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- Verified Buyer
Our sump pump has been acting up, so when this pump showed up in the Vine reviewer program, I thought, what great timing and decided to get it to first use on our decorative, rock waterfall pond (see photo). Occasionally it needs cleaning, especially when we have had it stocked with Koi (Koi crap :-)... which builds up over time, coating the bottom and all of the rocks with gray matter. Three years ago, when I cleaned it, I drained all of the water, removed all of the boulders and small rocks and scrubbed the liner for a fresh start and hosed down all of the river rock and boulders. At that time I used an inexpensive Everbuilt pump, from Home Depot, to drain it. The pump was under a hundred bucks and had a flow rate of 360 gallons per hour. I figured, Why spend much for something that might only be used once every 3 years. The low price trade off is that it took me about 4 hours to drain, before I started cleanup. And during cleanup, I had to continue using water in the cleaning process and then draining that again.We were now due for another major pond cleaning, so I got this pump and just finished the cleanup with the same routine of draining, removing the rock and hosing it down and then scrubbing scale off of the pond liner. This went a heck of a lot faster, using this high velocity pump. The other pump was like a paper airplane, compared to this jet engine. Wow. 6,000 gallons per hour flow rate and I had that sucker drained in about 15 minutes, compared to 4 hours before. I should not have been surprised, based on the specs described on the Amazon page, but I was not prepared to realize that huge of a difference. I was able to achieve the maximum flow rate because I was not having to move water from a basement sump pump well and up any distance to the sewer. I drained the pond at ground level, out into the street, so its maximum lift was probably about 4 feet. The higher you need to move water, the slower the flow rate. Here is the stated performance levels for this pump. 5 feet of lift = 5,500 gph...10 feet of lift = 5,000 gph....15' = 4300 gph...20' = 3,750, and then it falls off to zero capacity for moving water, if you go to the 34' mark in elevation from the pump.Upon electing to get this pump, I decided that after the pond draining, I would use it to replace our current sump pump. Although this is described as a submersible sump pump (for residence), it certainly seems like an industrial unit, which might be well suited for draining water on job sites, or simply the best darned pump you could put in a home. It is solid cast iron, and I can't see any chance for it to ever fail. Extremely well built. On the outside of the box it says that it can pump/move up to 3/4" solids, so if your dog likes taking dumps in your sump pump well, ya go nothin' to worry about :-) And if you ever had a major flood situation in your basement (i.e. broken water pipe), this thing will have no problem keeping up with it, until emergency help arrives, since it has such strong capacity.After I drained the pond, I installed this in our sump pump well.... and then to test it, I ran a hose from outside, and into the basement, to fill the sump pump well to check the performance. I purposely unplugged the pump while filling the well. Then plugged it in and watched as the water in the well vanished almost instantly. And I couldn't hear a thing. This pump is whisper quiet.Minor additional details. Has a handle on top, for ease of lowering into your sump pump well, and in my case, also using a rope, tied to the handle to lower it into the pond. Also, the cord is 10' long and it can obviously go below the water line (except for the plug end, of course).If cost is not a deterrent, don't worry one second about the wisdom of the purchase. This thing rocks.
