Pool cover pump for mid-south NJ: recommendations

[morzh]

This is the experience I have with Little Giant pool cover pump, the APCP-1700 model.

I bought this pump about spring 2020 when my other pool pump seized.

It behaved well during the 1st year, all the way through the winter, and even pumped out water accumulated under snow when the melt started in the spring of 2021.
Then the next season during rain after the freeze the pump refused to start, and I had to go there under rain, and found that the bottom was covered with ice sheeting. I cleared it with a garcden hose. Did not help. I had to take this pump, all 14 lbs of it, upstairs in a bathtub, remove the plug (took 3 minutes of hot water rinse), and then run hot water inside where the float is for 10 minutes or so. All this time I was trying to see if it starts, and it only buzzed, meaning that the impeller was still seized by ice. After 10 minutes it started, and I took it back to the pool cover, where there was probably a couple of hundred gallons accumulated by this time.

This situation repeated itself 2 weeks ago (I am in NJ) and today again.

I have to tell you, there is very little fun in going out during a downpour, when it is also fairly cold out, and wor with a dirty heavy pump, dragging it across the house, and then cleaning the bathtub after it.

It pumps extremely well, when it, well, pumps (no pun intended).
I am sure in climates where ice forming ius not followed by deluges, this pump will work just fine.
However I would like to find a pump that will let me stay home during inclement weather. So I would like to solicit some opinions from the folks who live in places where freeze and rain come one after the other, like in NJ.

For example, I found Wayne Wayne 57729-WYNP WAPC250 model pump, that has fairly good reviews and claims to be OK with freezing weather.

 

[ajw22]

I have to tell you, there is very little fun in going out during a downpour, when it is also fairly cold out, and wor with a dirty heavy pump, dragging it across the house, and then cleaning the bathtub after it.

I let water accumulate on the cover and after the rain stops and it warms up above freezing I go out and check on the pumps. I see no reason to play with the pumps while it is raining or freezing.

I am sure in climates where ice forming ius not followed by deluges, this pump will work just fine.
However I would like to find a pump that will let me stay home during inclement weather. So I would like to solicit some opinions from the folks who live in places where freeze and rain come one after the other, like in NJ.

Any pump with a float switch will freeze up.

I have tried the pumps with electronic water sensing and they don't last outdoors.

For example, I found Wayne Wayne 57729-WYNP WAPC250 model pump, that has fairly good reviews and claims to be OK with freezing weather.

After trying many pumps I have found the ACP-1700 is the best of the bunch.

If you let it get buried in snow it will eventually start tripping the GFCI. So bring the pump in before any snow and then put it out if we get a thaw.

Also the ACP-1700 vent hole can get clogged and it can get airlocked and not move water. This video shows how to clear the vent...