Water Pump noise - normal?

[tastebud]

Hi - I am a new Scamp 16' SD owner (new Scamp, purchased new in March) and we LOVE IT. So far, so good... but I am curious about the noise the water pump makes and am wondering if the lines have air in them? The first time we used it we were hooked to city water and I do not remember it making this noise (whoooomp whooooomp whooooomp), but since then, when using only the freshwater fill in - it makes this noise every time you turn the water on, and the water is not really flowing freely, it's more of a irregular flow. Is this normal? I also noticed this past weekend when we were completely off-grid that when I turned the water on the light over the sink dimmed a bit. Any advice or just a "relax, this is all normal" comments are very appreciated.

[Donna D.]

Hi Michelle, the only advice I can give you is you don't use the water pump when you're hooked up to city water. It becomes on demand.

Anyone else have any advice for Michelle?

[papa-t]

Donna's correct. The water pump is used when you are pumping water from the fresh water tank only. City water is forced in on demand with pressure, not through the water pump. It does make a noise. And if you were only using 12 volt when "Off Grid", it can dim the lights a bit when using the water pump. Things like that are normal and come with experience. Make sure you keep the battery filled with distilled water and charged;( Also if you have a dehumidifier; the water collected in the container is also distilled when it's passed through the dehumidifier unit). Saves a little money instead of having to buy the water.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by tastebud

Hi - I am a new Scamp 16' SD owner (new Scamp, purchased new in March) and we LOVE IT. So far, so good... but I am curious about the noise the water pump makes and am wondering if the lines have air in them? The first time we used it we were hooked to city water and I do not remember it making this noise (whoooomp whooooomp whooooomp), but since then, when using only the freshwater fill in - it makes this noise every time you turn the water on, and the water is not really flowing freely, it's more of a irregular flow. Is this normal? I also noticed this past weekend when we were completely off-grid that when I turned the water on the light over the sink dimmed a bit. Any advice or just a "relax, this is all normal" comments are very appreciated.

Some noise is normal and the surge should go away once the lines are filled and clear.
You can take a foam mouse pad and remount the pump with it under the pump to mitigate much of the vibration and noise.

[Lloyd (aka Santa) Coltman]

A couple of things to check, because the manufacturers seem to always do it wrong: check on mounting position of pump, if vertical it should be motor end up. If horizontal make sure any seepage can drain out of motor (there's a weep hole between pump and motor)
The water will always surge if you're not drawing sufficient to keep the pump running continuously. See my comments as Lloyd BC on mod #85 Gray water potty flush here: RV Mods, RV Modifications, RV Upgrades, RV Tips, RV eBooks | ModMyRV.com
The lights will usually flicker too, especially LED lights, of which I have 2 in dinette, one over sink.
They're well worth the expense though, when you boondock a week at a time, and use a CPAP all night

[Raz]

Mine is mounted on top of a cabinet in the kitchen base. An already loud pump is amplified somewhat by the cabinet. You get used to it. These pumps come on when the pressure drops from opening the faucet. Open just a trickle and the pump cycles on and off, on and off. If it really bugs you, you can add a small air tank called an accumulator to smooth things out. Raz

[Alf S.]

Hi: tastebud... You can get a silencer kit from ShurFlo which are longer hoses. They further isolate the pump from the water lines to lessen the vibration thru the water lines. I always remove the line from the tank to the pump and run the pump for a few sec's. when winterizing our 5.0 so the water will drain out. Again when hooked to city water DO NOT USE THE PUMP!!! Otherwise some noise is normal and you will get used to it.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by floyd

Some noise is normal and the surge should go away once the lines are filled and clear.
You can take a foam mouse pad and remount the pump with it under the pump to mitigate much of the vibration and noise.

I loosened the pump mounting screws and slid a small sheet of thin closed cell foam under the pump ,then tightened the mounting screws . It eliminated a lot of the noise. If your water tank has sufficient water in it the suction side of the pump will be flooded and the surging due to air in the lines will go away after a short period of time.

[Lloyd (aka Santa) Coltman]

No matter if pump intake is flooded, you will still get the rrrupp, rrrupp, rrrupp pulsing if the flow is too low to switch pump on continuous, because the pump will build pressure, switch off, drop pressure, switch on, build pressure, switch off, ad infintum. It's the nature of the beast (unless you have one of the fancy variable speed pumps, at nearly twice the price of a standard pump).

[tastebud]

Thanks to all of you for your quick and helpful responses! I feel better now. I'm going to crawl around and check the location and maybe try the foam / mousepad trick to see if it's more vibration than anything else. To be honest, it's more of a nuisance than a problem. My biggest REAL problem right now is finding a way to secure the cabinet doors so they don't pop open en route. We go over some really bumpy roads here in the wild wild west.

[stevebaz]

On thing to watch out for is a pump cycling when there is no open water use. If the pump cycles intermittantly on its own then you best check for leaks somewhere in the line. Some people turn on the pump and leave it on while camped since it shuts off by itself, if you do that and you are away and something springs a leak then the pump will run until the tank is empty and then burn out the pump. I use my pump and turn it on and off for the task at hand.

[Art VanDelay]

They BANG allot. That's normal. Use campground connection when available.

[Lloyd (aka Santa) Coltman]

What sort of catches are on doors, magnetic or 2-roller friction?

