Riva-Flo GPP40 Water Pump

Eleven Years of Reliable Service – Our house was fitted with a brand new water tank and Riva-Flo GPP40 Water Pump when we moved in eleven years ago. The pump performed faultlessly for 9 years, operating an automated garden and lawn watering system three times a week. After 9 years, it developed a leak in the main water seal, for which I could obtain a full seal kit for the pump for… Read more

$40. It was easy to fit the replacement seals to the pump, giving me another two years problem free performance, until the pump impellor attachment screw thread had by then corroded severely, and could no longer retain the impellor. Consequently, I had to purchase a replacement. In general, I believe that this was a good life span for garden pump.

Riva-Flo GPP40 Water Pump – bought this new from a guy at a swap meet for $100 was new at the time and never used. worked okay motor still works but stainless steel pump part made of poor quality stainless it cracked under pressure. lasted 5 years though. was used on a tank and just pumping water into washing machine and toilet. pressure switch is still okay. will have to… Read more

buy a new pump though no parts available would cost more than the pump. had no other issues with though just poor quality stainless steel.

Riva-Flo GPP40 still going OK – Installed a GPP40 in March 2015 as a garden pump, and pumps really well. Use it every week in summer and occasionally in winter. So far, I've had no isssues and works really well. Show details

Rust Bucket – I bought a Riva-Flo to use with a rain-water water tank on my cousin's weekend bush property to supply water to the shack's toilet, shower and tap. The old pump installed 30 years ago by my uncle had died, and my cousin, not being the best at electrical things, put up with cold water out of a bucket for ages until I fixed the water system. … Read more

The Riva-Flo was cheap and supplied a good quantity of water - friends commented on what a wonderful shower it was. (The view across the river from the semi-open air shower also impressed guests.)

However, every time I went there for a weekend it always took some time to get the pump working again. There are some cast-iron parts and the impeller is steel, and I'm sure if the pump was used daily it wouldn't have been an issue.

The last time I went there, the cast-iron and steel parts had pretty much rusted solid and it took a lot of effort in the cold and dark and lots of dismantling, wire brushing and WD-40 (and swearing) to get it freed up, otherwise it was going to be a long, cold week of cold water bucket washes.

The Riva-Flo I had was one of the older models by the looks, and the newer ones seem to have more corrosion-resistant parts, but as other people have commented, the Riva-Flow seems to have other reliability issues as well.

I think for occasional use the pump is fine, but this would need disconnection from the water supply, complete drying out and oiling for rust prevention.

I just spent $500 on another small, corrosion-resistant pump (definitely not a Riva-Flo) and I'll be installing that next week. I'll keep my fingers crossed...

Crap – Bought pump as it was linked to Onga. Kept in shed for 3 years waiting for current ebay chinese pump to die. When it was finally installed, it only worked for 3 months before pressure controller developed a fault and would not start without pressing the reset button, but warranty was up.  Show details

Cheap but functional pump – While the other reviewers seem to be the people who had nagative experiences, I'll bet there have been a lot of these pumps sold as they work pretty well for the money; and they are a cheap pump. No magic to this - it's the usual story of getting what you pay for, but the pump will go for a few years and sometimes you will be lucky and be able to… Read more

repair it.

Mine burst a venturi within a couple of years and lost pressure - I was able to have that replaced (it's a plastic part) for about $90 and it's kept going for another 2-3 years before the rotor has corroded and it's started leaking. I think it's dead now.

Given they are typically less than half the price of the so called "Aussie" (also made in China, but to a better quality) pumps, you may find it worth the risk, but they will fail earlier.

DON"T BUY THIS MODEL NOR THIS BRAND – Piece of cheap rubbish. Used it once & decided that it was not needed for the purpose bought, rainwater tank. Found as tank is on 3 foot stand, weight of water in tank & gravity was sufficient pressure. Put pump aside for 8 months & decided no longer needed & advertised to sell @ 1/2 price. Big response , first to see bought it after I pugged in… Read more

& proved pump motor was working.

Next day the buyer rang & asked could he bring it back for a refund as didn't pump. He took it to Onga dealer for check & was told $200 to fix it. I have agreed to refund his money & take it back. Will go to Dealer , MAXI TANKS to try to get satisfaction , but based on all bad reviews here, don't hold too much hope.

DON"T BUY this model & not even this brand if you want a pump that will continue to work.

Riva-Flo GP40 Water Pump – This pump has had only light garden use and broken down after 2.5 years the first one on this tank only lasted 1.5 years.Both Onga products. The other water tank same amount of use different brand of pump purchased from Bunnings still going strong after six years. Conclusion never buy Onga the quality you pay for isn't there.

Wouldn't recommend – 5 months ago I installed a GGP40 on my rainwater tank. Yesterday I found the unit humming and not turning. I removed the impeller housing and discovered that the end of the pump shaft had corroded and the nut had fallen off. As a result to impeller was damaged, the mechanical seal leaked and the unit seized. The unit is certainly beyond… Read more

economical repair and why bother anyway given the poor construction quality. Will choose a proven aussie brand as replacement. Initially the price but that was false economy! Poor component quailty.

Designed to fail, with no spare parts backup – I bought this pump because it was advertised as a household pump, I used it for approx 3 months and stood it down for about 12 months while we built a new laundry. When I reinstalled it, it ran for about 2 weeks and then stopped with a fault. It only came with 12 months warrenty. When I recieved the pump I relised it was only rated as a… Read more

garden pump,my biggest concerns were if it could supply enough pressure and if spare parts where available.I was going to send it back but the sales team assured me it was all good for the job,and there was parts backup.

When I investigated the fault I found that inside there was a cheap plastic venturi housing that had collapesed and failed from the operating pressure, I tried to order this part through both the above vendor and my local Onga dealer.Neither said they could get the part and that the only way was if the pump had failed during the warrenty period they could supply a complete replacement.

My local dealer doesn't sell these pumps even though they are an exclusive Onga product....I wonder why?

Rainwatertanks however are only in the the market for sales so all they could offer me was to sell me a new pump, and they were that insidious to offer me the same pump because it was now on special for $199 instead of the $285 I originally paid.

This was a bit more than half the price of name brand pumps.

I have now replace the pump with an Orange brand pump which has 3 years warrenty and was about $500.00, so far so good.

Concusion, you only get what you pay for and in this case a lot less. Good volume and pressure when working Designed to fail, with no spare parts backup.