Pioneer Pet Pump Replacement for Smartcat Fountains

I'm surprised by all the negative reviews I see for this pump. These are very simple devices. There's only one moving part: the pump impeller. The rest of it is the AC motor winding and the housing. There's not much that *can* go wrong with them. But they will get dirty and clogged.We've kept 3 or 4 cats over the last 10 years, and we've had one of these Fountain watering bowls for most of that time... call it 7 years now. I usually clean the filter & bowl every couple of weeks. I change the filter once per quarter (3 months).Our pump has never failed, but it has lost pressure over time. You can disassemble the pump for cleaning by prying the output side loose using a small, thin-bladed screwdriver. (See the pic.)Once the pump's apart, rinse the parts and wipe them down with a cotton swab. Be sure to swab the output spout. Then re-assemble and away you go. I cleaned the original pump in our fountain this way recently and it works like a new pump now.I was going to post pix of my disassembly but I see that the maker has finally posted this advice. In our case, cleaning the pump once per year would be plenty, so once a month sounds too often to me. But your mileage may vary.

I've had the fountain for I think. Around six years and the original pump finally went out and I replaced it with a Generic universal pump. It worked fine. And it saved me Money or so I thought. I provided the picture to show you what I finally realized after buying another universal pump Around a year later. The chord is very thin and it cracks. So this time I went back to the Pioneer Pet replacement pump and the chord Is twice as thick. In the picture, you can see the difference. The one on the left is the Pioneer Pet and the one on the right is the generic.If you buy the cheaper one, the chord will eventually crack in places where it is under water. If you need anything replaced from Pioneer like the casing for the motor and Amazon does not carry it you can buy it off of Pioneer pet.com. They're customer service is top-notch. You can't beat it. It's easy to install, and the cleaning takes a second.Overall the right call this time. I believe I will actually save money because I won't have to buy a pump next year.

I like the fit of the pump(s) in the fountain, and they perform well if you keep them maintained. I disassemble the pump every second day, clean it and the fountain up with dish soap and hot water so as to keep it running smoothly and also provide my cats with the best, cleanest water. If you live in an area with hard water it really is a good way to keep things in tip top running order. I also replace the fountain filter every two weeks.Good product.

I have had my Pioneer Pet fountain for many years. My kitties love drinking the moving water and I love the sound of the moving water - very relaxing, like an indoor serenity fountain!My fountain has always performed beautifully and I love it, but like anything else, parts eventually wear out. Fortunately, Pioneer Pets sells replacement parts.The only slight problem I encountered with my new replacement pump is that I can hear the pump motor (and so can my kitties) which was not the case with my original pump. The new pump motor is intact, not damaged, clean, and well seated in the fountain, so I’m not quite sure why this motor is noisy and the original motor (which lasted for years) was completely silent. My kitties or a bit put off by the mechanical sound so as a result, they are not drinking from the fountain as much as they used to.

Good product for price.

One day after cleaning my babbling brook pet fountain, I plugged in the pump and nothing happened. It was dead. So I did what any responsible consumer would do and order a replacement immediately. I decide to go to sleep and wait until morning to disassemble the perfectly clean fountain, as I had just cleaned the thing and you know, I can only put so much effort into caring for my cat. Anyway, the next morning, the pump was working and I did not need a replacement. So I paid for shipping a pump back because apparently the original will never die, and I must live with this for the rest of my life.UPDATE:It turns out I needed to deep clean the pump. Pioneer pet has a youtube video on how to do it: https://youtu.be/TYyTFv_u3SwI feel super bad about not deep cleaning the pump enough, but now I know and so will you! Make sure to do it! Your favorite pet and your favorite pump deserve it. Hopefully the lack of cleaning didn't infect my cat with some sort of... zombie mutation... he has been laying around a lot lately...

This pump has a high price and in our experience it’s a hit or miss if the neck of the swan neck fountain will seal with the cord inside. Contrary to the original pump that has a narrow and thin electrical cord that allows for a good seal when you ensemble the top part of the fountain, this pump has a thick cord that makes it very difficult to obtain that seal. Yes the carbon filter fits in the front which no all the pumps do. But trying to ensemble the swan neck is very difficult. You end up with a puddle of water because the suction inside was. It obtained. Since Amazon doesn’t sell this model of fountain any more and tired of buying pumps that simple don’t work, I purchased a new fountain the same model from chewy that still sells them. They had a sale that it come with a box of extra filters and I solved the problem as my cats love the swan neck model and have rejected about 4 other models. And I do have 5 rescued cats age ranging from 15 years old to 4 years old.Hope this helps someone before you pay almost HALF the price of a new fountain for a pump with poor performance and reliability.

Does a nice job but would recommend having a backup, just in case.