Noisy Water Pump

[Bill Hill]

We just got back from our first "boondocking" trip to Quartzite AZ and confirmed what we had been thinking about our water pump. Every time we use the toilet, the water pump sounds like a big rig diesel with a "jake" brake rolling down Pike's Peak. The loudest spot seems to be in the wall behind the shower (on a 2980RL). Our dealer has said that they are trying to get Keystone to authorize a larger capacity water pump and to pay to take out the shower stall and isolate the water lines. Has anyone else had this problem?

[Dave e Victoria]

Bill,
There are lots of discussions of this subject in the archives. Bigger pumps are not the real solution. Isolating the lines helps a lot. Just wrap them in the foam tubes used for refer lines. Use zip ties to pull the lines away from walls. I've heard on this forum that one of the best solutions is to add a small tank down stream from the pump. That's what I remember off hand. Mine was awful as delivered. I fixed a lot of it and a technician at a keystone authorized service center up in Michigan fixed the rest. He added loops to some of the lines headed to the toilet area. We had no need to pull out any walls.

Bottom line, go find the archives on this subject and you will learn a lot. The only thing I can't figure out is why Montana doesn't put somebody on this problem and make it go away. I think it could be solved with some clear istructions to the assembly people.

[Montana_2730]

The problem with my Shurflo pump is isolation. The pump has no isolation to the trailer. I was amazed that for a couple dollars more Shurflo makes a pump which has a blue isolation pad at each foot. Keystome did not install this in expensive fix, instead they hard mounted the pump to the floor under the kitchen sink. The blue isolators on the feet of the more expensive unit keep the mounting bolts and pump from coming in contact with any structure from the trailer. When installing this type of pump you do not want to compress the isolation pads to much or you'll have the same problem again. The next step after isolating the pump would be to put a flex line between pump and hard lines. Since the pump vibrates so much it sends undo vibration thru all the hardlines nearby and the plywood floor. It is a simple fix which could have been taken care of at the factory. Since I do not like taking our "new 2005 2955" back to the dealer because they will not fix it "my way". I will fix it myself and post a few pictures. For now the comforting sound of a JAKE brake lets me know the pump is working. Just think of a tuning fork touching a glass coffee table and the soound you would hear.

[rames14]

Bill Hill -

We have the 3400 and ours is very quiet. I don't know if they fixed things on th '05's, if its different by model or its just the location. Hope they get yours fixed. We found through our last trailer that some people have gone from easier to harder:
- Isolate the pump with mounting pads
- Insulation around the pump to deaden noise
- Accumulator, which keeps the pump from running every time you turn the unit on.

But, where we were considering options on our TT, we haven't even given it a thought on our Montana.