Draper 43904 Fuel Transfer Syphon Pump, 900mm Length, Blue

I was a little unsure that this would better than the old method of using a tube and sucking out the vacuum etc. The only disadvantage to this method is the fact I always get a mouthful of petrol or whatever liquid I am transferring. This is a good method of getting the liquid moved from one unit to another. We had an immediate problem of trying to transfer clear water from a large tub containing water and plaster. Every time we put a bucket in to remove the clear water on top it made the sediment of the plaster make the water go cloudy, so we could only move a bucket at a time and wait until the plaster settled and again trying hours later. This did the job with ease, however it is a bit slow. The residual water in the pipe is shaken out and the water droplets go after the device is hung up for a couple of days. A very good system and worth having as you never know if you are going to transfer liquid from a washing machine drum etc,

a good tool for plumbers, worked fine first time but the one-way valves did not work when I squeeze the bulb when the pipe and bulb was low, but if I squeezed the bulb when it was in an upright position it sucked up the water and then I lowered down in to the bowl to syphon.

Okay...first things first - I bought it to drain my garden pond (it's a small pond), not for any nefarious purpose.To be honest, I was going to use a length of garden hose and simply do what I did when I was a kid and syphoned fuel out of my Dad's car (that WAS nefarious, I admit it) - suck on the other end until the petrol started to flow. But while, as a penniless 17-year-old the prospect of getting a mouthful of 4 Star seemed a small price to pay for half a tank of free fuel, the idea of getting a mouthful of goldfish excrement, algae and plant matter didn't seem worth the risk in the context of the possible reward.So I bought this - a cheap piece of overpriced plastic complete with a rubber balloon to pump until the water started to flow.All good in principle...except it worked once and then, the next time I needed to empty the pond, it didn't. Not a drop. Nothing.I began to wonder if I'd mucked up my physics and the tube was the wrong way round (there is a right and a wrong way) or perhaps I'd not got enough drop on it. But nothing worked. So I cannibalised the tubing for spares for our watering system.Just rubbish.

I bought this to syphon petrol from the car I was about to scrap. By fitting a longer hose on the input side of the valve it reached down into the tank and worked flawlessly. The review by Kiwiinholland previously says it all about the operation of syphoning. (Worth reading) This is a syphon, not a pump and the clever bit is that you prime it with the arrow on the rubber bellows pointing upwards, (Which allows it to pump) and then tip it downwards which allows the valve to open under gravity and the syphoning action to commence. The outlet must be lower than the tank being drained as with all syphoning. That's the basic thing you need to know.I suspect some customers may not be aware of how syphoning works. (Not to sound patronising) I would recommend this product, and the price from Amazon is excellent. Some people may have had problems, but I would say don't be put off by the few bad reviews, it works very well. True, the instructions could be better, and the hoses a little longer but for the price it's great. If the hoses had been a bit longer I would have given it 5 stars.

Real labour saving device. Emptying buoyancy tanks on a boat with a sponge through a small access hatch is not much fun and often took 40mins of sponging. Thought about small pumps but concluded they might be too much setting up etc, so decided a syphon was the way to go. This does the job... It is not a pump. The bulb is just for priming and getting the syphon going so the output end must be lower than the input.. In addition as pointed out elsewhere the arrow must point up so the ball inside can stop it flowing back... There can not be a spring as suggested elsewhere as this would mean the syphon effect would not work... hence the need to hold vertical... Until such time as the liquid starts to flow then simply turn and it will carry on...until none left. Hence better than a pump which would need to be pressed time and time again...if you need to pump liquid to a height that is higher then this will not do and buy a pump..

I'm trying to like this product without success.I'm using to transfer petrol from a 5 gallon container into a m/cycle tank. I get the drum high up, but it's difficult to get working without getting pertol on your hands even with gloves on.The siphoning works fine but takes a lot of pumping to get going, even covering the end of the tube to provide some suction.I dunno, maybe I'm doing it wrong. I can't recommend it!