Rule The Little Giant

In closing the pool with the new safety cover there was a little debate as to which automatic cover pump to get.

In the past I’d used a “manual” pump to remove water from the top of the cover. Manual in the sense I had to lower it in the water, turn it on, then turn it off before it went completely dry and burned itself out.

The “automatic” pumps are more “set it and forget it”. You drop it on the cover and it automatically turns itself on when the water reaches a certain level, then turns itself off when its done.

Why didn’t I get an automatic pump before? I’m cheap.

With a mesh safety cover they’re kind of necessary, since the mesh allows water to drain into the pool and the water level in the pool needs to stay at a certain level through the winter months. Popping off a corner of the cover and dropping a pump in each time it needs draining is annoying not to mention you can’t really see the water level without popping the cover.

All the pool guys (two different places) suggest The Little Giant.

All the Amazon consumers suggest The Rule.

Based on the consumer reviews, I got the Rule.

The pool guys still said no. Said stuff about the Rule doesn’t freeze well (i.e. recover from being frozen in ice). Technically no pump is good at that.

Back online I went looking for documentation/experiences/comments or whatever pertaining to The Little Giant handling freezing. Only thing I found said DON’T USE THE LITTLE GIANT IN FREEZING CONDITIONS.

Ok then. I’ll stick with what I got. If The Little Giant doesn’t handle freezing, then I’m no better off.

Last night I went to insert my Rule under the cover on the step before it rains the rest of the week. Glancing through the installation instructions I see something along the lines of, PUMP HANDLES FREEZING JUST FINE.

Huh?

Whatever.

We’ll run it this winter and see. If it doesn’t work, we’ll get a Little Giant next year.

Why does it all have to be so complicated?

– b