Quiet Water Pump
Sounds of Silence
I guess a lot of RVer's must be content with a noisy water pump, because the standard equipment pumps are ridiculously loud. Not only do they wake up others in the RV if used in the middle of the night, but also can easily be heard outside. Our Roadtrek, just as our prior RVs, came with the standard Shurflo noisy pump. One of my higher priority projects after our first trip, was to replace our pump with a quieter model. On our prior RV, I had replaced the pump with a Shurflo Whisper King, which was less than half as loud as the original pump. Thanks to progress, we now have variable speed demand pumps available that are even quieter. At the recommendation of others on the CyberRally, I bought the Flojet Sensor VSD 4.5 from Camping World and replaced our pump. Now I have to listen very carefully just to hear it at all. I highly recommend this pump if you desire quiet.
Flojet Sensor VSD 4.5 Model R4525743A 4.5 gal⁄min 40 PSI
Replacing the pump is relatively simple. The biggest challenge is working in the limited space available next to the water heater. The inlet and outlet water connections on the old pump simply unscrewed by hand. I cut the power leads and unscrewed the old pump from the wall. The new pump is slightly larger than the old. Using the same filter from the old pump (the one that came with the new pump is much larger), I positioned the new pump so I could directly screw in the filter onto the pump inlet (similar to the old one). I also tried to get the pump as high as I could to give adequate clearance for the red handle on the water tank selector valve. I then screwed the new pump into the wall; something easier said than done in the small space available. Since the pump outlet no longer lined up with the outlet water pipe, I used a 20 inch flexible connector hose (which had 1⁄2 inch female pipe connectors on each end - available at Lowes) together with a 1⁄2 inch diameter nipple to attach the outlet water pipe to the pump outlet. I just let the flexible connector make a big loop.
One tip: It was very awkward to be able to reach to the far side of the pump to screw on the flexible connector to the pump. Fortunately, this pump comes with interchangeable outlets (to fit either a pipe fitting or push-on fitting) which easily snap in and out. I just removed the fitting from the pump and screwed on the flexible connector, then easily plugged the fitting back into the pump and snapped the locking collar back down. Made it much easier.