Ryobi has announced a new 18V One+ cordless telescoping pole pump kit, which can transfer water at up to 15 gallons per minute.
Ryobi says that their new cordless pole pump is ideal for plumbing, irrigation, recreational, and other aquatic transfer applications.
Basically, you stick it in a hole to pump out water.
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The telescoping pump can reach up to 3.5 feet underwater, and it features a 24-foot head height.
It features a removable mud filer and sediment strainer, allowing users to pump dirty water with less risk of clogging the pump.
Ryobi bundles the pump with a 3-foot discharge hose, and also a garden hose adapter.
Ryobi says the garden hose adapter can be used to easily water plants or connect a sprinkler as an at-home irrigation system.
The pump features auto shutdown, for when no water is detected, with 3 user-set options of 5, 10, 15 minutes.
Key Features & Specs
- 15 gallons per minute transfer rate
- Auto shutdown
- 3′ discharge hose
- Standard 3/4″ garden hose adapter
- 24′ max head height
- Removable filters
- Water-resistant sealed battery compartment
- LED light
- Water barrel hook for use in a rain barrel
- Also includes 1″ and 1.5″ barbed hose adapters
The kit, RY20UP022KVNM, comes with a charger and 18V 2.0Ah battery.
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Price: $179
The kit is said to be coming soon to Home Depot.
Update – Runtime Expectations
Ryobi says that users can expect 21 minutes of runtime with the included 2Ah battery. By extension, this should mean approximately 42 minutes of runtime with a 4Ah battery.
Discussion
The new Ryobi cordless pole pump looks to be very different from the new Milwaukee M12 stick transfer pump, but similar enough in function that it seems natural to compare the two.
To start off, the Ryobi is an 18V tool and the Milwaukee a 12V Max-class tool. This allows it to achieve higher performance specs.
The Ryobi has a 3.5-foot telescoping depth, the Milwaukee has a 3-foot submersible aluminum barrel. The Ryobi has a 24-foot head height, and the Milwaukee 15-foot head height. The Ryobi pumps up to 15 gallons of water per minute, and the Milwaukee up to 9 gallons per minute when equipped with an XC 4Ah battery.
The Ryobi’s telescoping pole should allow for more compact storage. Ryobi’s pump also has an enclosed battery compartment and a hook for resting it on the edge of a rain barrel. They also give you a discharge hose and several adapters and hose fittings.
You get a battery and charger included in the $179 kit price.
Milwaukee’s M12 transfer pump looks to be more compact, and I’m assuming it’s lighter, but the Ryobi is different enough to make this a tough comparison. If you’re set on a battery platform, that could make the decision for you, but if you’re not, the choice between Milwaukee M12 or Ryobi 18V could be a difficult one.
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Rog
That shot of the guy in the boat has some very questionable Photoshop work done to it. Cool tool tho!
MM
Looks like a useful tool, though the weirdo marketing photos are back! What’s the purpose of draining a rather large fountain or pond into a mere 5 gallon bucket? And if the goal was simply to get a bucketful of water for some purpose why bother with the pump? Nice touch that it’s a Home Depot bucket too.
TonyT
Looks like a Koi pond, with the water lilies, but the water’s awfully clear for a koi pond.
And, yes, it would be useful for my Koi pond maintenance, since it’s a kid’s wading pool that needs to be emptied and cleaned every couple months due to algae build up. I empty the water using buckets so it’s easier to water specific trees. (I’m not a fish fan overall, but I do like having the Koi pond – Koi are much more interesting than typical small aquarium fish).
However, I’m not buying it at $179 just for the convenience, but if I see at for <$100 at DirectToolsOutlet, I'll be seriously tempted.
I give Ryobi a lot of credit for having a lot of oddball DIY tools, like their 18V One+ pole lopper and One+ lopper.
fred
The other alternative is the one from Reed – that superseded both of these. It pricier – but has adapter plates for 18V batteries from Bosch, Dewalt, Makita and Milwaukee – plus some other accessories:
https://www.acmetools.com/cordless-pump-stick-water-transfer-pump-only-08140/757033081406.html
Chris
Up to $100 more, less than stellar reviews, 12′ pump height vs 15′ (Milwaukee M12) or 24′ (18V Ryobi).
No thanks, these look like improvements for a better price.
I can also buy adapters for the Ryobi tool to use other battery platforms.
https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Adapter-Cordless-Dewalt-Batteries/dp/B07V7BNGPY
Sales Team
We at Rabbit Pump are happy that we, as a very small business, inspired such large corporations to use our designs. Ryobi makes good products and its pretty neat that they and Milwaukee recognize our pumps as creative and effective for multiple applications.
