I considered the self cleaning as well when researching our pool build. I do believe they can be repaired they just cannot be added AFTER you build you pool. Now or never kinda thing. I have a friend who cleans pools and he said they don't work. The PB I ended up using also said they were not great. I ended up going with the Polaris cleaner. I just started my build about 1 1/2 weeks ago. Rebar guys just left. Good luck!

I have a Paramount PV3 in my 22000 gal free-form pool. It works about as well as I thought it would. There are a couple of spots that don't get very good circulation, so debris tends to collect a little, but not too much and I can usually get most of it with the skimmer net. Paramount also has the PCC2000 which "guarantees" to clean 99% of the pool. Not sure how much more expensive it is.

I actually bought it because I liked the idea of circulating the water through the floor instead of just at the sides. The PV3 was only a few hundred dollars more than having a generic set of floor returns installed.

I do still vacuum occasionally because the jets don't always get all of the silt that settles when the pool is still.

I plan to get a robot cleaner one of these days. For now, I still have the kids to do the vacuuming :-)

If you do go for a self-cleaning system, I don't think you will need the optional debris cannister. The strainer basket in your pump should be sufficient.

pfkaplan1....we also have the Paramount PV3 and could not be happier. Our experience is similar to jfitz's....a couple spots that are easily cleanable with a leaf net once a month or so...otherwise we don't do anything else to keep the pool looking clean.

Our pool here in Lousiana is 35K gallons and in a heavily wooded area with some pine needles and lots of leaves during the winter.

Also don't recommend the extra canister...the pump basket is adequate for capturing leaves even during the heavy shedding months.

If you decide to go with the floor system, make sure to get a copy of the engineered drawings that the floor system manufacture provides for your pool. Then double check the head placement after the plumbing is roughed in. This will ensure the head are placed as specified for optimum cleaning. Also use the same drawing to verify that the correct size head is placed into each location during pool startup.

We also have a negative edge which acts as a big skimmer that makes leaf removal easy for our pool. This feature along with the floor cleaning system and salt system has made for mimimum maintenance of our pool...which was our intent as I travel quite a bit with my job.

Hope this helps.