Water Hammering

[poloace]

I have a 2013 285rld. We do a lot of dry camping.
When using the water pump, the pump is very noisy.
I have used that foam pipe insulation where I can, but it is still loud.
Any tips or ideas?

Also we are currently dry camping, and I use a cheap little harbor freight
Water pump to pump water in the tank instead of lifting and pouring.
After using the shower the pump won't turn off. But if you turn a valve on and off quickly the pump stops.
Also if I use the little pump and pump water in, everything is fine afterwards.
This just started yesterday.

I think there are water gremlins lurking.
Any other ideas?

[DQDick]

I just worked on this problem last weekend. Here's a post of what I did to cut the noise about in half and increase water flow significantly: http://www.montanaowners.com/forums/...ad.php?t=57439

Here's pictures of the before and after: http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/DQ...?sort=2&page=1

The biggest part of the noise reduction is putting the flexible tubing between the pump and the solid tubing. The next part is getting something between the pump and the floor. Before I had foam and it really didn't help much. The new pump is quieter anyway and stands off the floor on rubber feet.

[Rondo]

Dick's post is one way of taking care of your problem by changing out the pump. It sounds like the pump is loosing it's vacuum for pumping if the pump keeps running and by turning on a faucet on and off quickly that puts it back it again. If you can fix the pump by replacing some of the valves or gaskets you can solve that problem also. To quiet the pump down you can mount it on a piece of soft foam or rubber to create a buffer between the pump and the floor also. Others have put a reservoir tank or whatever it is called and thus quieting the pump down also. Someone will be coming along I'm sure that knows the exact names for this process also.

[bigskyjimmy]

I wish that worked Rondo, been there done that and I even made a little sound enclosure , It did not do a thing to quiet it down DANG! took 2 hours to make the thing

[paulinbaja]

To quiet the pump I used a piece of wall paneling about a foot square. Mounted old shag carpeting to both sides of the panel and then used water hose pieces about 1 inch long to mount the pump to one side of the carpeted panel. The hose pieces were "shock mounts" and the carpet allowed the panel to accept the vibrations from the pump without passing them on to the floor. Just set the assembly on the floor of your utility compartment. Also using the soft flexible hose, about a foot on each, the input and output, side of the pump contributes wonders to eliminating the noise. Note the pump mounted to one side (not the end) of the 1" hose pieces and the other side of the hose piece to the carpet board.

Using a "Captive Air Tank" is always a good idea. Sometimes known as a "burp tank" these allow the pump to start and stop much less often. The captive air tanks also soften the water flow at the faucets. They don't reduce pressure they just even-it-out. Allowing the pump to start and stop less often the pump and pressure switch will last MUCH longer.

Captive air tank can be easily made of a piece of 4" PVC about a foot long. Cap both ends with the proper PVC cap. Then drill into the center of the cap at one end of the pipe and install a connector and coupling for connecting to the water system. Connect using a "TEE" in the water line. This type of captive air tank will work best if it is installed vertically with the connector end at the bottom. The commercial type can usually be mounted in any direction.

Note the newer style pumps with the by=pass are much quieter than the old pumps. Do not use a captive air tank with this type of pump.

[poloace]

Thanks for all the input. My old "savoy" by hr, I did all the above.
Helped a lot. I thought with a new unit you sould not have to do all that.

Happy camping..

[DQDick]

You'll be surprised, over time, at what changes you'll want to make to a new unit.

[poloace]

Yea I had my old unit for 4 yrs, and took that long to get it the way I wanted.