Fresh water pump location

[jetzi]

Our water pump and accumulator is way at the front of the boat next to the water tank. As it's 12V there is obviously an extremely long cable run, and it can be a little noisy. Is there any reason a narrowboat wouldn't want to locate the water pump closer to the battery? Would it have to work harder to be futher from the water source?

 

More just out of curiousity, I'm not planning on moving it any time soon.

 

[Momac]

I think the pump needs to be reasonably close to the tank so it has no difficulty lifting the water from the tank.

[Flyboy]

Most pumps work better pushing water rather than sucking it.  Keep it close to the tank is best in my opinion.

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, Flyboy said:

Most pumps work better pushing water rather than sucking it.

^^^^ this

[Nightwatch]

Our water pump is in a sort of box in the corner of the saloon. The plan is to sound insulate said box to reduce the noise. After just 15 years I may need to get a Round Tuit soon.

 

Not an immediate concern you may gather.

[Tony Brooks]

4 hours ago, ivan&alice said:

Our water pump and accumulator is way at the front of the boat next to the water tank. As it's 12V there is obviously an extremely long cable run, and it can be a little noisy. Is there any reason a narrowboat wouldn't want to locate the water pump closer to the battery? Would it have to work harder to be futher from the water source?

 

More just out of curiousity, I'm not planning on moving it any time soon.

 

 

Our water pump was at the back (under a rear bunk) when I bought the boat. This involved a long pipe run just to feed the calorifier thenn another long cold water pipe run back up the boat to the galley cold tap. By rewiring with suitable cable one of those cold pipe runs was eliminated and we get a little more flow at the taps but not enough to warrant moving the pump.  I did it because the bunks were being taken out. Never any trouble priming with it at the back though.

[Sea Dog]

4 hours ago, ivan&alice said:

...and it can be a little noisy.

There's a limit, of course, but being able to hear when your water pump kicks in is pretty much essential to early leak detection as well as noticing other fresh water related problems which cause the pump to run.  Just something to be aware of.

 

[Tony Brooks]

4 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

There's a limit, of course, but being able to hear when your water pump kicks in is pretty much essential to early leak detection as well as noticing other fresh water related problems which cause the pump to run.  Just something to be aware of.

 

100% in agreement with that.

[Machpoint005]

Nightwatch may well find that the noisy pump problem is less to do with the lack of a "soundproof box" and more to do with the pump's rigid mounting on a timber floor. Get something resilient (rubber feet, a chunk of rubber mat, or whatever) underneath it and the noise level in the cabin will reduce. I'm assuming, of course, that the pipework is plastic and has some "give" in it.

 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2019 by Machpoint005
wrong attribution!

[Nightwatch]

Nightwatch has a pump with rubber feet! Perhaps not big and spongy enough. It really isn't a problem.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

The pump on my boat is about a third of the way along the cabin from the bow tank. The feed pipe is at floor level all the way. No problem with the pump as the bow up trim of the boat means that it is downhill from tank to pump anyway. Having the intake pipework snake up and down on its way might make priming the pump tricky. As far as noise is concerned, I've recently put a bit of 2" thick Celotex/Kingspan style extruded foam insulation underneath the pump and this has made it a little quieter.

Jen

[Sea Dog]

3 hours ago, Nightwatch said:

Nightwatch has a pump with rubber feet! Perhaps not big and spongy enough. It really isn't a problem.

Wait til it sneaks up on you soundlessly in the night - then you'll know what a problem rubber feet can really be! 

[Tony Brooks]

4 hours ago, Nightwatch said:

Nightwatch has a pump with rubber feet! Perhaps not big and spongy enough. It really isn't a problem.

Ah but how tight are the screws through the feet holding the pump in place. They should be loose otherwise you compress the feet and that helps conduct the noiise to the wood.

[Machpoint005]

4 hours ago, Nightwatch said:

Nightwatch has a pump with rubber feet! Perhaps not big and spongy enough. It really isn't a problem. 

 

Nevertheless, my comments was intended to be useful to a wider audience! I won't get into discussing the natural frequencoes of resilient mountings though.

[Nightwatch]

Nor will I, nor will I.