Best or Worse Sump Pump?

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Dirk

Dirk

Gold Supporter
TFP Guide
Nov 12, 2017
11,994
Central California
Pool Size
12300
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I just suggested to someone with a failing pump to grab a cheap submersible pump to keep the water moving while they await repairs. But I couldn't recommend a specific brand or model.

I've been meaning to buy one myself, as a just-in-case backup, but every time I get inspired I get bogged down in the endless choices on Amazon.

Anyone have a model to recommend? Perhaps in the $50-$100 range? Or know of one to avoid?
 
HP is the most important detail to me on these. The time saved is more valuable than needing to buy another one 2 years early, after 6 years.
 
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Thanks Saturn! Based on, well, nothing, 1/6HP seems wimpy to me. I'm not too concerned with draining my pool, but if my main pump went out, and I put your Wayne in my deep end, with its hose in the shallow end, would you say it could circulate my pool enough to keep added chlorine mixed in? I have no reference, so I don't know if 1/6HP is enough, or if I need 5HP or 50HP! Well, my filter pump is 3HP, so less than that, of course. But should I be shopping for 1/2HP, or 1HP, or would 1/6HP do the job? My pool is 7', so if the hose outlet was, say, 1' deep, I think there is that to consider...

The other thing I could see using it for would be to put it in the deep end and attach the output hose to the suction port in my skimmer, to keep water moving not only in the pool but also through all my plumbing, my pump, my filter, etc, for freeze protection. Would that even work, I wonder?
 
Dirk said:
Thanks Saturn! Based on, well, nothing, 1/6HP seems wimpy to me. I'm not too concerned with draining my pool, but if my main pump went out, and I put your Wayne in my deep end, with its hose in the shallow end, would you say it could circulate my pool enough to keep added chlorine mixed in? I have no reference, so I don't know if 1/6HP is enough, or if I need 5HP or 50HP! Well, my filter pump is 3HP, so less than that, of course. But should I be shopping for 1/2HP, or 1HP, or would 1/6HP do the job? My pool is 7', so if the hose outlet was, say, 1' deep, I think there is that to consider...

The other thing I could see using it for would be to put it in the deep end and attach the output hose to the suction port in my skimmer, to keep water moving not only in the pool but also through all my plumbing, my pump, my filter, etc, for freeze protection. Would that even work, I wonder?
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I’ve only used it to pump water off the cover, so I don’t know how effective it would be circulating the pool. I suspect it would be good enough, but I’ll defer to others here with more knowledge/experience.
 
Finally got around to ordering a pump. I'll keep you all posted about anything interesting. Comes in a few days.


I also ordered the flat hose. I figure that will help with the flow, as opposed to restricting it with a garden hose.


I chose this pump over some of the other suggestions because:

- It's oi-lless (whatever that means, but sounded good in case it blows up while in the pool)

- It's got a 25' cord (most others were 10', and in a 7.5" pool that's cutting it too close for my tastes)

- I can attached a 1.5" flat hose, or a garden hose

- The output port can be vertical or horizontal, and I pictured that as useful for either removing water (vertically, up and over the coping) or just circulating the pool if my main pump pooped out, in which case I'd use the horizontal configuration so I could just lay the flat hose on the pool bottom, either from deep to shallow or shallow to deep.

- It drains down quite low, to 1/4"

I wish it had an auto-shut off, but I didn't like the models with the big honkin' float swinging from an arm hanging off the side, so I passed on looking for that feature.

I settled on 1/3HP because this model had everything else I wanted. I originally wanted 1/2HP or 1HP, but this pump's flow rate is good enough for my purposes, and the 1/2-1HP pumps didn't come oil-less or with the longer cord.
 
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Ive been using a small submersible to circulate chems after closing for the winter. I don’t know if its a 1/4 or 1/6 hp but not any bigger than that. The acid I put in seemed plenty mixed after a couple hours. Ph reading ended up where I expected it to be. Pool is 24k gallon
 
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Dirk said:
I'll check it out
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I originally bought the 1/3 hp model you picked out. It served me well for 7 years. At less than half the price, the new one has to last 3 years to break even. And it's got 50% more oomph which will be noticed again and again.

That to me is worth the oil having and stupid floaty thingie.
 
I just checked and its a flotec 1/6 hp. Its powerful enough to make a steady stream through 30 feet of garden hose. Plenty of flow to mix over a couple of hours. I would only say you need more powerful if you want it mixed in a matter of minutes
 
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trivetman said:
. Plenty of flow to mix over a couple of hours. I would only say you need more powerful if you want it mixed in a matter of minutes
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+1. Mixing doesn't need much to work well.

There will always come a time when the pump gets put into service for draining, and that's when buyers remorse sets in if it takes forever. It might not even be for the pool, it could be a flooded basement / bathroom.
 
Newdude said:
Abort mission !!!!! Cancel the order and get this one. It's 3 times the HP and less than half the price. I got it's stainless steel cousin which isn't available at the moment.

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That pump may be good for a circulation pump but its intake is too high for a cover pump. It will shutoff with too much water left on the cover.
 
ajw22 said:
That pump may be good for a circulation pump but its intake is too high for a cover pump. It will shutoff with too much water left on the cover.
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That's one of the things I liked about the model I chose. It'll pump down to 1/4".

As near as I could research, there just wasn't one pump that had everything I was looking for, so I chose the spec's most important to my use-case scenarios...

And they're all priced such that owning a couple different ones isn't out of the question. Lot's of negative reviews on all the models cite their early-demise. The most important scenario is covering for an out-of-service main filter pump. Well, what if the backup sump decides that's when it's going to fail? So should the backup sump have a backup!!??

I might consider that. An extra $60 would seem like nothing if the main filter pump went out and the backup sump wouldn't start up, say, when a freeze was on its way, or the pool was being subjected to weeks of 115° days. That, unfortunately, is now a foreseeable possibility where I live. With supply chains as they are, who knows how long it would take to replace/repair a main pump. And even the two days it could take to get a replacement sump could turn a pool green.

Sure, there's manual stirring, to cover that improbability, but that's not the point of owning a small backup pump.
 
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ajw22 said:
That pump may be good for a circulation pump but its intake is too high for a cover pump. It will shutoff with too much water left on the cover.
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Ironically, everyone chiming in covers their pool, except OP whom the advice was for. :ROFLMAO:
 
Newdude said:
Ironically, everyone chiming in covers their pool, except OP whom the advice was for. :ROFLMAO:
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Everyone chiming in who cares about the OP is not in the OP's state of CA.

Figure out the meaning of that.
 
Dirk said:
if the main filter pump went out and the backup sump wouldn't start up, say, when a freeze was on its way, or the pool was being subjected to weeks of 115° days. That, unfortunately, is now a foreseeable possibility where I live.
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Yeah, where I live, too. But then the power would go out also, and the backup pump wouldn't run anyway.
Not to mention that those of us with auto-covers couldn't open the cover in such an event, even to brush manually.
Pessimist? Me?
 

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