Waterpump Woes - THIS. THINGS. LOUD.

[djarrett]

Back story - 2015 Eddie Bauer -

Water Pump (original) was a FloJet (model 03626500). It was so loud when I first got it that I purchased a thick (computer) mouse pad, lifted the pump and placed the mouse pad (closed cell foam) under it and re-secured it to the floor. Still Loud.

Had the unit into Jackson Center back in June for some road debris damage repair and asked the Service Manager to sit on the couch while I flushed the toilet. Asked him to imagine his children trying to sleep while flushing this toilet. Literally sounded like a long roll on a 36" concert bass drum! So freaking loud.

So, they tried isolating some pipes, etc. Still Loud.

Next trip out, starting having challenges where the pump would suddenly decide to stop running. I'd have to open the access door where the pump resides and smack the thing and it'd start up again.

Called Airstream and they sent me a new pump but this pump is larger (twice the size) and not a FloJet but a SureFlo (Model 4048-153-A75). I was successful at installing it. I was encouraged because it had much more robust rubber "nipple" feet and I still placed it on the closed cell mouse pad.

When I turned the pump on at the switch, ... it started and was hardly noticeable, but as soon as I turned a faucet on, back to the LOUD. This thing is louder than my 1.5 HP Pool pump on my swimming pool.

What gives? Is it air in the lines? I even went so far as to place insulation on the inside of the access door where the pump lives but it is still loud.

Surely there has to be a fix.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks
Dendy

[CRH]

Since it happened with two different pumps, it sounds like water hammer to me. You can do a searich on RV sites and find many tales of it and various fixes.

[xrvr]

The water lines are vibrating against something, trace the pipes and see if you can find where the lines are up against something causing noise.

[Adventure.AS]

Originally Posted by CRH

Since it happened with two different pumps, it sounds like water hammer to me. You can do a searich on RV sites and find many tales of it and various fixes.

I had a similar problem and was advised that this can occur if the normal air bubble at the top of the hot water tank is missing. This can happen while travelling if the air is displaced with water. Draining some water from the hot water tank will restore the air bubble (similar to an accumulator) and eliminate the water hammer.

[Wayne&Sam]

If the pump is not directly mounted to the floor but rather on a shelf (as mine is), make sure the shelf is securely fastened. Mine was loose and doing a couple of screws make a big difference.

[mimiandrews]

Do the PEX lines run all the way to the pump, or are there flexible hoses for the last couple of feet?

As the responses above indicate, it's usually vibration induced into the water pipes that amplifies the noise.

They make a pump silencing kit (Sureflo, I think) that consists of two flex hoses. I bought one of those from Amazon, and the pump is indeed much quieter. If you have enough access to install it, this kit is fairly inexpensive and worth a try.

Also, you might install an accumulator somewhere in the water system. These "store" pressure and therefore the pump runs less often.

[kscherzi]

The pump will never be silent.

[AnnArborBob]

It sounds like you've got air in the water lines someplace. Sometimes the only way to get rid of this is to run the pump for a long time by leaving a faucet open for more than is typical under normal use. At a full hookup campground or in your driveway, fill the fresh water tank and then run the kitchen and/or bathroom sink continuously to see if the knocking stops. It may take a half tank or more of fresh water to get this done.

Also, the step to let some water out of the hot water tank that was previously mentioned is a good idea.

Unless you have something very unusual going on, the two steps above should clear the issue.

Note that the pump is never silent but then the air is out of the water lines it should sound more like a purring sound rather than a news helicopter hovering overhead.

[djarrett]

Originally Posted by AnnArborBob

a news helicopter hovering overhead.

This! ^

[kdickinson]

My pillow was right above the water pump where I slept in our trailer when I was growing up (I've since graduated to the "big bed"). Imagine how much that pump ran with 6 people living in the trailer + the occasional bump a water pump does to keep pressure up. I remember loving it when we could hook to city water ...

