Fresh water pump placement

[Mohsen]

Evening ladies and gents,

What better way to spend a friday night than to wonder about pumps. I have a Jabcso Par max 4, 12v the standard pressure model. It's on 1m run to the fresh water tank and is protected by an inline filter. It's followed by an accumulator for good measure. All linked up by flexible hose before the main hep2o pipe run. However, due to reverse layout, my bed is pretty close to the thing and it's loud!

So, while the lining isnt up and its not too hard to do, I'm considering moving the thing to the engine room.

Has anyone done this?

Are there any problem's I havent foreseen with this method?
The manual suggests pump placement should be no more than 2m away from the tank. Given that the pump will effectlivey be gravity fed when the pitch of the boat is considered, I'm not sure how important this is?

Last resort is making a soundproof box, but I'd much rather be rid of the sound altogether.

[mrsmelly]

13 minutes ago, Mohsen said:

Evening ladies and gents,

What better way to spend a friday night than to wonder about pumps. I have a Jabcso Par max 4, 12v the standard pressure model. It's on 1m run to the fresh water tank and is protected by an inline filter. It's followed by an accumulator for good measure. All linked up by flexible hose before the main hep2o pipe run. However, due to reverse layout, my bed is pretty close to the thing and it's loud!

So, while the lining isnt up and its not too hard to do, I'm considering moving the thing to the engine room.

Has anyone done this?

Are there any problem's I havent foreseen with this method?
The manual suggests pump placement should be no more than 2m away from the tank. Given that the pump will effectlivey be gravity fed when the pitch of the boat is considered, I'm not sure how important this is?

Last resort is making a soundproof box, but I'd much rather be rid of the sound altogether.

I fitted one in the kitchen on one boat which was a good twenty feet or more from the water tank and it ran faultlessly.

[Mohsen]

Im talking about 45 ft!
 

I'm think that if Im going to the effort of moving it the ideal place, in terms of noise, wiring and space saving, would be the engine room.
Thanks for your experience

Edited October 20, 2017 by Mohsen

[DaveR]

Working on the same problem on Legacy. So far I have removed the pipe grips I so carefully installed so the pipe no longer tansmits the noise the the bulkhead panels. Sound has gone down a lot. Next I plan to use pipe lagging to keep the pipes off the floor etc to see if this has any  noticeable effect.

Question do you have any flexible pipe between the pump and the pipework? That too can help insulate the noise.

[Mohsen]

3 minutes ago, DaveR said:

Working on the same problem on Legacy. So far I have removed the pipe grips I so carefully installed so the pipe no longer tansmits the noise the the bulkhead panels. Sound has gone down a lot. Next I plan to use pipe lagging to keep the pipes off the floor etc to see if this has any  noticeable effect.

Question do you have any flexible pipe between the pump and the pipework? That too can help insulate the noise.

Yup flexible hose all over the show. I held the pump in my hand today whilst it was operating and it was just as loud. Jabsco arent far from me so I might pop in with it to see if its usually that loud or if its faulty. I know its a particularly powerful one so perhaps thats why its noisey.

[mrsmelly]

4 minutes ago, Mohsen said:

Yup flexible hose all over the show. I held the pump in my hand today whilst it was operating and it was just as loud. Jabsco arent far from me so I might pop in with it to see if its usually that loud or if its faulty. I know its a particularly powerful one so perhaps thats why its noisey.

Why are u using the 4? I had one years ago and replaced it with a 1. I have the par max 1 again on this boat and powers everything spot on, just askin like?

[Mohsen]

4 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Why are u using the 4? I had one years ago and replaced it with a 1. I have the par max 1 again on this boat and powers everything spot on, just askin like?

Good question. Answers is, I'm learning as I go and presumed bigger meant better  It puts out a flow rate, which I wanted but the noise is a bit much. I suppose if it was in the galley most people would be fine it.

[Rebotco]

I have the Parmax3 on a 60 ft boat with the water tank in the bow.  The pump is is at the very back end of the cabin - so about 50+ ft away.

I have screwed it down onto a hefty block of hardwood and noise is not a problem, even though all the pipework is Hep2o and no flexible hoses.

It works faultlessly and I would not think you would have any noise problem siting it 45 ft from your water tank.

[Mohsen]

11 minutes ago, Rebotco said:

I have the Parmax3 on a 60 ft boat with the water tank in the bow.  The pump is is at the very back end of the cabin - so about 50+ ft away.

