Barracuda pump... Noise issue HUMMMING

[wlecount]

Well I have another thread going on about my sump in a crawl space. Well everything is finally setup and running, but the pump has been a complete and utter pain. The thing is dreadfully loud and vibrates the living room floor and the tank. I spent $20 on foam insulation and padding yesterday to cover the pipes coming through the floor and it did nothing. I'm not sure if it is the pump that is bad or if I just have a bad setup. The pump is secured to the base it came with and a piece of 1/2" foam insulation board. I didn't think this was enough because of the vibrations so I mounted it to 2 2X6's and then put 4 2X4"s coming from the ceiling to hold it all in place. I angled the mount on the 2X4's so I could wedge them in to get an even tighter fit. The thing still vibrates. From their it goes up to a 90 degree bend then continues up through the floor.

Right now I believe I have the majority of the vibrations dampened, but there is still a ridiculously loud humming sound resonating from the motor and then through the pipes. I wouldn't put fish in the tank because it is so loud inside. I put my ear next to the thing and I couldn't imagine living in that. I can hear the humming down the hall.

Really I'm just looking for some tips or help. If I can't fix it I think I'll have to pay to send it back and try again. I've included pics of the setup.

* I also though that I could be restricting the flow of the pump too much with my setup, but when I choke the flow completely the pump only gets louder.

 

[rallysman]

I'm not quite sure on that one, but shoot an email off to Reeflo customer service. From what I've seen they'll be more than willing to work with you.

 

[VLDesign]

First thing I see that it very bad is the fact that that pipe work is very very loose. You need to fasten it down where you have thee wood & foam. Then you need to use joist hangers to support the pipe near the union as well.

Plumbing isn't suppose to have any movement in it other wise you could get noise but also the pipes could fracture in the long run.

If it were me I would make the following changes to your plumbing:


Keep it close to the joists, clamp it and using 2 45s to help the transition in heights without killing causing too much head pressure by using 2 90s.

 

[VLDesign]

The more I look at it and think about it the more I would also move the valve and union to the vertical section just above the pump. That way you will be able to have all the horizontal pipe attached to the joists with clamps to prevent vibrations.

 

[wlecount]

Thanks for the tips so far, I'm thinking the whole plumbing setup is going to be redone. I can't really afford to do it, but I tried to do things without completely thinking it through and it came back to bite me. I still believe there is an issue with the pump as their is little vibration in the pump, but the horrid noise still persists.

What I was wondering if it would be sensible to use flexible tubing for almost all of the runs I have to make. I was looking at thisKink Free Tubing to clearly reduce vibrations and make it easier to setup the plumbing. I was planning to just buy it in 1.5" and 1" sizes the larger for the return line and the smaller for the drainage.

I also ordered a Eshopps overflow box that I will put in the middle of the tank. I Like the DIY, but I have more trust in the Eshopps. Again I've spent entirely too much money so far, but I need it to work right.

 

[rallysman]

There's only one way to learn. I spent a lot of money on my education (screw ups).

For real, don't hesitate to email their customer service. They actually joined this board to help resolve 1 members problem. I doubt that they check it very often, but they were really cool and level headed in their replies on here.

 

[Bawb2u]

One cheap option to try is to put sections of flex tube just before and just after the pump, connecting that to your hard-lined PVC. I've found that to be a good work around as it soaks up a lot of the vibration that otherwise gets transmitted directly to your lines.

 

[wlecount]

Well I emailed them, and needless to say rallysman you were correct on the service. I sent the email around 10 last night and had a reply by 8:30 this morning. Can't beat that for customer service. He asked me to knock the blocks out I had put on the return, but still offered to send me a replacement pump.

I still think I'm going to go look for some flew tubing and do the majority of my plumbing in flexible non kink pond tubing. I'm almost certainly going to replace the return line with flexible tubing. My second goal is to take all of the lines that I had run straight down behind the back of the stand into the floor and now angle them into the stand and then down through the floor. I want to be adjust the pipes without having to move the whole tank.