# Water Pump



## snsgraham (May 18, 2004)

I was at CW today looking at water pumps. They have some expensive ones that are supposed to be very quiet.

Anybody have any experience with these??

Scott


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

I think most of us are modifying the ones we have to make them quieter. I haven't resorted to changing it out though.


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

For the cost, I have made the mods to quiet the factory pump. When and if it burns up, I will be replacing with a VSD pump. But I wouldn't waste the roughly 150-200 dollars just to make it quiet.

My factory pump is pretty decent now, can barely hear it.

KS


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## snsgraham (May 18, 2004)

Yeah, I have done lots of things to quiet mine as well. It just seems that every time I haul the trailer then set it up there is a new rattle in the water lines from somewhere.

VSD eh? That is the one I decided on as well. Now I have to wait for a good sale.................

Thanks guys,

Scott


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

Scott,

I went underneath and put Arma-Flex pipe insulation on as much piping as I could get to. Especially where the piping crosses the trailer frame and on top of the water tank, it has helped a lot. All you need to do is take out a few of the cover bolts and reach in to slid it over the piping, it was challenging but not impossible.

Pumps hardly go on sale, especially the top of the line ones that most people want.

I would try as much vibration isolation as possible to save you some money, but if money is no object, can you buy me one to.

I would find a good hobby while you wait.

Happy waiting

Kevin


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Hi

I Have not replaced my pump. I just put some SM board around the pump under the seat and you can barely hear it. The Cost was under $3 for the SM board and about 30min to install. Very easy mod because it is hidden. Your cuts do not have to be that accurate because the SM board gives a bit.










After the mod you can barely hear it. It no longer wakes us up at night.









Thor


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Scott

For some reason I cannot get the pic to show. Anyway it is loaded in the Photo Gallery. It is the one where the insulation is a bright pink.

Sorry about that. I normally have no problems posting a pic.

Thor


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## snsgraham (May 18, 2004)

I bought a VSD pump that was on special at RV Parts Outlet and started to install it last night. It is the 4.5 gpm one and it was $140. They also had the Fantastic Fan that I wanted on special so I got one of those for over the stove. Hope to have all of this stuff installed this weekend and I will let you know how it goes.

Scott


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

Scott,

Sounds like a fair price you got there, which model did you end up with?

Get that baby installed, I would like to hear how it sounds, if you can hear it.

Good Luck

KEvin


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## snsgraham (May 18, 2004)

Got it installed last night but no water in the trailer last night. The one I got was the 4.5 GPM model, I would have been happy with the 3.7 GPM but that was not on special.
I needed a couple more fittings to finish the job so my wife went down to Great American RV for me yesterday. She told me they have the very same pump for under $100














So much for my great deal.
The pump is very quiet even though it could not pick up enough water from the tank to get fully primed, should have a full report this weekend.

Scott


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## snsgraham (May 18, 2004)

Okay, I finally did a test with the new water pump (with water) Saturday. Can you say "Quiet"?? Yes, it is very quiet and it works like no pump I have ever had. Pretty cool actually.
The pump sort of ran like it was low on power when I opened the sink faucet wide open. What I mean is we all have heard the dreaded battery has run out of juice and the water pump is slooooowwwiiinngggg down thing, right?? Well the thing only runs at a speed that it is requiered for the amount of water being used at the time. Thus the VSD moniker on the pump. I did not try it with all of the faucets open but just with the one faucet opened up all the way the pump was very hard to hear.
Supposedly the VSD will use less power than the stock system did which is an added benefit.

My installation consisted of this;
I removed all of the fittings just behind the white plastic one that is attached to the water line coming from the tank, some kind of adapter that allows plastic flare fittings to be used. Items removed included the "tee" that the city water hookup was tied into. I replaced all of these items with hose barb connections so I could use some of the reinforced flexible line to make the connections to the pump. This also allowed me to do the "loop of hose" that someone else did from the pump to the line that feeds the TT. I cut the threaded fitting off of the city water hose so it would tie into the new hose barb tee.
The VSD pump is slightly larger so I did move it a little from where the original pump was, using the flexible water lines allowed me to place it where it worked the best. Using small hose clamps I put it all together and the put the whole shooting match on a chunk of convaluted foam that I had the old pump sitting on. The only thing that holds this system to the TT floor is some of that no skid shelf stuff that I put under the foam. We shall see how that works after hauling the TT around later this month, should work OK though.

