Water pump...if everyone can keep their cool!

crcr wrote:
I've done several things to quiet down our water pump. I mounted it on a piece of 1/4" plywood with dash cover carpet material glued to both sides. Then I put water pipe foam insulation on the pipes around the pump. This has quieted it down quite a few notches, but to quiet it more, I am thinking to put in a soft vinyl tubing loop on the outlet side of the pump (almost all of the vibration in mine is on the outlet side, not the inlet side). My pipes are all hard Pex, and connections are secured with some kind of steel clamp that is obviously put on with some kind of special tool, thus the clamp, if removed, cannot be re-installed.

I am thinking of cutting the Pex tubing on the outlet side and installing a soft vinyl loop. My question is, should automotive-style screw clamps, used on heater hoses and so on, be adequate to hold the soft vinyl tubing over the Pex pipes without leaks? What is the typical pressure of these RV water lines when the lines are pressurized by the pump?

Anything is possible but a trailer manufacturer will usually use soft braided hose from the FW tank to the pump intake and if they give a **** at all then another piece from the pump output before it interfaces to PEX that distributes water throughout the trailer. In any case, the connections to the pump, if they're threaded, are standard 1/2" NPT (National Pipe Thread) so there shouldn't be any need to cut the PEX at all. Shurflo makes barb to 1/2" NPT adapters as well as 1/2" NPT to 3/4" GH (garden hose) adapters which would allow you to use braided fresh water hose. In my case I cut the 3/4" GH fittings off the hose I used because at the time I wasn't aware of the 1/2" to 3/4" adapters, otherwise I'd have used them.

Shurflo Fittings

Never use a band clamp on PEX, it's sure to leak. If you're really convinced you need to cut the PEX then use compression fittings that just slide on to the PEX and create a 1/2" NPT fitting on the end.