Little Giant AFV-GH Auto Fill Valve / Pump Up Valve, for Ponds, Fountains, Water Features, Aquariums or Reservoirs, White/Black, 566286

This inlet float valve has a bulkhead fitting AND it has a hose connector - for garden hoses. Other floats that I've seen (and 'returned') that said they had garden hose connections did not.Because the connector is plastic, I would use plumbers tape before threading on the hose connection. This is going to be somewhat tricky as I can't spin the tank and spinning the hose is rather awkward. But I'll figure it out. I would LIKE to have one of those connectors that are on the end of a garden hose. Oh well. Not terribly likely.When I get the self-watering system set up and have it installed, I'll put up a picture.4 stars because the garden hose connector should be similar to that on the a hose where it connects to the hose bib rather than stationary.UPDATE: 2012-09-30:I found one of those connectors that has the female hose connector that 'spins', like the faucet side connector (I did not want to cut the hose and put a 'faucet side' connector on the output side as I might want to use the hose elsewhere someday).Anyways, it works just fine. I have a minor drip (from the hose!!!), but it is a cheap piece of garbage that I got a few years ago. I'm going to replace it (after all) with a shorter piece of Flexogen hose that I put two after market female connectors on - one on each side. I just recovered one of my 55 gallon drums and am going to use it as my water tank, rather than leave the water running. I'm also curious to see how my 'gutter self-watering' system is going to work and how much water the 9 tomato plants sitting on it use. Perhaps I shall put up pictures and give a link. It is the BEST self watering system I've seen, as it is self-minding.I love 'science fair' type projects. Where you just fiddle around to get new ideas to work, don't you?Anyway, this Little Giant valve is a great product. It is working like a champ! I'd up it to 5 stars as there is nothing else as good on the market that I have found.2012-10-21: I put up a picture of the 'gutter watering system' with the float installed in the end of the gutter.

Saves me so much worry over loosing water from my pond from evaporation. Also makes a great fish toy. My Koi go up under it and push up and make it spray water all over for the other fish to swim through. Connects to a regular water hose. I use an Amazon inline water filter to take out chlorine. This is a fantastic product.

Works. Kind of low-budget like a cheap toilet auto-fill, but it does the job...and it was the cheapest on Amazon so why should I complain. Perhaps I should give it 5 stars, but this was a pretty simple product designed to keep your fish from dying in the event that your pond goes nuts while you're away. The only possible fault I can give this product is that it does not thread tightly to my skimmer, but it is a DIY skimmer, so maybe it works better with pre-fab products.

I feel like I've been scammed. The thing that arrived (at the cost of $50) was about $2 worth of plastic with $0 value. Nothing but more plastic junk to pollute the planet. After a good deal of hassle I installed it in my fountain and found that with the valve closed it just leaked a constant drizzle and with the valve fully opened the flow hardly increased at all. I took it apart and saw that there is only a small hole, maybe 1/16" diameter, for the water to pass through. I considered enlarging the hole with a drill bit but the pad on the valve that closes it off is hardly any larger. I can't imaging what this thing is meant to do. It's useless and a rip-off. And, stupid me, I didn't do any of this until after the Amazon 30 return period was over. Amazon gives only a phone number for the manufacturer -- which is incorrect - it's actually for the Little Giant Ladder company but those folks kindly gave me the correct phone number because I'm apparently not the first such caller. The manufacturer sent a form to fill out for warrantee service and I did so. Their response is that I can only get a replacement, not a refund and, by the way, it's on backorder so I probably shouldn't hold my breath waiting. Just what I wanted - another copy of this useless junk.

I have installed on my pond skimmer with a water line. Working well and maintaining proper level.

This seems to work fine, but installation can be a pain due to the fact the product is pretty fragile. Anything more than finger tightening and you risk breaking it. Be very careful putting any sort of tool to this thing. The nuts are made of soft plastic, so... thread lightly :-) I installed this in a small water feature outside. I wanted a small float and this sort of fits the bill. But I probably would not buy it again in less I was putting it in an aquarium or something pretty small. It comes with several adapters, nice idea, but for $30 it is a little iffy...

I am not using this water switch for a number of applications in my aquaponics system, from leveling storage tanks to topping off all of my fish ponds at one time, per week. This combined with either a timed water switch, manual or electronic, has reduced my wasted water content to zero. each of my tanks has a leveling switch and is connected to a central piping system with back-up sources allowing rainfall collection. I turn on one timed water switch per application and all of my tanks fill to their level and shut off automatically. This inexpensive little water switch has made a tedious and error ridden task obsolete.I can not recommend these switches enough.Richard, husband of AlphaChick

Decent, but very difficult to install. No instructions and it's a guessing game at home depot to figure out what fits in it. Then when you think you got it, it still leaks. I used for small front yard garden pond. After about a week I had issues with it leaking to much so I removed it.