in motion at all times is the key to a cleaner pool and greatly reduces the risk of the cleaner wearing holes in your liner.

Here are a few more above ground pool cleaners from In The Swim.