After 5 fun filled days in the desert, I pulled in my driveway and discovered my water pump pressure swirch has died. Talk about great timing! Anyway I pulled the pump assembly and found the Shureflo 2088-554-144 3.5gpm 5amp 40psi pump has a manf. date of 12/91. My plan is to replace the entire assembly. I was hoping to hear from somebody that these days a new pump has been delveloped that doesn't make a loud noise when you flush the toilet in the middle of the night. Maybe no noise at all?

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Larry and Heidi from CA

hilaree,
I had the same prob with our current SOB. Replaced the defunct pump with a Shureflo # sumthin or other. I can go out and take a look in the morning, but not sure it would be the right pump for a Barth. Anyway, what a difference in noise level! The old one seemed noisy as heck when you flushed in the middle of the night, the new Shureflo ... just a quiet hum. As these things wear out the noise level increases I guess. I'll bet whatever your RV parts supplier recommends will be lots quieter.
Good luck.
Don
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quote:

Originally posted by hilarlee:
After 5 fun filled days in the desert, I pulled in my driveway and discovered my water pump pressure swirch has died. Talk about great timing! Anyway I pulled the pump assembly and found the Shureflo 2088-554-144 3.5gpm 5amp 40psi pump has a manf. date of 12/91. My plan is to replace the entire assembly. I was hoping to hear from somebody that these days a new pump has been delveloped that doesn't make a loud noise when you flush the toilet in the middle of the night. Maybe no noise at all?

Our pump is now so quiet that I had to mount a flashing red LED on the switch/indicator panel to remind us that it is switched on.

I separated the body of the motor from its mount and glued it back on with a few thick dots of silicone rubber. I then screwed the base to a small piece of plywood, which was glued to four small blocks or rubber sponge, which were glued to the floor. This allows the pump to vibrate independently of its mount and the whole assembly to vibrate without too much noise being transmitted to the plywood floor.

Next step is to isolate the pump from the hard water lines. I used 3/8 flexible vinyl lines which are coiled into a 360 degree loop. The 3/8 lines are more flexible than larger sizes. I found the 3/8 fittings at West Marine.

Final step is to be sure all the hard lines are solidly mounted in rubber lined Adel clamps. This prevents rattling and provides a little more isolation. You will not be able to reach all clamp points, but every clamp than can be replaced with a rubber lined clamp helps a little. A couple of spots did not allow installation of a clamp, so I squeezed in a gob of silicone rubber and allowed it to dry holding the pipe to the floor but not touching it.

One last touch is an accumulator. It will store pressure so you our yours can flush at night without the pump running. And showers do not pulsate.

Hey, its a hobby!

One last comment on night time flushing.....we use a spray bottle to flush most of the time. They are very quiet. We are dry campers, so water conservation is an issue, and the spray bottles are really handy for rinsing dishes, too. Or rinsing after an Army shower.

Bill, I went to camping world and was surprised they didn't offer the 3.5gpm as I originally had. I purchased a Shurflo RV 2088-422-444 2.8gpm 45psi $71.99 unit instead. It's substantially quieter than the original unit (the entire base is made of flexible soft rubber) but after flushing the toilet the pump "cruises/cycles" for an additional 2 seconds. My original pump would immediately shut off. This "cycling" is annoying. I shut off the water pump and opened a faucet to re-pressurize the accumulator to about 40psi and still have the same problem. I am not certain of how to re-pressurize or test the accumulator. It seems to allow some water to the faucet without the pump turning on but not the toilet as you described. My accumulator is also 13 years old. I'll have to go through and insulate all my connections according to your instructions because something is still vibrating and a little noisey. What brand/model pump did you install? Did I re-charge the accumulator correctly?

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Larry and Heidi from CA

Here is a pretty good site that should answer your question:

http://rk-enterprises.home.att.net/accumulatortank.htm

My Barth does not yet have an accumulator, but I put one on my previous SOB, and it was great.

My pump is a 2800, too.

Opened the bay on our bus one day and discovered the pump was leaking so went out and bought a new one the next day...got home and went to put it in and found that the old one was no longer leaking, 6 months later still not leaking but at least now no matter where i am i know i have a spare for immediate replacement if i need it. Now if i can just remember where i put it without having to take everything out of both bays! Amazing how things can disappear in such a small space.

There is the possibility that your accumulator was 'water-logged' before you replaced the pump. When you replaced the pump, it is possible that some or all of the water drained from the accumulator. When an accumulator is 'water-logged' it is though it is not even there and the pump should start and stop each time water exits the system. With a properly 'charged' accumulator some volume of water can exit the system before the pump activates, then the pump has to replace that water that exited prior to the pump coming on. Which would account for the extended run time of the pump.