Little Giant APCP-1700 115-Volt, 1/3 HP, 1745 GPH, Automatic, Submersible, Swimming Pool Cover Pump with 25-Ft. Cord, Light Blue, 577301

I have left this on my pool all through the winter and it froze and it thawed out and it took the water off the pool and it’s still working so it’s really a good product

Awesome pump for my pool. It’s been 2 seasons now and it works wonders. I leave it on top of my pool cover (solid cover so liquid gathers on top of it) throughout the fall and winter. It’s outdoors the whole time and I’ve never ran into issues with the pump not working.Most of the time issues I had was my neighbors pine tree clogging up the hose.Surprisingly durable for continuous outdoor use.

Decided to cover my pool this winter using a Robelle cover and needed a pump to drain any rainwater. Pump features automatic start and shutoff which work great, and this unit will move some serious water. The pump draws water through holes located at the bottom of the unit and through holes along the sides on the lower portion of the housing. Sitting the pump directly on the vinyl cover tended to obstruct the holes, so I fabricated a base out of 1/2" PVC and used zip ties to secure it to the pump base for unobstructed flow. Works perfectly.

Great pump swiming pool cover. Gets the work done.

Like others, my pump was constantly getting air-locked. I discovered that you have to carefully route the garden hose. There shouldn't be any "dips" in the hose. My pump was getting air-locked because the hose dipped into a garden box. I re-routed the hose to go around, not inside, the garden box. In other words, the hose should come out of the pool and reach a peak. After the peak, the hose should go constantly downhill to the discharge. You don't want water to get "trapped" in a dip in the hose. In addition, there is a tiny vent hole that should be kept clean. I have a lot of trees and vegetation, so my vent hole was getting clogged with debris. The pump no longer gets air-locked, and it turns on and off reliably. The instructions neglect to say anything about how to properly route the hose. I can't make a definitive judgment about the pump because I have owned it for less than 1 year. The pump seems sturdy, it stayed outside all winter, and it can keep up with heavy rain. The pump also survived on the pool cover during hurricane Sandy in NJ. Little Giant is a well-known maker of quality pumps. The pump is power efficient and only draws 2.2 amps. This is important for an emergency power system that will keep the pump running during hurricanes, outages, etc.Jan. 2016 update: My pump has been working since 2012; it survived hurricane Sandy. I have some more advice. Before the first significant snow/ice/extreme cold, I pull the pump out of the pool. As a result, the pump doesn't spend 1 or 2 months frozen at the bottom of a mountain of snow and ice. This also helps to prevent another problem where the float arm gets stuck in the up position because of ice/cold. This turns the pump on, but it never shuts off, which could cause the pump to burn out. The float arm can also get stuck in the up position when the pump is submerged by very heavy rain. Bumping or jiggling the pump allows the stuck float arm to fall down, thereby shutting off the pump. Amazon notified me that Little Giant had a recall because of the sticking float arm (not caused by ice). They sent me a new pump for free. However, I will continue to use the original pump until it dies.I still get a very infrequent air-lock. I get the impression that an air-lock is most likely when the pump hasn't activated in a long time. You can detect an air-lock because the pump hasn't removed water, the pump is "humming", and the water level on the cover is higher than normal. As the instructions indicate, I leave the pump unplugged from the power for about 10 minutes (longer is better). When I plug it back in, the pump works normally. Do not unplug the pump for just a few seconds because that will not fix the air-lock. In conclusion, I understand that all of these pool cover pumps are problematic. The Little Giant can provide many years of service. You have to "manage" the pump, especially during the winter.Jan. 2017 update: The original pump is still going.March 2021 update: The original pump finally broke. Maybe it can be fixed, but it is not really worth the trouble and the cost of parts when you can just buy a new one. I might take a look when it gets warmer outside. I am very satisfied with the pump.

It is much larger and heavier than I expected. I’ve had to buy a new pump for my pool cover every year since they play out before the uncovering is done. This pump is heavy duty and I believe will last for several years. It cost a little more than the other pumps I have bought but it is worth the price.

Drained a winter's worth of water off my above ground pool cover. Maybe 1000 gallons? Never clogged with debris. Easy to set up - just connect a regular garden hose and plug it in. Started pumping at 10:30 am, was done by 3:30pm. Excellent product.

It works well but clogs very easily. This requires taking the cover off and cleaning the tiny space out. The cover, or at least the one I have, doesn’t screw off and on so easily and I am needing to clean it multiple times to get my entire pool cover emptied. This makes it time consuming. I do have leaves in my pool cover water which causes it but I can’t be the only one with this issue. Any suggestions for how to minimize this. I have tried getting as many leaves out first as possible. It didn’t do this the first time I used it and there were many more leaves.