Pentair Kreepy Krauly Platinum

The Kreepy Krauly Platinum is Pentair's current pressure-side pool cleaner: a four-wheel cleaner that drives around on water pushed through it by a booster pump, and catches what it picks up in its own bag rather than your filter. Pentair makes it in two colors, LL505PM with a gray top and white bottom for lighter pools, and LL505PMG in all gray for darker ones.

Pentair's product pages mark its Racer, Racer LS, Legend and Legend II pressure-side cleaners as discontinued; the Platinum's page doesn't. Pentair pitches it at pools with heavy leaf fall.

It needs its own pump and its own line

The cleaner does not run off your filter pump. The manual has it connected to a female threaded 1½-inch line dedicated to a ¾ horsepower booster pump. If the pool has no dedicated cleaner line, Pentair's instruction is to call its technical support at 1-800-831-7133 before going further, and to do the same if you have a chlorinator, solar system or other equipment that puts air into the water.

The booster pump is not self-priming. It has to take its water from after the pool filter and before any in-line chlorinator. Pentair's LA01N is a ¾ HP booster pump, and what a booster pump costs to run is covered separately.

Pentair's manual says the Platinum should be installed by a qualified service person, even though its warranty doesn't require professional installation.

Before it goes in

• Clean the filter, including backwashing and emptying every basket. The manual says a clean system is necessary for the cleaner to cover the pool.
• Flush new plumbing lines before connecting it.
• Vinyl pools: check the liner for damage and remove stones or roots from under it. Pentair disclaims liability for pattern wear or scratches on vinyl.
• Plaster and tile pools: repair loose tiles and tighten loose light rings.
• Don't use it for plaster dust in a new pool, for the first cleanup of a new pool, or to open a pool for the season. It isn't designed for steps, swimouts or running under a solar cover either.

Installing the wall fitting

1. Remove any old cleaner and wall fitting.
2. Run the filter pump and booster pump to flush the line, then turn both off.
3. Take the wall adapter off the wall fitting and screw the adapter into the line by hand until tight.
4. Twist-lock the wall fitting into the adapter a quarter turn, then pull out to a snug fit.

The adapter stays in the wall from then on. The wall fitting twists in and out of it to connect or disconnect the cleaner, and it carries a pressure relief valve that lets off excess pressure.

Cutting the hose to your pool

The hose comes in five sections covering about 30 feet, and getting its length right is most of the setup.

1. Lay the hose out straight in the sun, for a day if you can, to take the curl out of it.
2. Measure the deepest point of the pool, usually at the main drain, and cut the clear soft hose to that depth. If the pool is deeper than the soft hose is long, don't cut it.
3. Attach the hose to the wall fitting, hold the end of the 30-inch soft hose, and walk to the point of the pool farthest from the wall fitting without stretching the hose.
4. Measure how far the hose runs past that point, and cut half that length from each of the two 10-foot hoses next to the marked swivel. If you're cutting more than 2 feet from each, take off the floats next to that swivel.
5. Rejoin the hoses with the mender nuts, keeping as many floats as possible on the long hoses, evenly spaced.

Two things stay fixed however you cut. The back-up valve stays 30 inches from the cleaner head, and the finished hose should reach just to the farthest edge of the pool. Twist-lock the debris bag onto the cleaner, lower it in, then start the filter pump first, wait 30 seconds to push air out of the hose, and start the booster pump.

For a large pool, the manual lists the extra parts to add a third long hose: one more 10-foot hose, four floats, a swivel and two mender nuts. Divide the extra length by three so all the long hoses match.

The wheel speed says whether it's set right

Pentair gives one number to check: 34 to 38 RPM on a front wheel.

1. Turn both pumps off and take the cleaner out.
2. Mark a front wheel.
3. Have someone start the filter pump, then the booster, while you hold the cleaner just under the water.
4. Count the turns for exactly one minute, while the back-up valve isn't cycling.

Below 34, Pentair says to call a pool professional or its technical support. Above 38, slowly unscrew the pressure valve at the wall fitting until it drops into range. There is a limit to how far that adjustment goes.

Steering it

• Thrust jets: the two jets at the back set its direction. From the factory both point slightly right. Turn them right and it turns right, left and it turns left. Small changes make a big difference, and turning them inward adds power but can stop it running straight.
• Sweep hose: the screw on the feed mast barb below the ballast float sets how fast the sweep hose whips. Clockwise slows it, counterclockwise speeds it up. Too fast knocks the cleaner off its line, and too slow doesn't sweep.
• Back-up: about every 3 minutes 30 seconds, the back-up valve takes over for about 30 seconds to pull the cleaner out of corners.

