Quieter Water Pump

I've found they are much quieter outside than inside. Insulate inside? A small bucket could be used at night.

It may be quieter if you install a flexible hose going to the pex. You may also try removing the mounting screws and let it sit on a piece of foam. Be sure nothing is rubbing against the wall panels or framing in the pump area. Covering it up will help too.

Lwiddis wrote:
I've found they are much quieter outside than inside. Insulate inside? A small bucket could be used at night.

Well it's actually under the left night stand. When I say insulated, I mean, maybe make something out of plywood and lining it with some 1/2" or 1" fiberglass duct liner. Not actually sure what you mean by using a small bucket at night.

In the two previous motor homes the base model ShurFlo pumps were intolerable. In our 2002 RoadTrek, I installed a FloJet variable speed pump. Very quiet and provided an even flow of water from a trickle to full flow. We had a faucet mounted Pur water filter and when getting water from it you could hardly tell the pump was running. In our 2009 Navion, I installed a ShurFlo variable speed pump hoping for similar results. Not as quiet as the FloJet, and had a tendency to cycle a bit at low flow. However, the vast improvement was good enough to keep that pump and not experiment with anything else. Our new RV should arrive in a week or two and I suspect I will be getting out the tools again. Both previous pumps have been superseded by newer models. A friend installed a ShurFlo pump with a bypass feature in his Fifthwheel and that seems to make a big improvement with reduced cycling and a more even flow. If you use the pump often, my advice is to not go cheap on the pump. Get the top of the line and you will have no regrets when you turn the water on for the first time. I have experimented with pump mounting and water line connections. There you will get the best noise isolation for your effort. I would not recommend an enclosure for heat dissipation reasons.

A story I tell often is about the time we were camping in Yellowstone with our RoadTrek. One morning a tenter in the site next to ours asked if we would not use our generator at night. I told him that our RV did not even have a generator. It was the water hammer in the PEX plumbing in the walls of the RoadTrek when the toilet was flushed or sink being used. First thing I did when we got home was to go to Camping World and get the FloJet variable speed pump.

You may also benefit from an accumulator tank so that the pump doesn't cycle as often and to give you a few flushes at night before the pump has to come on.

The pump reverberates through the entire plumbing in the camper, making it sound much louder than it really is. Actually, the pump itself is very quiet. But the pulsing of the water beating against the pipes is what you're hearing.

In the past, someone posted a modification they did to their water pump. It was quite impressive. They used several feet of flexible hose rolled up in a coil (for space) and then attached the flexible hose to the normal RV water system. The principle was to use that flexible hose to absorb the sound of the pulsating and not in the actual pipes of the camper, that touch walls and floors, and every spot it touches works as an amplifier, amplifying the sound.

This was by far the best cure ever posted on these forums for noisy water pumps.

As long as your pipes are connected to the pump, and those pipes are touching anything in the structure of your camper, that sound will be amplified. That is the problem.

Before you start building the pump its own little quiet house.

Look up water pumps. There are "2" different ones to choose from. One is cheap and one is expensive.

I had a water pump start leaking all over the place while on the road. Called the RV mobile repair and he brought one out with him and installed it.

It was LOUD. I never heard the factory installed one. Called him back. Apparently my MH came with the more expensive one and he replaced it with the standard cheaper model that he said is more often installed on MH's.

I checked and sure enough. Same functions but one is more expensive and apparently is quieter and I think it might have a higher GPM.

All I know is the replacement pump is loud, rattles the pipes and sucks compared to the original installed one.

DutchmenSport wrote:
In the past, someone posted a modification they did to their water pump. It was quite impressive. They used several feet of flexible hose rolled up in a coil...

Seems a traditional accumulator tank would do even better. Air will absorb the pressure vibrations much better than water in a soft pipe.

So my trailer first came with a Shurflo Revolution Water Pump. I replaced it with a Shurflo 4048 Water Pump for reasons I would rather not embarrass myself with right now. I have to say...reading up on the FloJet variable speed pump, really sounds like the ticket. I like the idea that it slows down and doesn't cycle (or cycle as much) with low water flow. There is also some rattling of pipes I can hear too.

That rattling of pipes is probably a huge part of the noise. Last I read these newer, quieter pumps actually use more water. Regardless though, the old school pumps really can be made to run quiet using the info already shared. My pump is mounted on cross sections of hose (similar to radiator hose) which increase the sound isolation. It's then attached on input and output to flexible hose, which connects to the pex. The pex is shielded from the walls with foam where it's accessible. The accumulator reduces the frequency and run time of the pump as well as absorbing noise. My pump won't run at all for midnight excursions to the restroom.