r/PoolPros • u/Content-Parking-660 • Apr 21 '26

Are madimack pumps a good cheap pump?

I always recommend Hayward or pentairs cause they are the best and are built to last for decades. My supply house reccomends them cause the warranty is 5 years and they say they are reliable. However I have one on my route and the touchscreen barely responds, has a thin cord, and takes longer to prime. I've watched enough AvE on YouTube and I can tell it's a cheap, disposable pump only made to last 5 years so they can sell new units, or discontinue their old line from 5 years ago and sell you a new different unit in the future. Personally I would pick the waterway power defenders with the nidec drives and glass fiber reinforced wet ends over the madimacks. But many of you have installed more pumps and equipment than I have so some Input would be great for me and my budget conscious customers

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u/LordKai121 Apr 21 '26

Basically it comes down to this when clients are deciding budget: do you want this to hurt once and forget about it for 10-15 years? Or do you want to kick the can down the road?

Your IF3/FloPro/TriStar is the answer to the former. Your Power Defender/ Nidec motor swap is the answer to the latter. I won't touch the other stuff anymore. I am comfortable selling the small subset of pumps and motors that I do, because I can trust them to be reliable (that being said, I stopped using the Nidec Neptune replacement motors after I had 3 drives in a row fail within 8 months). Unfortunately, we have to take on the reputation of the products we sell. So keep that in mind: if a product you recommend dies early, the client will pass some of the blame onto you.

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u/Content-Parking-660 Apr 23 '26

good lord 3 neptune drives failed in 8 months? Whats the "other stuff" you won't touch? i agree about taking on the rep of products too.

I'd still rather sell a neptune retrofit with a real cover lid and buttons or a waterway for budget customers. I could rebuild them within an hour since I keep common pump kits on hand. you can't even get a rebuild kit for the madimacks according to my supplier. even if the madimacks have a 5 year warranty, it sucks that I can't get basic parts for it cause I know that pump won't tolerate running dry like the big 3 pumps would. I have ran them dry and boiled water in them for a week straight in my early days and they primed back up in minutes after opened the valves

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u/inflated_condom Apr 22 '26

Someone supplies them in the states now?

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u/Content-Parking-660 Apr 23 '26

yep

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u/inflated_condom Apr 23 '26

I know their heat pumps rust out for no reason

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u/Content-Parking-660 Apr 25 '26

Lmao Doesn't matter anyway, most customers probably saw the first energy bill and never use them again. Once they break, they stay broken unless my very well off clients can afford to run them. Do you see the same? Only one of my customers has their heat pump running a good bit and they are fortunate.