[Lloyd (aka Santa) Coltman]

Originally Posted by stevebaz

On thing to watch out for is a pump cycling when there is no open water use. If the pump cycles intermittantly on its own then you best check for leaks somewhere in the line. Some people turn on the pump and leave it on while camped since it shuts off by itself, if you do that and you are away and something springs a leak then the pump will run until the tank is empty and then burn out the pump. I use my pump and turn it on and off for the task at hand.

Good idea to turn off when travelling or when away from unit. However, assuming you have either a Flojet, or Shurflo diaphram pump, they are designed to withstand 'dry' running. The worst that will happen is operation of the 'Thermal Protection ' switch. This will shut down the pump and will normally reset when the motor cools down. If the pump is 'Cycling' with no water turned on, and no water leaks apparent, there may be an internal leak in pump bypassing the valves, and warranty work is needed.

[Lloyd (aka Santa) Coltman]

Originally Posted by Art VanDelay

They BANG allot. That's normal. Use campground connection when available.

There is remarkable difference in pump noise, depending on Manufacturer.
I have a 25 year old 3-chamber ShurFlo that is quite loud, a 4-chamber Artis (in my current TT) that was quite loud until I remounted it in a foam-lined tub (not on the middle of a 1/8" plywood panel that acted like a sounding board), and a Flojet 'Quiet Quad' 4 chamber, that I use as a transfer pump when 'Boondocking'. It is fastened to a 3/4" plywood base and is so quiet that I had to put my hand on it to see if it was running, and that was sitting on my pick-up tailgate!

[Frederick L. Simson]

My original Shur-Flo water pump as installed by the Fiber Stream factory. It is under the "Driver's Side" or "Street Side" bunk. At the bottom of the picture is the Fresh Water Tank in the front corner of the trailer. (There is a small compartment door at the front of the trailer to access the blank space between the tank and the bunk wall on the left. This is where I stow the WDH spring-arms and the stabilizer jacks you see.) At the top of the picture is the water heater. To the right of the picture are the City Water Port and the Water Tank Fill Port.


As you can see the City Water connection completely bypasses the pump, therefore you do not have to energize the pump when hooked-up. The pump is only used when you do not have access to a water hose spigot, and must draw water out of the fresh water tank.

This pump was 30+ years old and sounded like a semi-truck's Jake Brake when run. You'll notice that all of the piping is rigid. While the gray tubing is called "Flexible" because you can bend it; it is NOT flexible for noise isolation purposes. The white pieces of "flexible hose" are too short to flex independently. The pump body is mounted directly to the floor, thus the pump is rigidly attached to everything around it. All pump noise is transmitted into the structure of the trailer effectively amplifying it.


I bought an all new Shur-Flo "Whisper King" pump, separate input debris strainer, 2 truly flexible isolation hoses, and an accumulation tank. I had to re-think the orientation to fit all of the new stuff into the old space. The pump sits on Black rubber shock mounts. The screws holding the Blue foot tabs are snugged just enough to allow movement of the pump body, and not tight enough to compress the shock mounts. The truly flexible isolation hoses are looped on purpose to give them room to have the ends attached to the pump vibrate along with it, while the ends attached to the water tank and the accumulation tank stay stationary, dampening the vibrations along their length. The accumulation tank holds just enough water in an isolation bladder inside to prevent the pressure drop from reaching the pump during short water demands of say, flushing the toilet in the middle of the night. All of this attention to detail made my new pump truly silent.

[Lloyd (aka Santa) Coltman]

Your 'OLD' pump looks like a 'ShurFlo' 205-013 and should have rubber grommet mounts at the 4 corners of the base plate for isolation mounts (Same as my old pump). Not the best, but if you put soft rubber washers below and above, with 'fender washers' on longer screws, and don't tighten too much, that will ease some of the transmission to the floor. The rest of the changes you made would help even more. I plan to use my pump, at least temporarily, in a gray water recycling flush system for the toilet, thus easing the drain on fresh water.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Alf S.

You can get a silencer kit from ShurFlo which are longer hoses. They further isolate the pump from the water lines to lessen the vibration thru the water lines.

Yes, but they're no so much longer hoses as they are hoses... instead of relatively rigid plastic tubing. The soft hose absorbs some of the vibration.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by Lloyd (aka Santa) Coltman

Your 'OLD' pump looks like a 'ShurFlo' 205-013 and should have rubber grommet mounts at the 4 corners of the base plate for isolation mounts (Same as my old pump).

You're right, it had the "isolation" grommets, but they were screwed down so tight that they were compressed, and they were so old that they had fossilized into hard lumps.

My pump could not build up enough pressure to push water to the kitchen sink, so I felt the pump needed to be replaced... and I don't do anything half-way

[Lloyd (aka Santa) Coltman]

Well, here's something interesting: Today I did a test run of the two spare pumps I have (Flojet Quiet Quad-about 10 years old, and a 25 year old [at least] ShurFlo 205-103{still working fine, BTW}. My test was to see which pump would provide the stronger spray pattern from a standard kitchen spray nozzle. Now you would think the pump with the higher GPM rating would be the winner, wouldn't you? (especially when it's also at least 10 years newer) The ShurFlo is rated 3GPM @ 0 psi, the FloJet 3.2GPM @ 0 psi. Note: all the plumbing and electrical supplies are identical, as is the 'Lift' distance (~1.5ft). Both pumps were running wide open, 0 psi, so pressure switch setting did not enter into the equation.
Guess what, the ancient Shur-Flo performed better (not by much, but it did shoot the spray a bit farther). I guess maybe the older pump was rated a bit conservatively, where the newer one was rated at its very best.