Wayne VIP50 - 43.3 GPM (1 1/4") Submersible Non-Clogging Vortex Utility Pump

I love it.

I purchased the the Wayne 1/2 H.P. pump and the Apache hose #98138025. Both components are great. The larger Apache hose lets the Wayne pump work to it's maximum far better than with the standard garden hose. This combo works very well together. That being said I'm still looking for the perfect combination to acclimate the hose perfectly to the pump. Currently I am using a 1 1/4 inch male end into the female end of the pump that comes out to a 1 1/2 inch non-threaded end that I had to insert into the end of the hose and attach it with a couple of those clamps that you put around the end and screw them to the tightness that you need. To achieve this I had to remove the metal end of one side of the hose.The perfect solution would be to have a fitting that is threaded on both ends 1 1/4 inch male end into the pump to a 1 1/2 inch threaded female end that would accept the the male end of the hose. If you flip flop the hose using the other end a fitting that ends with a 1 1/2 inch threaded male end would also work,I just haven't found either of those fittings yet at any of the sources that I have tried. If you go back to the garden hose fitting the pump alone works very very well.

I just got this and haven't done major long term tests (and will update if I can), but tried it out filling a 5 gallon bucket and pumping into another. I ran it till I heard it losing prime and instantly pulled the plug. After lifting the pump out (with a bit of water draining out of the pump) I did have 0.25 inch of water left in the bucket, but that tells me it does take the level down very low compared to many pumps which is probably it’s biggest selling point (and why I got it). I am installing it in a sump to get rid of water under the house with a float switch added (when it rains more than 1 inch in a day, I have water building up).

There is a loose rubber plug in the conical section of the pump where some air bubbles out of that as you first submerge it (and a "Do not remove" is cast in the pump near it). Seeing that made me wonder if that would let the pump lose prime as the water level dropped, but it didn't (it acts as a check valve letting air out, but not in). They do say in the manual "starting water level 2.5 inch min" then "Pumps down to level under 0.25 inch" which makes sense to me (they are insuring enough water for priming).
If you're wanting high flow for draining a pool or such, get plumbing for it over 1 inch versus using a garden hose with the connector they include. FYI a 0.625 inch hose is considered too-small even for high pressure hydraulics at 15gpm (or 900gph), so expecting higher flows thru such a hose from a pump like this is crazy. It took about 25 seconds to do my test emptying a 5 gallon bucket with short garden hose connected, so that's 12gpm (720gph) rate and doesn't seem "super slow" to me for those conditions.

One thing I'm not impressed with is a 1 inch hole for the suction on the bottom. On 99% of pumps they have a size bigger suction hole versus outlet with it always being harder for pumps to draw in fluids than push it out, yet this has a bigger outlet (1.25 inch). Maybe they are trying to make it seem bigger by over-sizing the outlet port to advertise bigger numbers, but if they really want 40 gpm or 2400gph to go thru it a 1.5 inch suction opening would be much better. Some may ask “What about it only having 0.125 inch gap for drawing in water, isn’t that pretty small?” It is, but they have that gap out at a 4 inch diameter section, so it still has 1.5 sq inch area around that perimeter for water to flow (if it doesn’t clog etc), the 1 inch hole is only .75 sq inch area making it be the "choke" point.

Some other warnings I'll pass along, since this comes with no float switch you need to carefully watch it when nearing the bottom of the water and pull the plug instantly if the pump starts sucking air to avoid damage. Also to give you some hints on performance for pumping out basements etc, they show on the box in a bar graph these numbers for this pump: at 0 vertical lift you get 2400gph, at 5 foot lift 2000gph, at 10 foot lift 1400gph, and 15 foot lift 900gph. I didn't see that info in the ads, so I hope that helps you realize just as many cars are advertised as having "400 horse power engine" which is a peak performance number in ideal conditions (not a "continuous duty" number), so is the "2500 gph" on this.

The people at my rental would not stop using the water and toilet after they knew the floor drain was clogged ... by the time I received my pump the basement was full of water and the pump was completely submerged.

I ran the 1 quarter inch tubing out up a 7' wall and out the dryer vent, and within 30 to 40 minutes all the water was gone.

This pump shot the water out the 1 1/4", 24' tube, and the tube was completely full at all times. No clogging- ran great!

I used this pump to clean out my cistern. It had some sludge and leaves at the bottom- very little. This pump said it would pump some of this debris, but it plugged up right away. About all it would pump was clean water and the GPH wasn't very good either.

I bought this pump to clean out my cistern because it said it would pass some debris but all it did was stop pumping and the GPH of clean water wasn't very impressive either. I seen an ad that said it was made in the USA but the one I received was made in China and preformed like it too!