Jestersix

Automatic Skimmer Neck Cleaner - Yay or Nay?

yellojello

yellojello

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The Swabbie from AVAST Marine seems like a pretty cool product. What do you guys think?

This is one of their responses:

Our testing has shown that skimmate production is dead on consistent for 2 weeks straight with zero manual cleaning. This means that the skimmer will perform as well as it does on day 1 after a cleaning for two weeks straight. After this period, solids will begin to collect on the lid and reduce performance to approximate a 3 day from cleaned cup (even though the neck is still clean). After 4 weeks you have the equivilent performance of a skimmer that has not been cleaned for 5-6 days (yes, neck still clean). Personally, I clean mine once a month but if you are a super clean neck skimmer type of person, a once every two week cleaning will give you that "cleaned every day" performance.

- Question: What does "breaking in" a skimmer really mean? Would this defeat the purpose of that? or would not interfere?
 
"Breaking in" simply means that the plastic becomes coated with a microfilm that maintains surface tension versus a new skimmer in which the bare plastic often times has trouble maintaining surface tension.
 
Deltec makes an add on for their skimmers that does the automatic cleaning. Its around $900. I would think they would be great when you are out of town or away for a few days.
 
Greg the unit he's talking about is like $160 and built in the states. Much cheaper then the imported Deltec units :)
 
Sorry I wasn't clear, deltec has had one out on the market for awhile but was prohibitively expensive for most people. Its not an entirely new idea and to find out if they are worthwhile you could see what deltec users think of their devices.
 
Deltec wasn't the first either IIRC.

Jake loves his Avast Swabbie as do the 4 others I know with them. Much better option then the imported units. The Avast Marine guys are stand up people as well, I rather like supporting people like them :) hobbyists at heart!
 
I have a Swabbie as well. I got in on the initial preorder wave. I agree with Gresh they are stand up people. I have not been able to use my swabbie yet because of a torque issue, however they notified me of the issue before I even knew about it myself (hadn't tried it out yet). They also sent me a prepaid label to ship it back, I just have not been able to ship it back.
 
yellojello said:
The Swabbie from AVAST Marine seems like a pretty cool product. What do you guys think?

This is one of their responses:

Our testing has shown that skimmate production is dead on consistent for 2 weeks straight with zero manual cleaning. This means that the skimmer will perform as well as it does on day 1 after a cleaning for two weeks straight. After this period, solids will begin to collect on the lid and reduce performance to approximate a 3 day from cleaned cup (even though the neck is still clean). After 4 weeks you have the equivilent performance of a skimmer that has not been cleaned for 5-6 days (yes, neck still clean). Personally, I clean mine once a month but if you are a super clean neck skimmer type of person, a once every two week cleaning will give you that "cleaned every day" performance.

- Question: What does "breaking in" a skimmer really mean? Would this defeat the purpose of that? or would not interfere?
Click to expand...

I'll preface this by saying that I have never used the product but would probably be very happy to own one.

Maybe it's written down somewhere, but how exactly are they quantifying what they are using to test skimmate production and skimmer performance to claim that it performs any better on one day over another or whether it's been wiped or not? If they're doing the same as all the rest of us and just taking a look at the skimmate color and amount, I'd say they are throwing out some big marketing claims based on rather vague and sketchy evidence...
 
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