I have screwed it down onto a hefty block of hardwood and noise is not a problem, even though all the pipework is Hep2o and no flexible hoses.

It works faultlessly and I would not think you would have any noise problem siting it 45 ft from your water tank.

Thanks Rebotco. Can I ask, is the entire run to the pump 'downhill' or does the pipework raise before the pump creating negative lift?

[Rebotco]

5 minutes ago, Mohsen said:

Thanks Rebotco. Can I ask, is the entire run to the pump 'downhill' or does the pipework raise before the pump creating negative lift?

The pipework before the pump is all right at floor level with the water tank outlet about 4" above floor level. The pump itself, mounted on a wooden block, has its inlet about 6" above floor level.  So in effect there is a slight apparent "uphill" pull by the pump.  But this may well be reversed by the boat sitting lower at the back than the front.

[Neil2]

I'm puzzled why the noise would bother you if it's under the bed well away from the kitchen/lounge, why would the pump be running when you are in bed, or have I misunderstood?

FWIW our pump is in the kitchen boxed in with a load of insulation and very quiet.  Wouldn't it be easier to muffle yours rather than move it?

[koukouvagia]

26 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

I'm puzzled why the noise would bother you . . . 

My thoughts exactly.  I quite like the boaty noises: the hum of the central heating pump, the slurp of the gulper pump, the gentle susurration of the charger fan and the rattle of the water pump.  They tell me all is working.  Only the other day I was alerted to a problem when I could no longer hear the central heating pump.

 

[Mohsen]

My mrs and I work shifts and either of us is often getting up to shower whilst the other is in bed.

i had thought of building a box with soundproofing to put it in. Though I'm not sure how well this would work.

[Neil2]

14 minutes ago, koukouvagia said:

My thoughts exactly.  I quite like the boaty noises: the hum of the central heating pump, the slurp of the gulper pump, the gentle susurration of the charger fan and the rattle of the water pump.  They tell me all is working.  Only the other day I was alerted to a problem when I could no longer hear the central heating pump.

 

Yes, I recall this came up in a similar thread a while back - the water pump is a very good indicator that something is wrong (if it's running when it shouldn't be) so you do need to be able to hear it clearly eg over the sound of the TV otherwise your bilge could be filling up with water while you're watching Bake Off.  

Or, you could be like Mr Paranoid here and switch the pump off whenever it isn't needed, usually forgetting to turn it back on before you go in the shower.  

[Chewbacka]

1 minute ago, Mohsen said:

My mrs and I work shifts and either of us is often getting up to shower whilst the other is in bed.

i had thought of building a box with soundproofing to put it in. Though I'm not sure how well this would work.

I boxed my pump in which helped but it became obvious to me that a lot of the noise is transmitted through the steel boat shell.  Mounting the pump on a heavy metal plate itself on rubber mounts helped a fair bit, but I would never call it quiet.

[Dr Bob]

14 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

Yes, I recall this came up in a similar thread a while back - the water pump is a very good indicator that something is wrong (if it's running when it shouldn't be) so you do need to be able to hear it clearly eg over the sound of the TV otherwise your bilge could be filling up with water while you're watching Bake Off.  

Or, you could be like Mr Paranoid here and switch the pump off whenever it isn't needed, usually forgetting to turn it back on before you go in the shower.  

+1

Yes for the limited time these noises happen they are essential indicators that all is normal. I can see it being a problem for the OP and his shift patterns though. My water pump is at the bow and the bed at the back. 

[system 4-50]

My water pump is about 12ft from the tank and 3ft above the top of it and works well. And its noisy too!

[Richard T]

Our boat is a conventional layout. The water tank is under the front deck with an accessible stop cock inside a front cupboard. The water pipe then runs under the floor to the rear of the boat where the water pump, accumulator and calorifier are sited under the bed - all works well with this arrangement. A few weeks ago we noticed the water pump running continuously - no leak so concluded the pressure switch had died, replaced pump which took less than an hour and all was well. We then bought a replacement switch so we have a spare pump again. Disadvantage of the pipe under the floor is we cannot inspect its condition, advantage is that it is most unlikely to freeze as the temprature of the bottom plate will always be above zero ( we more on a river which never freezes but even on a canal it would have to extremely cold for the water to be frozen 500mm or so below the surface).

Answer to OP you can move the water pump all should still work. You may have to rewire to get a suitable 12v supply,