does anyone use flexible hose for the portion directly after leaving your pump on your water return pipe from pump? i was told doing that would greatly reduce the huming noise from the pump? if so what do you use?
i have a eheim 1262 with a 3/4 return pipe
Most people I think use it for the return from the tank to the sump. They generally use standard flexible hose bought from the pool shop or hardware store. As far as humming, do you have some kind of cushion between you pump and the bottome of the sump? It could be vibrating against the bottom causing the hum.
yes, it was really noisy at first , putting a foam pad between the pump and tank reduce the noise by approx 50-60% but as soon as i disconnect the pump from the return pipe and let it just pump the water directly upward only to fall back into the sump again, it's dead quiet so i know the rest of the noise is vibration from the return plumbing itself.
The reinforced vinyl tubing (with the mesh inside for extra support) won't kink, but just about any flexible vinyl tubing from a hardware store is fine. The reinforced stuff is a little harder to work with, but you can soak it in boiling or very hot water so that it stays soft until you have it all setup.
You are on the right track. Almost all the noise you will hear from that pump will be the result of how you plumb it. Isolating it with flexible tubing and a pad under it will get you close to silent.
I always use flexible tubing (Tygon) from my pumps and then to a fitting onto my return line. I've found that hard-line piping it with just PVC transfers a lot the vibration from the pump causing loud humming. Even as small as a 2" length will reduce the humming noise significantly.
anything hard will transfer vibration (vinyl tubing included) the trick is to put something between the line and whatever it is vibrating against.. foam insulation tape is the best thing ever for this... put some form of insulation everywhere that the pump/powercord/line contacts anything..
