Ideas for reducing noise on fresh water pumps

On our last 5er, I made a tee on the exp. tank with a 3/8 tube inside the tee that extends to about 1/8" from the tank bladder and that's the inlet water. The oultet is the branch of the tee. The pulsing of the pump is absorbed by the bladder. 100% of the water flow has to go thru my tee and deaden the pulsing before going anywhere else. I also got rid of the 90 and put a straight fitting on the pump outlet with 1/2" plastic hose that goes into my farmboy engineered tee. You can't make these 3 chamber pumps 100% silent but mine sounded just like a cat purring even when the basement door was open and my ear was 2' away. Absolutely no pex tubing rattling anywhere and I didn't need to insulate or tie it up anywhere. The first time I heard it, I thought the pump was still running dry/unprimed or else something broke inside it but it was actually pumping up the tank. I just did the same thing to our new-to-us 5er and I'll know of it works after next weekend. Craig

The trick to searching is to first search for `water pump' then search the results for `noisy' or `loud' and read on.

mayo30 wrote:
Most of your noise will come from hard improperly installed water lines.Foam swim aide tube slit to fit over under and around lines will help a lot.Flexible inlet and outlet water line kit will help too,don't over tighten motor screw attaching screws.Mount the pump on a small 3/8" board and mount that board to floor with a foam 1/2" doughnuts from the swim aide between it and the floor.Flexible lines are available at dealers.A variable demand pump,though more costly are much quieter then the standard type.

Better than the swimming noodles is foam pipe insulation, it fits the pipe and comes with a sticky seal. Look at the pipes and estimate the diameter. If it's flexible tubing which it probably is, try one piece of 1/2 inch pipe insulation. It comes in 4 foot lengths. If that fits just get enough to do the job. It's cheap and any hardware store should carry it.

Behind this mess of flex hose is now a totally silent water pump. Both in & out have a full turn of hose, and now both flex lines are covered with pipe foam to dampen the vibration that the flex is absorbing, further quieting it to the point we cannot hear it at all.

You can also use some of the 1/2-3/4" foam pipe wrap. Try and isolate the pex from each other. Or as others have said, zip tie them apart. Also make sure you open all water lines to get the air out. I just fired up my pump this afternoon after sitting for a while. The Kitchen caused banging, then I turned on the bathroom and the banging stopped. Some units just rattle more than others. Our 1st TT rattled and I had to isolate lots of the pex. The last two have been relatively quite.

cwill925 wrote:
A noisy pump is usually a sign of air in the water line. Try this; turn the water pump on and let it reach sufficient pressure to shut off. One by one open each faucet, hot and cold, including, if applicable, the outside shower, washer connection and any other valve termination. You may have to let some of them run for a while depending on their distance from the pump. As the lines clear the air, the pump should settle down and get quieter.

X2. Mine is usually the shower line has air that needs to be bled off.

We stay hooked up to city water, never hear the pump.

There are two sources the water lines which have been covered, and the other is contact with a sounding board, what ever the pump is attached to. I used bubble mounts that I found on ebay but these are examples http://www.novibes.com/Products&productId=45 They make a big difference.

A noisy pump is usually a sign of air in the water line. Try this; turn the water pump on and let it reach sufficient pressure to shut off. One by one open each faucet, hot and cold, including, if applicable, the outside shower, washer connection and any other valve termination. You may have to let some of them run for a while depending on their distance from the pump. As the lines clear the air, the pump should settle down and get quieter.

06Fargo wrote:
I agree with the noisy pex line theory. Sometimes our system is pretty quiet, other times big racket ...

maybe it's the hard water ?

Accumulator tank on the project list.

Oh man only a Stampeder guy would be sharp enough to think of the hard water angle.:B