[Kitsa]

This thing doesn't have the aquarium-style tubing, it's a pipe that is threaded and runs up through the center piece. I've taken it out and checked it and washed it over and over and over. There didn't appear to be anything clogging the intake of the old pump and the new one is right out of the box. The threaded rigid plastic piece fits into a brace that holds the pump inside the column of the bottom basin, if that makes sense. I think part of the problem is suction loss somewhere, but I can't figure out where. I've caulked the bottom below the pump with silicone.

It's infuriating because you can get the pump working in a basin of water, establish that it's working, but you can't get the fountain to work without putting the pump in, sealing it, assembling the whole works to get the pipe in the correct position, etc. And if the pump is new out of the box and working in the basin but not working in a cleaned and reassembled fountain, I'm sort of stumped. I was hoping it was a priming issue and poured water straight down the tube for half an hour...it just gurgled and drained into the bottom basin. I was so overcome with the joy of doing all of this over and over on a 40 degree windy day that I damn near kicked the fucker across the yard.

I've got all the pieces laid out again and I'll try to give it another go this afternoon. It was too expensive to just scrap. I'm even considering finding a smaller-gauge tube to thread up through the existing one, but I'm afraid of what I'd do if it doesn't work.