Silencing the water pump

[Shadow Catcher]

One of the complaints of many RV'ers is the amount of sound and vibration from the water pump. For those of us with a teardrop it can be earth shaking and if you are trying to make coffee first thing in the morning. For she who needs a major caffeine jump start, well To put it nicely she may be reminded of the vibrating bed in that cheap motel way back when, with the pump starting.
I knew that vibration was the enemy particularly when it is attached to the sounding board that is your trailer
Flojet made some effort by using rubber feet but they are way too solid. From industrial exposure I am aware of bubble mounts and have been looking. This shows the rubber feet with the bubble mount, well mounted


They do a very good job of isolation but the problem was finding ones small enough to do a good job of isolation. I found on Ebay a batch of 40 small bubble mounts and won them. they are about 1/2" high.



The pump is about five pounds and the mounts will support about five pounds each in a horizontal plane. They are strong enough for this application and with the support of the pipe survived the accident. I talked with an engineer with the manufacturer Barry Control http://www.barrycontrols.com these are available through their distributors and are the ME 100-1



OK it does not truly silence the pump, but I would bet an 80% reduction in sound and 90+% reduction in vibration. I also use them under the air pump used for the air shocks.

[Shadow Catcher]

SC Not much help when you are taking a shower.

[48Rob]

Isolating the pump from the floor or wall will help, but a large part of the noise and vibration is carried through the hard plastic tubing.
Using flexible water line connectors on the inlet and outlet of the pump, such as you would find under your kitchen or bathroom sink connecting the hard copper to the faucets, will help too.
They should be installed in a loop, and a piece of heavy foam wedged in the loop will muffle it even more.

In the end though, they are still noisy, though some of the cheaper ones are more like a jet taking off...

Here is a link to the newest solution.

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/pr ... pumps/3247

Rob

[Shadow Catcher]

Rob the 80% sound reduction is before making any other changes, and note the FloJet Sensor pump uses the same rubber feet and appears to have the same basic pump mechanism just regulated differently. I had been contemplating building a surge tank which would dampen pulses but really don't have a great space for it and quit frankly I was so pleased with how such a simple mod could have such a big effect that I may not bother. And yes using a more flexible hose for connections is a good idea but once I have the trailer back I'm going to be really jammed for time.

[len19070]

The rubber feet still transfer vibration. I mounted the pump on its rubber mounts to a board, and then mounted that to the floor/wall on additional rubber feet as well.

It helped.

BUT the biggest help was as Rob said....Flexible line in a loop.

I wouldn't look into a Pressure Tank unless you have a water supply going to a toilet...and its use wakes everyone up at night. tank

Happy Trails

Len

[saltydawg]

My old 19 foot camper had a steel water tank, with an air pump. basicly the pump pressurized the tank, and the air pressure pushed the water. could be also done with say a CO2 tank and reg, ie the total quiet water supply.

[Shadow Catcher]

Reminds me of the old VW bug that used the spare tire to pressure the windshield washer.

[8ball_99]

Reminds me of the old VW bug that used the spare tire to pressure the windshield washer.

Thats seems like a horrible Idea lol. What good is a clean windshield if you have two flat tires

As far as the pump goes those feet should help alot. Flexible hose would be better then Pex as far as sound goes.. But Pex tubing is much better in every other aspect.. I'd much rather deal with a little extra sound then deal with vinyl hose.

lol Why on earth would you not want an easy way to rinse of after being out in 100 degree weather all day. Most people don't realize how bad they smell after just a day or so. Even if I'm along which I almost never am I still do not want my bed a trailer smelling of B/O for the next trip..

[eamarquardt]

In addition to your flexible hoses I'd build a small wooden box and stuff the pump in it surrounded by "mattress foam". The foam could absorb noise and serve as a really soft mount that would allow very little vibration to be transmitted to the "speaker cone" ie the wood that the pump is ultimately mounted on.

We had a Shurflow on our "yacht". I think the bulkhead it was mounted on was deliberately chosen for its ability to amplify the vibrations of the pump. It never bothered me.

Cheers,

Gus

[Shadow Catcher]

Yes I think the flex hose will be necessary. When I first tested I did not have water in the system. The PEX tubing transmits a LOT of vibration and now I will have to decide what kind of flex tubing to use, I am thinking Nylobraid using Parker Fast Tight fittings. I am also going to add a pressure chamber made using 4" PVC pipe (cuts down on pump cycling and helps damp vibration).

[Jim Anders]

Newbie here and I see this is a bit of an old thread but for what it is worth this will work in silencing a noisy pump. If lots of volume is not a concern you can put a resistor or two in the 12v supply wire therefore slowing down the pump and all but eliminating the noise. In my case I can not even hear the pump running and it still delivers more than enough volume. This is a cheap and easy fix.

[Shadow Catcher]

I did the conversion to using nylobrade hose mostly so that I could add a valve to bring RV antifreeze from the bottle. Since that was the last task I don't have experience yet with it pumping water from the tank. Using a resistor wastes power and unless it is a great honking thing runs really hot under load. Our pump is also feeds the shower.

[Jim Anders]

Just put the resistor(s) in a place where the heat emitted won't cause an issue. As far as power being wasted would you not use the same amount of power per pump cycle if it went all the way to the pump? Are you not just diverting it from the pump to slow it down? I am asking I really do not know the answer. Anyway in my application this fix works perfectly, but then again I do not have a shower.

[KBS]

I know very well the rattling of an RV water pump. Don't know what to do about it. However, a few years ago I installed a pump in my Coleman tent trailer (to replace a broken hand pump) that just has a high pitched whir, sort of like a dentist drill, only not nearly as loud. Now, this is not a demand pump. It's just on/off with a switch near the sink. But, it's very quiet. I don't think it would pump enough for a shower, but if all you're doing is filling a coffee pot, it would be grand. Trouble is, I don't recall the brand, but it's a small pump about the size of a 6 oz juice can. I think I paid $35-40 at an RV place.

[hankaye]

Howdy All;

As a fulltime RV'er I've used some of the foam hose/waterline
insulation and doubled it over then screwed the pump to the deck.
That and some of the more pliable tubing do help.

hank