If the sweep hose breaks the surface and sprays the patio, slow it down or add the EH09C sweep hose weight.

Day to day

• Run it on the booster pump's time clock. Pentair's booster pump instructions start the booster half an hour to 45 minutes after the filter pump, and stop it the same margin before, so the booster never runs dry.
• Empty the bag at half full. A heavy load after a storm can be split into two shorter runs a day. The bag empties more easily dry.
• Use the right bag. The fine mesh sand and silt bag is for everyday use, but sharp leaves and twigs can hole it. For those, the optional leaf bag, which has a larger mesh, is the one to use.
• Take it out before swimming and before shocking. The manual's rule is that water unsafe to swim in is unsafe for the cleaner.
• Pick it up by the vacuum tube, especially when lifting it out of the water.
• Disconnect it before cleaning or backwashing the filter, then run the filtration system for at least 5 minutes before reconnecting.

What wears, and what Pentair covers

The manual counts these as wear items to check and replace as needed: the tires and bearings, the roller rings on the sweep hose (rotate them to avoid flat spots), the debris bags, the sweep hose itself, and the debris valve under the bag, which needs replacing once it stiffens. The screen inside the wall fitting needs rinsing too.

For winter, drain all the water out of the cleaner, remove the wall fitting, and store it out of direct sunlight. Freeze damage isn't covered.

Troubleshooting

• Doesn't move, moves sluggishly or hangs on steps: both pumps running and the filter clean, the wall fitting screen rinsed, the wheel speed, the back-up valve cycling, no leaks at the hose connections and swivels, and no debris in the front wheels' gear teeth.
• Falls over or lies on its side: usually a full bag. Otherwise check the ballast float for water inside.
• Won't back up: the back-up valve cycling, the wheel speed, and the bag.
• Won't climb: brush the pool walls even if they look clean, then check the wheel speed and the thrust jets. The manual adds that it climbs better where the floor meets the wall without a sharp angle.
• Hoses tangle: hose too long, floats unevenly spaced, swivels that won't spin freely, or curl left in the hose.
• Sweep hose gets sucked into the cleaner: turn the adjustment screw clockwise until the sweep hose moves gently.
• Booster pump very noisy: the wall fitting mounted correctly and the filtration system working. Otherwise, possibly the booster pump itself.

Warranty and where to buy

One year. That is shorter than Pentair gives its Rebel, Dorado, Prowler and other Kreepy Krauly cleaners, which get two. Pentair's standard terms include labor unless a product is marked parts only, and the Platinum isn't. Bought online, it drops to one year parts only, with no labor. Register it with Pentair; its warranty page says registration activates coverage.

The Platinum isn't on Pentair's TradeGrade list, so a store purchase isn't required to keep the one year. The difference between a pool store and an online listing is the labor, and whether it can count toward Pentair's three-year bundle with a new pump and filter.

Where Pentair's documents disagree, or are unclear

• How long it takes. The brochure and product page say most pools are cleaned in 1 to 3 hours. The manual says both: its feature list repeats 1 to 3 hours, and its section on coverage says about 4 to 6.
• What the warranty covers. The manual says wear items are not covered. Pentair's warranty page gives cleaner hoses, bags and tires one year as consumables.
• The soft hose. The box contents list a 30-inch and a 7½-foot soft hose, and the exploded view shows a 7.5-foot one. The cutting instructions use a 10-foot soft hose as their example, and the parts list sells it as 10 feet.
• Counts that don't match. The box contents give 12 mender nuts and 4 swivels; the parts list gives 8 and 2.
• Where the sweep hose screw is. The adjustment section puts it on the feed mast barb below the ballast float. The troubleshooting table puts it on the bottom of the swivel mast.
• One number, two parts. Both the manual and the parts sheet give EU80 as the white venturi jet and as the cover screw.
• Manual against parts sheet. Pentair's product page links a parts sheet for the 2012 model. It differs from the 2021 manual on the gray ballast float (LLA20G against LLA20PMG), the wheel screw (MC55G against LLC55PMB), the turbine screw (EA30 against EU30), the gray thrust jet plate count (two against four), and a part inside the gray thrust jet kit (EC130G against LLC130G). The table below lists both where they differ.
• An old bag sheet. The product page also links a 2006 disposable sand and silt bag sheet written for Legend and "Legend Platinum" cleaners. It has you remove the debris valve and hold the bag on with a rubber band, and gives no part number for the bag. The current manual's bags twist-lock on over the debris valve.