Pentair Dorado Suction Cleaner

The Dorado is Pentair's bristle-drive suction cleaner: an oscillator inside vibrates, and Pentair says that vibration moves the bristles and the cleaner, across a 15 inch cleaning path with an oversized vacuum inlet. It plugs into a skimmer or a dedicated suction port and runs on your pump. Pentair lists one item number, 360151.

It's one of Pentair's three current in-ground suction cleaners, with the two-wheel Rebel and the Kreepy Krauly Kruiser. Like any suction cleaner, it sends what it picks up to your pump basket and filter, which the cleaner type comparison covers.

If you own a Kreepy Krauly Great White, which Pentair has discontinued: its catalog parts list shares most of the Dorado's part numbers, from the swivel to the oscillator kit and brushes. The shroud differs, 360153 on the Dorado against GW9501.

What it will and won't do

Pentair's manual says the Dorado is designed to clean a pool of debris in about four to six hours, visiting most spots within six hours in a random pattern. It isn't programmed to go where the dirt is, and it spends most of its time in the deep end, where most of the floor and wall area is, visiting the shallow end a few times.

It wasn't designed to:

• Clean steps or swimouts, where it can get stuck. Pentair's answer is to attach a telescoping pole with the supplied handle and clean those by hand.
• Work under a solar cover.
• Do the first cleanup of a new pool, or at spring opening.

Normal behavior that looks odd: a steady clicking, which is the oscillator; the cleaner rising on one side and pivoting a few times a minute, which is how it turns; and flipping onto its back when the pump stops on some systems, which rights itself when the pump restarts.

Pentair also warns that some vinyl liner patterns can be worn or marked by any cleaner, and says it isn't responsible for that.

Before installing it

1. Balance the water, brush the pool, let the debris settle and vacuum it by hand. Pentair wants the pool clean and free of algae first.
2. Clean the filter, including backwashing, and empty the skimmer and pump baskets.
3. Check a vinyl liner for age or damage, and have it repaired first. On a gunite or tiled pool, repair loose tiles and tighten loose light rings.

Setting up the hose

The Dorado comes with twelve 40 inch hose sections, one of them the leader hose, whose larger cuff fits the swivel. Pentair's rules:

• Length: at least 4 feet longer than the distance from the skimmer or suction port to the farthest point of the pool.
• Don't cut any section; use an extension at full length even if it's a little long.
• Use only Pentair's Dorado hose. The manual says another hose will hurt coverage.
• Join the sections by twisting and pushing the female ends onto the male ends, after wetting them in the pool.

The swivel goes into the top of the cleaner with a quarter turn.

Installing it in the skimmer

This is Pentair's recommended installation:

1. Turn the pump off.
2. Set the valves to send all suction to the skimmer you're using. Close the main drain and other suction lines.
3. Take out the skimmer basket.
4. Fit the vacuum regulator and reducer cone into the bottom of the skimmer, and attach the hose to the regulator. Keep the regulator submerged, or the pump will suck air through it, lose prime and could be damaged.
5. Check the flow: with the main drain still closed, put the flow gauge in the free end of the hose, keep hose and gauge underwater, start the pump, and adjust the regulator until the gauge's indicator sits between minimum and maximum.
6. Connect the leader hose to the cleaner, push the cleaner in and let it sink.
7. Run the pump for a couple of minutes to purge the air.

Installing it on a vac port

If your pool has a dedicated suction port:

1. Turn the pump off, and set the valves to send suction to the vac port and the skimmer that will hold the regulator.
2. Fit the spring-loaded vac port fitting that comes with the cleaner: screw it in, with the arrow on the door pointing up, and tighten the Allen screw below the door. Pentair says a vac port must be covered when not in use to prevent entrapment; if the included fitting doesn't fit, buy one that does.
3. Put the vacuum regulator, with its cap fitted, and reducer cone into the skimmer.
4. Attach the hose to the vac port fitting, with the gate valve for the port fully open.
5. Check the flow with the gauge in the same way, then connect the cleaner, sink it and run the pump.