[gandttimes]

We had exactly the same issue with our 20ft in 2007. A/S sent me a new pump and I also put the silencing kit in, all to no avail until I noticed that there were a couple of drains under the trailer that I had not purged. Seemed like every time we moved camp, if I got the rattling noises, all I had to do was turn the pump on and give a quick turn on and off to purge and the noise stopped.
I do the same thing on our 25 now whenever I get the loud pump noise. For some reason it doesn't happen as often but when it does I use the drains between the roadside wheels.


George

[franklyfrank]

Originally Posted by kscherzi

The pump will never be silent.

You got that right. The water pumps on both on our Airstream and boat sound the same, loud. I kind of like it, it lets me know its working properly. It murmurs.

[CRH]

Mine is far from what I call noisy. Sure it makes a ltitle noise, but is not enough that I consider it bothersome.

[ericpeltier]

On my trailer the water hammer effect through the pipes was what was making the most noise. I added an Accumulator and it was WAY better (less pump running and pump is quieter when running)

On my new trailer (1972 Streamline) I might put in two accumulators, just cuz.

[Ray Eklund]

When on 120 volt power hookup, the RPM is faster and ours is only noisy. It will make a difference, when on battery power.

When on your trailer's Batteries, the noise increases as the voltage declines. Our former 2006 23 foot Safari and our current 2014 25 foot International sounded alike. There will be no mistake your water pump is running, inside the trailer or nearby when outside.

When you have air in the lines, the pump will 'burp' and shut down to maintain pressure. Eventually you will use what ever water line the air is moving through the system and the 'burping' will end. Yeah...

[nvestysly]

A few things we did to address water pump noise.

1) Added flexible hoses on the inlet and supply side of the pump. Airstream sells these kits, so do most RV supply stores. The flexible hoses look much like white water hose.

2) Installed a new pump. You've already done this. For us, this change made the most difference.

3) As an ongoing issue we sometimes have to do the following procedure (based on information obtained from Airstream). A) Turn off the water pump. B) Open all the faucets - turn on both hot and cold if so equipped - or put the faucet in the warm/center position to bleed both hot and cold lines. C) allow the water from the faucets to slow to a trickle. D) Turn on the pump and allow water to flow freely from all faucets. E) Begin turning the faucets off, starting at the farthest point from the pump and working your way to closest to the pump.

As odd as number 3 might sound it works well for us. We typically have to perform this procedure if we've used water but forgotten to turn on the pump. I think this allows air to enter the system and when we finally remember to turn on the pump it's louder than usual.

[dkottum]

This is how Andrew Thomson at Can-Am RV fixes loud water pumps, apparently some Shur Flo pumps are louder than others (which would account for the different experiences in this thread), so they put in Flojet Quad valve pumps to replace the troublesome ones. From an earlier thread on noisy water pumps:

"We find the Shur Flo pumps to be very inconsistent in noise level. Some are quite good and others are terrible. On about half of the Airstreams we deliver we change the pump to a Flojet Quad valve pump. This pump is much quieter. It also has a bypass valve in it so at partial water flows the pump runs continuously and delivers smooth pressure output. It is by far the easiest fix for a loud pump.

Andrew T
__________________
Andrew Thomson
www.canamrv.ca
London, Ontario"

[Silver.Sanctuary]

Originally Posted by CRH

Since it happened with two different pumps, it sounds like water hammer to me. You can do a searich on RV sites and find many tales of it and various fixes.

I had a similar situation and found the Shurflo air tank for $30 from Amazon quieted things down quite a bit. It is much better than buying new pumps.

[dkottum]

We put in a Shur Flo accumulator for other reasons, the water pump noise will still shake you teeth out. It's been that way since new, over five years I've waiting for it to break so I can put in a new Flo Jet Quad with the bypass valve.

[AWCHIEF]

My new pump,
http://shurflo.com/rv-products/131-s...12-vdc-3-0-gpm

With the addition of the quite hose kit it is so quite I have to open the cabinet door to hear it.