Items bought to do this mod were;
1. The pump.
2. 4' of 1/2" reinforced clear hose. (8" left over)
3. One adapter to go from the existing flare fitting at the end of the water line from the tank to hose barb.
4. One hose barb tee.
5. Five small hose clamps.

That is about it guys. If I have left anything out let me know!

Scott

Oh yeah, it took me about an hour including the head scratchin' to do this job.


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

Awesome plumbing Scott.














(2 thumbs up)

Sounds like it was a great mod to finally fix the pump noise issue.

Good job, enjoy the nights sleep you will be able to get now.

KS

Was it a Shur-Flo or a Flo-Jet pump, they are both around $140.??????


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## snsgraham (May 18, 2004)

hurricaneplumber said:


> Awesome plumbing Scott.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It is a FloJet 4.5 GPM. If you are interested I could get the phone number for Great Ameican RV. The "wife" says they have them on special for under $100 for either model.







toooo late for me!!

Scott


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Hi

Added a 2 gallon surge tank and what a difference. This is a must mod. Took about 20min once I had all the pieces

1 - 2 gallon surge tank
2 - 1/2" Tee
3 - 2' of 1/2" plastic plumbing hose
4 - 2 plastic fittings
5 - 1 3/4"-1/2" galv. 90 degree fitting

Once the system is pressurized you can flush im absolute silence.









Thor


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## snsgraham (May 18, 2004)

It's all good, eh?

Scott


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## kyoutback (Jul 12, 2004)

Ok, I boxed in and foam insulated the pump area. Can't hear the pump at all. However the pipes rattle the camper like you wouldn't believe. You can literally feel the sinks vibrating. It would be great to lay on but not so good for quiet.


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## snsgraham (May 18, 2004)

Use some pipe (tubing) insulation you can find at Home Depot. It has a self adhesive feature that makes installation a snap. Put the stuff everywhere you can find an exposed water line, under all of the sinks, around the area near the water pump and even under the tub....ours has lines under the tub that feed the bathroom sink and the outside shower.

This will help your noisy pipe situation dramaticly. I did this mod first and that is when I discovered how noisy the pump was. It is a seeminly never ending quest!!!

One other thing, did you ever notice how things that are quiet in the driveway are very loud when you get into the woods??

Scott


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Check underneath as well. The lines can rattling against the frame work of your TT. The expandable foam in a can works well for these areas.

Thor


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## Martybeech (Mar 13, 2004)

We did a fair bit of dry camping this summer and got fed up with the "jack hammer" water pump at night. So I orderd the SHURFlo SmartSensor 5.7 at Camping World (I believe it is still on for $167). Installed it last week on my 28BHS and am VERY happy with the results. It is virtually impossible to hear over the sound of the running water from the tap. I even tried running all taps and it kept up amazingly well. Overall, I am quite impressed and wonder why Keystone doesn't add the extra $100 or so to the cost of the trailer to begin with (interestingly the old pump is a cheaper model of Shurflo).

The installation took about 1.5 hours. I had to remove the framing and position the new pump on the vertical wood facing the front of the trailer (versus the floor). The intake pipe (with a winterizing kit added on) lined up without any adjustments but I had to add a 15 inch piece of flex hose (positioned in a circle) with fittings on the outflow pipe. Wiring is a simple two wires joined by the existing mar connectors.

I added a few screws to the wood base to strenghen it and used water pipe insulation for the main hoses to help deaden the sound.

This was not a cheap upgrade but well worth the $$ IMHO. Sorry I didn't have my camera at the time, but next time at our trailer I'll take some pictures and post.

We can now go to the bathroom at night without the neigbours knowing


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Cannot wait for the pics









Thor


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## Martybeech (Mar 13, 2004)

Finally got around to taking some pics. Sorry for the delay Thor

W've used it quite a bit and it's very quiet









http://www.outbackers.com/forums/index.php...&cmd=si&img=851

http://www.outbackers.com/forums/index.php...&cmd=si&img=851

http://www.outbackers.com/forums/index.php...&cmd=si&img=854


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Great mod. Worth a good nights sleep. I also installed a surge tank. You can get several flushes without even the pump turning on.

Thor


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