Vibration/Isolation Mounts for Fresh Water Pump(s)

I am noy saying folks shouldn't try to silence their pumps but the only negative I can point out is you may not know if the pumps are cycling needlessly or don't turn off. I recently had the latter problem with my pump and if it hadn't been for the fact I could hear it, I would have been none the wiser.

Dave
 
oh come on... that's like saying you need to have your wife snoring at night so you know she's alive...

Come to think of it.. my wife does sound a lot like that water pump. Maybe if I figure out how to silence those pumps I can apply the same thing to her. "Hey honey! I'm going to duck tape some sanitation hose to you tonight... "
 
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Mine are quite loud too..... And I'm now following this thread to see has the best "cool mod" too bad that guy with all the cool mod's isn't here anymore... I'm sure he'd have a great idea !
 
I may try that hose mount - I agree on trying softer hose though as the semi-rigid PVC would carry some vibrations right into the mounting surface. In my previous travel trailer the fresh water system was mounted directly under the rear bunks - so everytime the water was used it would wake the kids up. I tried different mounting solutions and ended up using dynamat around the compartment and under the pump and got it quiet enough so it at least didn't wake the kids up every time. Also - keep in mind some vibration/noise will transfer along with pipes - at least it did on my trailer.
 
I do agree that something a little softer than sanitation hose might be better. Maybe something like radiator hose? Just not sure if that would be stiff enough to support the weight.

I think it's also important where it's mounted. As Todd showed, his is mounted right on the HW heater. That's gotta cause a little extra noise as the vibration gets transmitted through the heater's casing. I would think being mounted on a more solid surface would be better. BUT, right on the bilge floor may not be any better if it's right over a cavity.
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one with noisy pumps. I changed both of them out with slightly bigger ones when I bought the boat (one of the old ones was AFU). It is quite loud even all the way up in the starboard side head. My 340 also had the white PVC hose mounting scheme, and it was much quieter.

Because my hose is too short to use a thicker mount (no comments please), I was thinking of combining a softer mounting means with the addition of a loop of soft vinyl tubing on the inlets and outlets of the pumps.

I would think this would suppress both conducted vibration from the pump body as well as anything transferred down the somewhat rigid polyethylene.

I don't think there is much in the way of radiated noise, but if I mount the pumps to a small base that is vibration isolated it would be no big deal to enclose the pumps for even greater noise reduction, although I'd have to consider cooling.
 
I won't bore you with the long story of how I arrived at this but my pump is not actually mounted to anything, but it hangs suspended by two large zip ties from the large water inlet hose. The hose is very well secured & could easily support 5 times the weight of the pump without budging. The pump does rest against the foam insulation on the forward wall of the bildge. I can barely hear the pump when it runs.
 
Four Suns said:
Pictures would be good.
Click to expand...
Todd beat me to it. Anyway, mine is the same setup. Keep in mind the pvc it is sitting on is not the solid stuff, but the flexible one. It has the ability to wiggle around when the pump is on and I do not remember any real vibration going thru the wood top or the water heater.
 
boatrboy said:
Todd beat me to it. Anyway, mine is the same setup. Keep in mind the pvc it is sitting on is not the solid stuff, but the flexible one. It has the ability to wiggle around when the pump is on and I do not remember any real vibration going thru the wood top or the water heater.
Click to expand...

Mine's in the same place (hot water heater), too. It's quiet enough that I've never really thought about making it quieter. BUT... now that this thread started, I'm wondering if I can make it even quieter. I'm just thinking that the hot water heater's casing must be adding at least a little bit to the sound, you know?

But, maybe not. Maybe the insulation is tight enough between the actual tank and casing that it doesn't add to the noise? I guess the way to know would be to have the pump run and start pressing on the casing to see if it quiets down.
 
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