Replacing Water pumps - Montana Owners Club

gojodo · 10-22-2007, 02:47 PM

I have searched this site and can't find a real solution to the extremely noisy water pump problem. Ours is so loud it wakes the other up at night and the pressure is really low. So, I think I am ready to replace the pump and would welcome any recommendations from the group as to what really works. Thanks in advance for your input. John Weber

Crossthread · 10-22-2007, 03:15 PM

John,Air in the lines can be miserable.The basics first before replacing the pump. Have you purged the air from all the lines, W/D, outside shower? Water heater by pass totally closed? I also bought the insulating foan for water lines, covered every line that I could.That helped. Check to see if there is a screen on the inlet of the pump? Just suggestions, Good luck, Bill

rogue · 10-22-2007, 03:31 PM

John, here is the link to the flojet pump that I have in my unit (original equipment).
http://www.flojet.com/files/triplex_81000-384.pdf
Note Figure 1 and the note under it.
Note: To help reduce noise and vibration of the pump
through the system use flexible lines on the inlet and
outlet of the pump as shown above. Be sure to use
lines rated to not collapse under pump vacuum.

I will be replacing the elbow output with a streight output and flex hose tomorrow or the next day. Had to order the streight special output fitting through my dealer. Don't know why Keystone puts in the elbow fitting in the first place since the manual shows streight fittings.

Will let you know how it works. Some others have but some carpeting under the pump, I have not tried that.

8.1al · 10-22-2007, 03:39 PM

Make sure the lines aren't loose and hitting anything and try some foam pipe wrap. You could also make a pump mount such as this:
http://www.rverscorner.com/articles/waterpumpmount.html

Ozzie · 10-22-2007, 05:54 PM

In addition to these suggestions (flexible lines and foam under the pump), I have supplemented my system with an accumulator tank. These do not work with the smart pumps, but work awesome on most water systems.
It's a bladder inside a container and it has air in it.
It's adjustable, but the setting from the factory works perfect for us.
What it does is supplement the pressure in the waterlines, takes out pulsing from the pump, and best of all, will allow quick flush at night without the pump switching on.
Oh...they're cheap too...under 50 bucks.

gojodo · 10-23-2007, 04:13 AM

Thanks to all. I will start with trying to purge all lines and then look at the insullation, flexibility of the lines at the pump and possibly installing the accumulator Ozzie mentioned. John Weber

Trailer Trash 2 · 10-23-2007, 05:21 AM

I agree with all the others on PURGING the water lines, boy can mine wake up the dead when there is air in the line, another sugestion and I dont remember if it was mentioned is a accumalator they also help reduce hammering.

01RAMer · 10-23-2007, 06:59 AM

Because my pump is right inside the cold air return in the bottom step, you can hear it function quite well. The legs of the FloJet are rubber so the pump is already isolated, however, I increased the pading under it to act as a sound deadener using a thick mouse pad and that helped. Because it is just behind the grill in the bottom step, you get a direct ear full so I made a blanket out of a rubber carpet pad and placed it over the pump and it made a world of difference. I also used wire ties to secure the plastic lines to eliminate vibration, and that also helped a little, but the blanket made the bigest difference.

bw2 · 10-23-2007, 07:14 AM

As a word of caution, covering the pump may cause the pump to over heat. On the Shurflo 4.0 and 5.7 the instructions caution covering the pump.

ols1932 · 10-24-2007, 01:57 PM

We replaced ours with the Extreme Sensor 5.7 water pump which runs quite a bit more smooth and quiet. Having said that, this pump failed and I'm waiting to get it back to Shur-Flo to see what's the matter. It's got a 3-year warranty on it. We're presently heading for Elkhart to MOR/ryde and we'll also go to Shur-Flo.

Orv

gojodo · 10-24-2007, 02:33 PM

Thanks again. I have purged my lines and that seemed to help a little but not a lot. So, I think I am heading to replace the pump with something a bit more substantial.

richfaa · 10-24-2007, 03:41 PM

The OEM pump itself is not all that noisy. Air in the lines, water lines bouncing around, ect cause most of the noise and after all the pump is right there in the camper with you and not very far away. Seems that you can spend a lot of $ replacing the pump and still have noise.Isolating the pump from the floor, finding where lines are rattling around will cut down the noise considerable.

01RAMer · 10-25-2007, 07:07 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by bw2

As a word of caution, covering the pump may cause the pump to over heat. On the Shurflo 4.0 and 5.7 the instructions caution covering the pump.

Well, my views on that is this, I don't run my pump constantly so overheating shouldn't be a problem. When the pump does run for an extended period of time (DW showers), I would think the water that is flowing through it should act to transfer the heat so that it runs close to whatever the water temperature is, or maybe just a little higher. The pump is already designed to handle that. In any case, I wouldn't think that it should get hot enough to cause damage. If it does, well at least I would have had my moments enjoying the peace and quiet. Understand also, that I don't have it sealed in a bag like structure or tacked down, I just have it laying over it so ambiant air can still reach the pump.

01RAMer · 10-25-2007, 07:11 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

The OEM pump itself is not all that noisy. Air in the lines, water lines bouncing around, ect cause most of the noise and after all the pump is right there in the camper with you and not very far away. Seems that you can spend a lot of $ replacing the pump and still have noise.Isolating the pump from the floor, finding where lines are rattling around will cut down the noise considerable.

I agree, the only other choice that I can think of would be to move it away from the main living compartment, maybe under the floor somewhere.

richfaa · 10-26-2007, 06:47 AM

I will say that in our previous camper, A TT and the pump was under the couch in the main area.We did sort of build a wall around it and over it with insulation material. We never had a problem with it over heating and it did cut the noise down considerable.We did a lot of line moving, tie rapping and insulation from floors and walls in this 3400 and we do not find the noise objectionable..Remember that all this stuff, Furnace, fans, A/C, Water pumps are in a area no greater than 400 square feet and we are in the same space with all that stuff. A reasonable amount of noise goes with the territory.

markwick · 10-29-2007, 04:33 PM

OZZIE - where did you get your accumalator tank - Camping world lists at over $100

Ozzie · 10-29-2007, 05:17 PM

Let me see if I can find it for you...

Hmmm...this is the one I use - It's under 40. it's a smaller capacity than the one you were looking at, but I like it just fine.
Remember if you winterize to pull this out along with the pump.

Ozzie · 10-29-2007, 05:28 PM

I just happen to find a little write up about the tank and the hoses...looks like the application transfers over quite nicely.

http://www.title-3.com/AccumTank.htm

gojodo · 10-31-2007, 03:15 AM

Thanks for your post, it helped me with my accumulater. My pump was bugging me almost as much as your bug on your reply bugs my wife. She has been trying to swat it everytime we see it.

bmckee2468 · 11-11-2007, 12:08 PM

John, we had a similar problem with a very noisy water pump on our 2005 Montana and after doing all the steps mentioned from other folks including the Accumulator I thought that possibly locating the water pump closer to the tank might remedy the problem. I had also installed the Shurflo 5.7 which seemed to make it even noisier.
When I dropped the insulating material under the floor and was able to get to the supply line from the tank I found it was badly crimped when they installed the tank at the factory. I cut the crimped area out of the hose and reconnected it to the tank. I left the pump in the original position and found that the pump now operates very quietly. Problem was it could not get a free flow of water and was having to suck the water through the crimp in the line.
I haven't seen any other people that have mentioned finding a similar problem but would guess the supply line to the pump is blocked or crimped somewhere.

Bob

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