Noisy Water Pump on 3295 - Montana Owners Club

Devildog · 05-15-2006, 03:10 PM

I need some help on this one. New 3295RK with the new water management center in the center bay. Water Pump is quite a bit noisier than the Cougar I just traded in. Figure it needs to be isolated at the mounts, but not quite sure where it is at. Sounds like it is under the shower, or located behind the panel in the water management area, sometimes sounds like it is under the toilet. Guess it could be alot of places, it is shaking so badly. Anyone lead me in the right location without me having to strip down alot of panels? Also, saw a thread the other day on a water saving device that some were removing from the shower head. Not quite satisfied with the low flow, while it is on the pump. It may be quite a bit higher on city water, but we are still redneck camping it in the driveway before our first trip out.
Thanks.

Jim

CountryGuy · 05-15-2006, 03:32 PM

Jim

Cannot help you with location of the pump, but can advise that Al did the ole pipe insulation around the pipes trick. You find where pipes are banging against the wall and wrap them in pipe insulation. He even had to wrap some of the pipes in the washer/dryer area, which on our unit is no where near the pump.

Point I am lumbering around here is that you may need to strip down a number of those panels even AFTER you find the pump.

Al recently put in an accumulator pump and one of those flex hose kits (actually, I believe he told me he only used half the kit). Anyway, we have not gone out since the installation, so have not tried the system "under fire", but testing of it to find any leaks, we are very happy with our much quieter water system.

Prior to the recent improvements, he put carpet padding UNDER the pump and the pipe insulation here and there, around Tana.

Good luck and ENJOY THAT MONTANA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Charlie · 05-15-2006, 04:22 PM

You guessed it right the first time....the water pump is behind the panel underneath the shower. Mine also was noisy and installed a rubber pad underneath the mounts. It helped some, I guess to make it bearable would have to replace the pump with a more expensive one. Four screws is all that it takes to get in there, also the line to fill your system with anti-freeze is there. Lots of luck on the pump.

CountryGuy · 05-15-2006, 04:24 PM

Charlie, consider that flexible hose change, it is a lot cheaper than a new pump. It cut down the noise so much we were shocked! Now it just purrs, not bangs!

RKassl · 05-15-2006, 04:35 PM

Point of interest. If you read the Sure Flo pump manual that came with the Montana, they state that the pump should not be installed with the rigid pipe directly to the pump. I had my dealer install the silencer kit when I showed this to them under warranty. Very quiet now. So why didn't Keystone put it in the right way to start with?

Charlie · 05-15-2006, 04:37 PM

Thanks Carol....will give it some thought, does sound cheaper.

jrgwdenner · 05-16-2006, 02:55 AM

We just added the pipe insulation to ours. If that doesn't work, we'll have to try the flexible hose but I think it would be a bear to replace. I hope our fix helps.

CountryGuy · 05-16-2006, 03:32 AM

Judy, Al only changed one side of rigid pipe and put on flexible hose, he said he could do the back one (back against the wall), but that it would be a bear. So, he went with half and I think we can live with it, it is so improved. We still want to hear that the pump is running, so if we ever spring a leak somewhere we will be aware of it. As we have said before, part of the "mood" of state ground camping is the PUMP sound! HAHA.

The silencing of the monster took the pad under the pump, and the pipe insulation, I would have to say that was about a 35 to 40 % improvement.

The next step was the flexible hose with the accumulator tank, and that improvement over number one was ohhhh, 80% quieter than number one improvement.

The most expensive part of the fix was the accumulator tank, and I am not sure how much sound improvement that makes, except that of course, there is a much longer time between the noise/pump in action sound.

We are quite comfy with the noise levels now.

scattershot · 05-16-2006, 05:26 AM

On my 2955RL, the water pump is behind an access panel in the right side storage compartment. As you're looking into the compartment,it's the panel immediately to your left, and it comes out with no tools. Hope that helps. BTW, mine is so noisy that it sounds like an 18 wheeler's Jake brake. I have padded the pipes with some improvement, but I'm definitely going to install the soft hose kit.

Devildog · 05-16-2006, 05:59 AM

Great, it gives me a place to start. Mine also sounded like the Jake Brake on a Mack truck, no way I can sleep through that when the wife takes a shower before fixing my breakfast in bed! Hope she doesn't read this.
Any thoughts on the shower pressure? May just be the pump? Adequate, but not refreshing yet.
I will get to the pump in a few days. We have been looking at the Montana's for a little over a year now, had our TT only 3 summers. Could not beat the deal, and wife loves the floorplan. I get the payments.

Thanks Again
Jim

CountryGuy · 05-16-2006, 06:48 AM

Re Shower pressure, since you have had a TT for 3 years you know about what to expect, want enough to enjoy and get wet, but, not so much that you use your capacity for fresh water tank in one shower. So, other than looking for kinks in the lines, not sure where to go with that. Some have replaced the shower head, but, if you have a kink before that, replacement will not give you more water per second.

Good luck with your fixes!

Bruce Lenhardt · 05-16-2006, 02:11 PM

The pump on my new 2955rl was also very noisy and pumped very little water. I was impossible to take a shower. I did not want to take the 5er to the dealer if there was something simple that I could fix. I am severl miles from my dealer. I talked to the service manager at my dealer and he suggested a couple of things. I checked the output of the pump by removing the hose and placing it in a bucket. The water output at the pump was less than one half gallon per minute and had air in it. The pump is a 2.9 gal/minute pump. I then traced the intake hose and found that the water heater was sitting on the soft hose that comes from the fresh water tank. It was almost completly mashed shut. It was relatively easy to pull it out from under the water heater. I now have good water flow and the noise level is much lower.

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