Jared
I think these transfer pump tools could be pretty useful. I am more likely to buy Ryobi for the larger battery capacity potential and better performance specs (and I’m already in both Ryobi 18v and Milwaukee M12 platforms).
I’m happy to see the Ryobi has a garden hose adapter too (whereas the M12 has that as it’s built-in port). I presume they include the non-standard hose because the larger diameter allows for higher pumping rates.
Stuart
That could be, but it also means the Ryobi is ready to go without the extra thought or expense towards accessories.
Franck B.
I don’t think the garden hose is a limiting factor at these rates… the main pump I use easily puts 22 gallons a minute through a single garden hose outlet (it has multiple outlets too).
But it’s nice that they include a short outlet hose that will not get appropriated for use elsewhere (like garden hoses do).
MM
I’ve never used this pump but I suspect one would notice the difference.
I have gotten a lot of use out of this Little Giant pump:
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Giant-555110-Stainless-Non-Submersible/dp/B018EUGHFY
It is probably about 1/3 the flow rate of this Ryobi pump. And they have similar max lift figures around 25 feet. The difference in performance with 3/4″ vs. 5/8″ ID garden hose on the Little Giant pump is significant. Given that this pump is a higher flow rate I’d suspect you’d see an even greater difference between hose sizes.
Franck B.
That’s interesting. Although there are a lot of variables that have an effect, hydraulically you can often get a higher flow near max head, and a higher max head, with a smaller hose. It seems counterintuitive but the fluid column will weigh less with a smaller diameter discharge, and at the edges of the performance envelope, it starts to make a difference.
I’ve seen specs get reversed because the person inputting the data had some “common sense”.
Stuart
Agreed. I think it’s mostly about convenience for their target audience. You can move a lot through a garden hose, but for a short length the larger diameter discharge might be less restrictive and also potentially easier to handle.
James C
Connecting it to a sprinkler is an, uh…, interesting use case. I’d have to think about that one a bit.
Jared
Hmm. That is interesting. It says “water plants or connect a sprinkler as an at-home irrigation system”. I wonder what they mean by that. Surely they don’t mean for you to water your lawn with it.
I can see watering plants out of a rain barrel with a garden hose attached. Maybe the idea is to hook it up to a soaker hose or misting system?
James C
You reminded me I need to buy their misting fan before this summer.
Anyway, yeah, a rain barrel or something? Seems like a niche case where you’d have lawn you’d want to water with a sprinkler but this is your best option. And you’d be sitting there holding it the entire time. Kind of a marketing stretch.
Adrian
There is a brand new 12″ misting fan. It sits on the ground vs. bucket. You need a hose connection but it is hybrid powered. I have used it the last two weekends and it has been amazing. Seriously works perfectly.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-ONE-18V-Cordless-Hybrid-WHISPER-SERIES-12-in-Misting-Cannon-Fan-Tool-Only-PCL850B/319381034
Franck B.
Thanks for the recommendation!
Franck B.
I just bought a new home and it is next to an irrigation ditch. I wasn’t really previously familiar with this concept until recently. There are eight or so ditches that pass thousands of homes, and some farms (mostly for pastures, not crops). Larger lots have a certain amount of water rights, the ditches are run privately and have been in operation for 150 years. Most of them deposit the unused water and collected runoff into streams that go back to the river.
Obviously the consistent users of the ditches will have equipment installed permanently for irrigation and measurement of the amount used. But if you have a small garden that occasionally needs some water in the off-season (when it’s all collected run off instead of diverted), then their suggestion for irrigation makes sense. You can hook it into a drip or other kind of small plot system, and switch it to city water when water is otherwise not available.
Since I’m probably not a target user for the Milwaukee pump (and I’ve not bought into M12), I might get this one since it rates more powerfully and its applications seem more varied. Not to mention I already have a few of the combined Dewalt/Milwaukee battery adapters that could power this.
James C
Well I guess it would work for that, but are you going to stand there holding it in the ditch the whole time while you water?
TomD
I have the m18 pump and I like that I can double garden hose it and leave it while it does it’s thing. Great for removing meltwater.
Flotsam
this is a terrific idea. I would like a setup where i can suck up water off my basement floor when we have a local flood and out a door.
Stuart
Depending on how much water you’re talking about, a wet/dry shop vacuum is the usual go-to for smaller puddles. You can always then use a transfer pump to take the collected water up and out.
Chris S
This might be a good compromise.
https://www.shopvacstore.com/products/9602010-shop-vac%C2%AE-20-gallon-6-0-peak-hp-industrial-pump-vac
Robert
I was going to ask what about Shop wet/dry vacs for small jobs instead of this.
