Is there a quiet/silent water pressure pump, or a way to make one quieter?

[Cheechako]

These jabsco belt driven pumps are quiet and expensive! There are several models, but dont get the smallest type, they dont put out a ton of water pressure!

[Poey50]

I suspended my Jabsco ParMax pump in midair on thick shockcord. Can just be heard if we keep the background noise down.

[Cheechako]

Short of buying the pump I posted you can do this. It is important the screws holding the pump go only into the rubber. That white or blue semi rigid packing foam sheet might work in lieu of rubber if you use machine screws nuts and washers.

[Perfect Ride]

Couple comments from my experience:

- Mount pump (with supplied rubber feet) on plate separate from hull.
- dampening with weight appropriate mounts limits transfer to hull see vibrationmounts.com for ideas.
- increasing the mass of what is on the plate you attach to the mounts will help manage the inertia of the plate. i.e. adding the filter to the plate.

- hose flex and mounts near the pump are a secondary importance.

- accumulator tanks can reduce frequency of pump cycles, better with non-variable pumps, but that does not mean it will not cycle for first use in morning.

- if your systems require noise to avert major problems, then loud seas and winds on passage should be avoided. Not what I would call a sea worthy strategy. Note: We have a water maker so perhaps that changes our priorities. If we did not, I would install an LED light on the helm and nav station that lit when the pump was active. Like we have for our bilge pumps.

- we prefill tea pot at night to reduce that AM water use noise, but our heads are all fresh water (pump on side w master berth) so keeping pump sound to minimum is preferred.

- IMHO: sleep is a weapon that keeps us all safer, things that regularly take away from quality sleep are worth serious consideration and revision.

[Hahser]

All good suggestions but anyone know how to get my sureflow to turn off? I have been told that for sure there's a leak somewhere but I have searched repeatedly and found only dry joints. I put an accumulator on the pump discharge but makes no difference.
The only time the when the switch seems to work is tank is 100per cent full.

I have adjusted many times over.

Suggestions please.

[Perfect Ride]

Originally Posted by Hahser

All good suggestions but anyone know how to get my sureflow to turn off? I have been told that for sure there's a leak somewhere but I have searched repeatedly and found only dry joints. I put an accumulator on the pump discharge but makes no difference.
The only time the when the switch seems to work is tank is 100per cent full. I have adjusted many times over.Suggestions please.

I have found this to occur when air is in a line. Start with the highest outlet and run until all air is out then go to next highest outlet. Do this for all showers, faucets, deck outlets, toilets, hose attachments, transom showers, everything. (You might also try low to high, but our system normally fixes with the highest so I do that first) Also if your water heater is set too high this can boil water and create air in the line. Be sure to run both hot and cold water to clear ALL fresh water lines of air. It may solve your problem. Also if the Shurflo is a variable pump you might check to see if the accumulator/pump combo allow for a friendly combination. Finally if you are only seeing the problem with 100% full, might check your line in the tank that it is not sucking in air when less than 100% full.

[andraya]

fill a jug with water for overnight use and isolate pump at circuit breaker
aah silence

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by chris14679

We have a so-called "Quiet Quad" 12v drinking water pressure pump which sounds like a motorbike and a Shurflo one which is a little better but not much.

Does anyone know of a genuinely quiet water pressure pump design? We are sick of waking each other up in the night by turning on the tap!

I guess an impeller type pump would be a lot quieter than a diaphragm pump if it could reach the required pressure but I've never seen one sold for this purpose.

I'm pretty sure the domestic water pressure booster pumps sold in the UK do use impellers but they are all 230v and way too big for use on a boat. The motors tend to be rather noisy too and they have impellers both ends for hot and cold water. It shows that the concept of an impeller based pressure pump works though. Perhaps an impeller and pressure sensor from one of those could be coupled to a quiet, brushless 12v motor? Could be they use a flow sensor not a pressure sensor though.

Has anyone tried something like that? Any other ideas?

Cheers,
Chris

I use a Jabsco belt driven diaphram pump wich are a lot quieter.

[Capt Gill]

Originally Posted by Bycrick

I’ve got two of the OLD Par belt-driven diaphragm pumps. They date from 1982. They were always loud enough to hear but not annoying because they were bilge pumps. The steel in the little vibration dampeners finally rusted away and I replaced them. The pumps are now so quiet that I can’t tell when they are running. I’m glad I’ve got indicator lights on them. These pumps may be an old design, expensive to buy new, physically large and clunky looking, but they sure can be quiet.

I have two of these pumps; expensive-yes, however they are v.dependable, relatively quite and repairable.

[EngNate]

Okay, they're expensive... Headhunter makes the quietest pressure water pump you can get, and they offer performance close to what you get at home. There is a 120V and a 24V model. They are not self priming, installation above the tank requires installation details, and an accumulator of sufficient size must be used. Filters if used must be on the discharge side, after the accumulator, only a strainer on the suction side. These deliver great performance and reliability when properly installed.

[petesals]

I had the same problem with a loud rapidly cycling water system on my Lagoon. About six months ago I installed one of these: Even Flow
It is an electronic speed controller with its own pressure switch. Its is really quiet since it only spins the pump fast enough to provide the required flow. Still a bit noisy when flat out, but that is extremely rare. It is smart enough to turn the pump off if there is a slow leak.
I took out the old accumulator (full of rust) and left the original Johnson pump in place. Couldn't be happier. We now rarely notice the pump at all.

[ice57]

We turn ours off at night..

[Alita49DS]

Some of the Jabsco pumps can be incredibly noisy. Hearing one work might be a good thing. Having something like a jack hammer on the boat is a different thing.

After I serviced one of mine, I had both the jack hammer experience and a weep. I called their agents in the UK. Who were incredibly helpful. Between us we worked out that they are both an odd design and the instructions are lousy:

*Odd design as the four through body bolts are not to be tightened down all the way. He went and found an new one to get an indication, by looking at the protrusion at the other end, of how far is far enough. About level with the captive nuts. If you tighten too far the thing leaks and the studs hit the wall at the back. Hence the racket.
*Lousy instructions. Not only as to the bolts but not showing which way the valves go back. So photograph as you dismantle. When I asked him about changing the instructions the despairing reply was they were written in the US and there was nothing he could get done.

There should be rubber grommets for the feet but they are not captive and can be easily lost. Sods law will be that is into an inaccessible part of the bilge. More rubbish design.

[capnorv]

We use a Jabsco variable speed pump that makes different noise at different volumes. All our sinks discharge directly to sea, not to the bilge. Never heard of such a thing. At night we fill the tea kettle, put on the stove and turn the circuit breaker off for the pump. We do have crew that leave faucets unseated, so usually leave breaker off unless using, just like our propane or washdown pump. Our breaker panel is conveniently located within arm's length of galley and companionway, which helps.

[capnorv]

We use a Jabsco variable speed pump that makes different noise at different volumes. All our sinks discharge directly to sea, not to the bilge. Never heard of such a thing. At night we fill the tea kettle, put on the stove and turn the circuit breaker off for the pump. We do have crew that leave faucets unseated, so usually leave breaker off unless using, just like our propane or washdown pump. Our breaker panel is conveniently located within arm's length of galley and companionway, which helps.