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My pool robot vacuum (Polaris TR35P) has been very sluggish, slow moving. It will not climb walls and the tail doesn't really move as it normally would. It struggles to move and will not if the hose has the slightest tangle. I tried looking at the hose, and took it apart and it is not blocked anywhere. The pressure seems to be fine. What can the problem be?

FreeMan
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sheetmetal85
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2 Answers2

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Posting here because I could not find an answer anywhere, and am hoping this can help somebody else in the future.

While the slow moving seems to be tied to pressure, one would think, it was not in my case. I finally decided to take the robot apart, and the 2 wheels on one side have 2 separate belts running off a pulley. It turns out, one had broken, therefore passing no power to the back wheel and tail.

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sheetmetal85
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I used to be the pool gal at the country club for my dad in summers when I was in high school (don't ask). That belt drive system is really old, <mid 90s maybe? Did replacing the broken belts fix it? If not, or to the other poster who didn't mention belts, off the top of my head, first, check your pool wall fitting for a clog or breakage. If that's OK and the pressure's good (I forget, look it up yourself), I'd suspect a drowned float (the egg-shaped thing on top could be water logged). There are a lot of things that can (and will) go wrong in a Polaris. The tail is never really a problem and the sponge is just a mop attached to the exhaust. There's no need for back pressure, it'll run just fine without the tail as long as the port isn't clogged. You could still have one or more bad wheel bearings (there's three, if the wheel rattles, it's bad). You could have a leaf or some other crud wrapped around the axle stubs or jamming a bearing. You could have a cracked housing allowing the wheels to wiggle. Hard to say without seeing it, start with that. Good luck.

Amy Ng
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  • Welcome to H&I. The OP had already found what the problem was. This site is not run like a forum, its question and answer. And this does not add anything new to the previous answer. – Rohit Gupta Apr 10 '23 at 03:01
  • I didn't see any answers and I still don't, where are those kept? I don't know what a forum is, I saw a Q&A format and I answered an unanswered question giving specific details, and my reply adds plenty to help someone troubleshoot this device. If you don't like people answering questions that have already been answered, maybe don't keep the answers secret. Sheesh. – Amy Ng Apr 10 '23 at 14:11
  • Thank you Amy, those are all good tips! In my case, it was solely a belt that was broken, but the bearings will have to be replaced soon as well, I can tell! – sheetmetal85 Apr 11 '23 at 13:22