What is the transition point where this dedicated vertical pump is superior and worth buying?
Stuart
With a wet/dry shop vacuum, water collects in the tub. Then what? Let’s say you have to move 10 gallons of water. If your vacuum, can handle it, that’s then 80 pounds of water that you have to drain somewhere.
These pole/stick pumps are meant for reaching into holes – sump pits, irrigation basins, etc.
A transfer pump might be best suited for connecting to a water heater to drain the tank prior to removal and replacement.
These stick pumps are also cordless with one-handed portability. How portable is a typical shop vacuum (cordless or AC) outdoors?
A wet/dry shop vacuum can sweep over a floor. A transfer pump can connect to plumbing or have a hose end dropped into a clean water pit. A stick pump can reach inside holes, pits, containers, and the like, and work even if the water isn’t clean.
A shop vac can also be run dry, while water pumps generally should never be run dry.
There’s a little overlap between capabilities, but many tasks will go smoother with one type of pump over the others.
Tim E.
I planned to get the M12, but may get this one instead. My use case will be closest to the first picture, I have several in-ground boxes that haven’t been maintained in our new house and are full of dirt. Like can’t see the irrigation controller because of dirt all the way up to the surface full. But I don’t really want to back away at that with a shovel for fear of damage, but I figure I can “dig” with a garden hose and use one of these to pump out the runoff and “diluted silt”, and thus get the boxes cleaned out without damage. Same for sprinklers, if they break off low, its easier to dig a hole just deep enough, but can get annoying when you turn on the water to blow dirt out of the line, then the hole fills, and the mud gets back around and into the pipe. So rather than digging a deeper hole to allow that, just pump it out! It’s a tad expensive, hope they do a tool only version for lower cost, but I might bite the bullet and get/try it sooner rather than later since I really want to get into the sprinkler valves, if they are even actually in the ICV box and not hidden elsewhere…
Travis
This looks like just the ticket to drain my kids large (25′ diameter, 3.5 ft depth) pop up swimming pool. Draining the last foot of water is a serious PITA, and this could make it super simple!
Koko The Talking Ape
Telescoping tube? Let’s hope all the seals stay tight, and no air gets in. That would effectively cripple the thing.
Some flexible tubing would work too, and the the excess length could just curl up in the ditch or whatever. It wouldn’t add appreciably to the load on the pump (aside from adding some friction.) No air leaks.
Frank D
Standalone version???
Stuart
Tool-only? Not that I know of. Press materials only referenced the kit.
Frank D
I know. But, I felt like I had to point it out. As somebody with more than 6 Ryobi chargers and 12 batteries … I don’t feel like getting more bundles.
Steve
I saw a similar pump last winter being used by a telecommunications company, fiber optic telephone cable splices are in a flush mounted fiberglass hand hole and are installed along roadways near ditches, these structures fill with surface water. It took approx 5 minutes to drain it. I’m an underground utility locator and this tool would surely help with access to the fiber cables. Only wish our company would buy these or any similar pump.
Ryan
I like the idea of this for boat yards with dinghy docks and storage, it sure beats bailing a boat manually after a rain storm. I made one of these powered by a dewalt 2 amp battery and a bilge pump wired to a brushed drill battery socket/wiring and works awesome.
Mopar
I would buy 1 of these for work as soon as HD opened this morning if I could. If they had them as bare-tool I would buy 2. My crews would use these to pump puddles off little league baseball fields so the clay dries faster and the fields can be made playable for games. Right now they use manual pumps and wet vacs. The manual pumps work ok, except for the manual part of course. Problem with the vacs is battery powered ones have too small a capacity. Large ones require also lugging around a portable generator, plus you are constantly dragging 150lbs of vac filled with water off the field to empty, This tool seems like the best of both worlds for us.
Mopar
I *would* like some idea of runtimes. Also, I get the sealed battery compartment, but hopefully that doesn’t limit the battery size? 2Ah batteries seem too small for our use.
Stuart
I asked, but have not heard back regarding runtime specs or expectations.
I would assume that the battery compartment can fit Ryobi’s larger and far more popular battery sizes.
Stuart
I heard back from Ryobi – 21 minutes with a 2Ah battery, and by extension 42 minutes with a 4Ah battery.
schill
Earlier today I dumped water out of my kid’s inflatable pool (after getting a lot out first to water plants and the garden). This pump would make it easy to transfer water from the pool to the nearby rain barrel. We’ve had plenty of rain recently to keep the rain barrel full, but that will change as the summer progresses. It would be nice to get the pool water in there.
Waiting to see when it will be available.
Geoff Gammon
What is the diameter of the inlet at the bottom of the pole?