Gator Auto-Skim

This is the Gator Auto-Skim Surface Skimming System for your suction side automatic pool cleaner. The Gator Auto-skim will work with all suction side pool cleaners and will skim the surface debris while the automatic cleaner works on the bottom of the pool.

I received the Gator directly from the manufacturer to test it and see what I thought. I test a lot of products for my YouTube Channel and the ones that are good, I put to film. Believe me, there have been some real duds and those I just keep in my garage.

The Gator is very effective for what it is designed to do. It connects to your suction side cleaner pool hose 2-3 hoses from the head of the cleaner. So as the cleaner is moving along the bottom it is dragging the Gator around the pool.

The Gator has a regulator valve in the bottom that will pull in water much like the regulator valve at your skimmer. This allows the Gator to suck in surface debris and act as a mini-skimmer, floating around the pool and pulling in surface debris.

It is very well designed and will pick up surface dust, bugs and leaves with no problems. It is not designed to pick up very large leaves, since the opening for the regulator is not large - figure it will pick up leaves similar in size to what your cleaner picks up off of the pool floor.

Note that the Gator is designed for a suction side pool cleaner which is the type that connects directly to your skimmer or side port/ vacuum port and runs off of your pool pump.  Some popular brands are the Pentair Kreepy Krauly,  the Hayward PoolCleaner, the Hayward Navigator, the Zodiac G2 and many more. The Gator will work with all of them.

It is a very effectively designed product and it works very well in my testing. There are some real benefits of this if your cleaner is connected at your skimmer. This will replace the regulator valve at the skimmer which over time will allow debris into your pump basket and clog it. The Gator moves the skimmer regulator valve out of the skimmer and into the Gator unit.

This means that once you replace your skimmer regulator valve with the hose connector, all of the debris will now go directly into the Gator. So if you have an inline canister like the Hayward W530 or the Zodiac Cyclonic Canister; all of the leaves and debris will be trapped by the canister and not go into your pump basket. So the skimmer is effectively bypassed by the Gator.

If you have a cleaner connected to the side port/ vacuum port of the pool, you can still benefit from the Gator. As the cleaner is moving in the pool the Gator will pick up debris on the surface that may not make it to the skimmer and fall to the bottom. The Gator will also skim the fine dust and bugs off of the pool surface leaving the surface spotless.

The Gator is also highly adjustable so if you connect it to your skimmer and notice that the cleaner is moving too slow, you can turn the Gator over and adjust the tension plate of the regulator. A higher setting on the tension plate will increase the suction to the cleaner making it run faster and decrease the suction to the Gator. A low setting will conversely slow down the cleaner and speed up the Gator's skimming speed.

For the side port./ vacuum port installation, simply adjust the valve until the Gator is getting the proper surface skimming suction. Included with the Gator is a flow gauge and you should use this when setting up the Gator. A good suction reading for the Gator is and “A” or a “B” on the flow gauge. If you are getting a “D” reading, clean the filter, clean the pump basket and make sure all of the pools suction is turned towards the skimmer (if that is where you have the Gator connected). Again for the side port, just adjust the valve by the equipment to achieve proper suction.

The Gator is a pretty innovative product and if your pool has a lot of surface debris and you have a suction side cleaner, I would recommend looking into this product for your pool. With the Gator properly adjusted, your cleaner will be able to clean the pool bottom while the Gator skims the surface.

The Gator is sold by Only About Innovation (OAI) which is also the maker of the SkimmerMotion which I previously reviewed:

Skimmer Motion™ - Automatic Pool Skimmer Review: http://youtu.be/PTxctNbjvN8
Skimmer Motion™ Installation and Set Up:  http://youtu.be/XrdKTwPIpzM