How quiet is your Reeflo Dart?

[EricM]

Mine is mounted on a sound isolation pad and I put fernco rubber couplings on the PVC input and output pipes to keep the pipes from resonating, and I can still hear the thing in the room above the fish room.

How quiet is yours?

[toothman]

I do not think you can find a quieter external pump at this price. The red dragon pumps are dead quiet. but are about 1k. Tunze sure beats it, if it is for a closed loop, internal pump: the quiet one, brand.

[jnarowe]

You really shouldn't be able to hear it at all in the room above the fish room. Darts are very quiet pumps. Maybe the rubber coupling is actually letting the pump vibrate more? I have straight PVC connections and my pump is sitting on a block of wood. My ballasts are significantly louder than the pump and if I turn off everything I can barely hear the pump.

Be aware that there is a bit of a break-in period with Sequence pumps based on my own experience and many users have reported louder than normal noise during that time. They also tend to leak a little for a while. If yours is new that may be the case.

[mattseattle]

which motor is on yours? i have one with the baldor motor on it and it's dead silent. i can hear the water in my sump over my dart. now my sequence barricuda is another story. :)

[Jarett]

my dart is super quite. the oceansmotions motor is louder than the pump. it did have a little hum to it at first, now its about a month old and you can hardly hear it.
i have mine screwed down to a block of wood sitting on the carpet, and is connect with hard pvc and spa flex.

[sean_nj]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7390634#post7390634 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EricM
Mine is mounted on a sound isolation pad and I put fernco rubber couplings on the PVC input and output pipes to keep the pipes from resonating, and I can still hear the thing in the room above the fish room.

How quiet is yours?

I had the same problem with first Dart. I called Chris, and he sent me a replacement which is very quiet. I had to put my ear next to the pump to konw it's running. The little humm sound from the return pipe is louder than the sound from the pump body.

Sean

[EricM]

Interesting... mine is way louder than any of you are describing.


jnarowe - the rubber coupling actually helped quiet it down some, the vibrations don't resonate through the piping anymore. And it's a year old, so I suspect it's broken in!

mattseatlle - mine's got the hubble motor. Maybe that's the problem.

I did email Chris a while back. He said he was sorry it was loud and suggested using a mouse pad beneath it. I was also dissapointed in their response when I discovered the potential for a serious electrical problem with the pump.
Time to try another brand I guess.

[mattseattle]

I've heard the hubble motor is a little louder - I can't personally vouch for that though.

[EricM]

Anybody know if they come with the Hubble or the Baldor now?

[mattseattle]

I think the Hubble is the new motor.

[jnarowe]

I have 3 Sequence pumps and they are all extremely quiet including the Hammerhead. Has yours always been noisy or is this a new problem? Are you sure that it is "vibrations" resonating or possibly cavitation?

I had a similar problem with my RO/DI booster pump resonating (serious hammering) through my house pipes and found a way to solve that by adding a 4' length of 1" PVC between the supply and the pump. What was happening is that the pump is trying to draw off more water than it is being supplied. I have heard this can also be accomplished with a check valve, and to note for your reference, I have a clear check valve just after the output of my Hammerhead. I don't particularly trust it to hold back a siphon, but it gives me visual confirmation of flow and I believe cuts the noise of the pump/flow down going into the system.

Something else you should consider is the size of your pipes. many reefers will install one size larger pipes between the pump and its water source as well as after the pump. This allows more flow and less cavitation, from what I understand. You may not be giving the pump all the water it needs. They are very loud when priming or during cavitation so that is an area worth looking into. There is a guy on RC, Dale (tinygiants), who has a real firm grasp of liquid flow dynamics and I would suggest contacting him if you can't figure out the problem on your own. Unless the pump is somehow damaged, the problem is probably in some measure related to how it is plumbed. HTH!

[EricM]

Well... my firm belief is that it is the pump. When I had it down for maitenance, I had the volute & impeller off (and the fan for that matter) and it was just as loud. Clearly the noise is coming from the motor.

[EricM]

Anybody have a close up pic of the model number, etc for the Baldor pump? Maybe I can buy one to replace my hubble with.

[jnarowe]

Strange...I have never heard a loud Sequence pump. Was it always that way or did the noise develop over time?

[jnarowe]

Buying the Baldor motor is just as expensive as buying the whole pump, at least that is what I found. I have an old Sequence 4300 with a completely rusted frozen motor and I tried to buy the replacement motor also. I ended up buying a whole new pump for the same price. The issue is that prices vary on the pumps but don't seem to vary on the motor.

You can go to the Baldor (http://www.baldor.com/) web site and view all the motors they make and find a match for your pump body. This motor (http://www.baldor.com/products/detail.asp?1=1&page=1&catalogonly=1&catalog=JL3501A&product=AC+Motors&family=Pump%7Cvw%5FACMotors%5FPump&winding=34WG5597&rating=40C+AMB%2DCONT) is probably one of the front runners but you would need to check the specs. of the motor you have now. And check out that price!!

[EricM]

It's always been that noisy.

I can't hear my American made Iwaki at all over the noise of the Dart.

[mattseattle]

oh i've heard of quite a few loud Sequence pumps so it's not a new thing. Some are the motors and some are the way they are set up usually people limiting the intake flow.

If I were you I'd call Sequence and let them listen to the pump over the phone. Here is the contact info for them.

MDM Incorporated
325 Karen Lane
Colorado Springs, CO 80907
800-447-8342 (Toll Free)
719-634-8202 (Phone)
719-634-8317 (Fax)

[mattseattle]

here is a picture of the label on my DART. Hopefully you can read it. It was a pain getting a good picture in a dark stand.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/mattseattle/P5190009.jpg

[EricM]

great. thanks