Tuning the vacuum

Pentair suggests starting with the valves set for maximum vacuum to the skimmer or port you're using, then adjusting. Once you find settings that work, mark the valves.

• Too much vacuum: the cleaner climbs past the waterline, sucks air and the pump loses prime, which Pentair says will damage the pump if it keeps happening. Turn the regulator knob counterclockwise. If it still climbs out, open the main drain valve slightly. Pool pump not priming covers a pump that's lost prime.
• Not enough vacuum: the cleaner moves sluggishly or not at all. Clean the filter and baskets, and set the regulator and valves for maximum vacuum. If it still won't move, Pentair says your pump may not be strong enough.

For heavy leaves, Pentair suggests an in-line leaf canister, R211084K, which holds more debris and bypasses water when full, so the pump doesn't starve. On a skimmer vac plate, empty the skimmer basket often, adjust any vacuum control on the plate, and keep the regulator submerged.

Looking after it

From Pentair's maintenance list:

• Take the cleaner out before shocking or balancing the water, and wait at least four hours before putting it back.
• Keep the skimmer and pump baskets clean.
• If it jams on large debris, stop the pump, try clearing it from the bottom, then take off the swivel and clear it from the top.
• Store it so nothing presses on the bristles, and with the lift brush retracted.
• Store the hose flat, straight and disconnected. A hose stored coiled or attached takes a set and makes the cleaner malfunction.
• Check the bristles and vacuum skirt for wear or distortion, and replace them.

What the troubleshooting table says

• Doesn't move, or the oscillator is very slow: clean the filter and baskets; clear debris from the oscillator chamber, hose or vac plate bypass; fix vacuum leaks such as a cracked vac plate or hose, or a reducer cone or plate that isn't seated; set valves for maximum vacuum and shut off other skimmers and the main drain. Failing that, the pump may not develop enough vacuum, or the hose may be kinked, cracked or brittle.
• Climbs past the waterline: the oscillator is running too fast. Fit and adjust the regulator, then open the main drain slightly.
• Coverage not as expected: clean the filter and baskets. Vinyl pools with a deep-end hopper take six to eight hours, with at least four trips to the shallow end. Check the lift brush drops within 2 minutes.
• Stuck in one spot for more than 15 minutes: check the lift brush.
• Hovers with the hose fully extended: the hose is too short.
• Hose keeps coiling: store it flat and lay it in the sun before use.
• Avoids the shallow end: a buoyancy problem. Add a hose weight, 41201-0238.
• Hose comes loose when the pump stops: use the reducer cone.

Buying one

Pentair's warranty page gives the Dorado two years, or one year, parts only, if bought online. Pentair's product page lists no online EC- version, and its brochure places the Dorado in its TradeGrade family for pool stores and service companies.

When checked, the only Amazon listing using the Dorado's item number named another brand, not Pentair, so this page has no store link.

Where Pentair's documents disagree

• Hose section length. The manual's text says twelve sections of 40 inches each; its own parts list, and the parts sheet, describe the hose kit as 12 sections of 4 feet each.
• The reassembly screws. The manual says the lower body fastens with 6 screws, then lists them as 2 long and 2 short. The screw kit holds 6 short and 2 long.
• Coverage time. Four to six hours in the manual's warnings, visits to most spots within six hours in its operation section, and six to eight hours for vinyl pools with a hopper in its troubleshooting.
• Page references. The manual sends readers to page 17 for troubleshooting and reassembly; they're on pages 14 and 12.
• A borrowed paragraph. The manual's liability section says pressure-side cleaners won't wear good plaster, in the manual for a suction-side cleaner.
• What the catalog leaves out. Pentair's 2025-2026 catalog prices the Dorado's wear parts but doesn't list the bumper, bumper insert kit, long gear shaft, shaft kit, lower body, ratchet tab, hose kit, regulator, regulator cap, handle or flow gauge, all of which are on the parts sheet.