MOD Water pump upgrade with accumulator tank

[Neal]

In the above picture, the white hose. Does anyone know the ID/OD of that fresh water hose line?

 

[Neal]

I emailed Remco asking about the noise this pump makes and first they said Amazon is not one of their distributors (we know that) and the pump may be used, bad, or whatever. But in the dialog they also said the accumulator needs to be removed, it's not recommended inline with the pump. While all seems to be working fine, it's noisier than my Aquajet AES (3.4) and they said it should sound the same. So first step will be to remove the accumulator, if I can without removing the wet bay panel, and see how it goes, if still noisy then replace the pump. Only authorized distributors are camping world and rv upgrade store.

 

[Neal]

Accumulator tank easily bypassed as it's just unscrewing the output line from the accumulator and putting it back to the output of the water pump. Pump still cycling a bit and is a bit noisy. I remember this same thing happened when I put a 5 gpm variable speed pump in @Dutch Star Don recommended after I first got the coach. When at Newmar for warranty work they wanted to replace the pump under warranty as it was so noisy and I told them no, it's one I put in. I removed it and went with Remco AES (3.4 gpm) at that time and it worked great.

So my options now are:

1) Leave it and live with it, see what happens as the air bleeds out of the lines
2) Try another 5 gpm pump (approx $200)
3) Put the AES (3.4 gpm) pump back in which is under my bed in the spares bin

And the check valve issue is gone, water is not coming out of the city water line now. So all of those parts I ordered are going to get returned. It still shows a bad check valve so I'll likely swap that out.

Why do I get myself into these things!!! Leave it alone!

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

I was going to suggest a white noise product or foam plugs.

 

[Neal]

I think I could add more pain to the situation by removing the new ARV pump, go back to the prior AES pump, and try the accumulator with it! The problem I was trying to solve in the first place was the pulsating bathroom sink water flow. Or just leave it alone...no, I'm not capable of doing that...hmmmmm

 

[J&JD]

I think you need to add a new puppy to the mix to get your mind off all this inconsequential stuff….just sayn.

 

[newmarokie]

Neal,
is the amperage draw similar between the two pumps? Did the 5 gpm pump require any electrical mods?

 

[Neal]

Neal,
is the amperage draw similar between the two pumps? Did the 5 gpm pump require any electrical mods?

The pumps are electrically the same, or remain within RV (10A) controller limits. No mods, in fact it was a simple swap as the positive line has an inline fuse that unplugs so I could just unplug that on both and connect between the two. The black (neg) line has a spade going into the water pump controller, just had to add that on the new pump.

New pump is working fine, it just sounds different and I have to accept that, if I'm going to keep it in use. Still deciding if I want to go through the pain of putting the prior pump in or try another 5 gpm pump and see if it sounds different. Not up to any of that right now, leaving it all alone.

 

[Neal]

One thing I did different in the last pump install was put a vibration dampening (hard rubber) pad between the pump and the wall it mounts to. The new pump has reasonably sized grommets so I didn't do that and that may be part of what I'm hearing different. More of the pump noise is transferring into the plastic wall it mounts to. "Dealing with change" --

 

[newmarokie]

Thanks. I have been considering a higher volume pump for the same reasons everyone else is citing. I could really find anything on the websites about amp draw. I was also considering the pressure tank, but the variable speed pump seems to solve that.

 

[Neal]

It used to be on the site showing 10A max. I skimmed the manual and it appears to cover it. I'm getting ready to leave so min time. Also you can email Remco ([email protected]) and they are very responsive to questions sales or support.

 

[Neal]

The accumulator was added to solve a problem of water cycling at the master bathroom faucet. That issue remains, I'm going to try the accumulator tank again most likely after I get the new check valve installed, today or tomorrow.

 

[Neal]

24 hours later, new campground, haven't touched a thing, accumulator remains offline, I'm actually very pleased with this pump. Pressure is instant, no issues with needing time to prime, sound has calmed (or I have calmed) and all is good.

For those with an accumulator though, a concern is high elevation. Take for example you're going to Angel Fire, NM with nearly 9K elevation. How is this going to affect your accumulator tank? I'm guessing you should remove the pressure from it prior to going to higher elevations? Colorado even. I don't know if it will release excess pressure automatically or not.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

24 hours later, new campground, haven't touched a thing, accumulator remains offline, I'm actually very pleased with this pump. Pressure is instant, no issues with needing time to prime, sound has calmed (or I have calmed) and all is good.

For those with an accumulator though, a concern is high elevation. Take for example you're going to Angel Fire, NM with nearly 9K elevation. How is this going to affect your accumulator tank? I'm guessing you should remove the pressure from it prior to going to higher elevations? Colorado even. I don't know if it will release excess pressure automatically or not.

You're overthinking! Pressure is set based on pump Pressure, not atmospheric Pressure.

 

[Neal]

At my new location, all is working great with the new water pump and it's starting to sound more like the AES pump with the lower rumble water pump noise. I swore I'd leave it alone as I'm cutting this trip short and deal with it when in storage or a later date. Well, we know I can't do that and the weather here in Charlotte is very nice today. So I decide let's get the Valterra check valve put inline just prior to the pump to ensure water does not flow backwards through the house filters and rely on the presumably failed check valve at the city water side of the filters.

Cut the hose, inserted the check valve and used pex cinch clamps to give a perfect seal to the lines using my pex cinch clamp tool which has really come in handy at times for quality plumbing work.

​

I then decided to try the accumulator tank again so I put that inline as I am getting water cycling in the master bath faucet and hence why I installed the accumulator tank to fix that, and it does. I did a leak check and sure enough I had a leak at the water pump inlet filter basket with the plastic cover not on secure enough so I may have been drawing air previously, so in the end, glad I did this today. Super simple and leak check is good at all connections and water pump tests good, doing laundry now.

Case closed. Please stop me from doing mods! But hey, this one solved a problem and was good learning. Higher flow pump and accumulator tank to prevent lower pressure draws from cycling the pump.

Now to return 42 amazon items (kidding, more like 8) and 2 Lowe's items. I should be banned soon from Amazon after last year and then this! Serial returner status!