Please Recommend a Silent Check Valve

[Charles Shahar]

Hi Everyone:

I live in Montreal, Canada. My plumber installed piping and a sump pump to carry water from a 3-foot pit / water table below my house. Because the original piping apparently was condemned my plumber diverted the water through a 4 feet vertical pipe. Anyways, the check pump makes a horrible clanging sound every time it works. Much to my delight, I found out that there are silent check valves. My plumber is a bit skeptical, saying that spring action check valves may not be as robust. Anyways, i have to do something about the noise. So he has agreed to install a silent check valve for 1.5 inch piping if I find one to order. I live in Canada so hopefully I can order it from here.

Please let me know any experience you have with silent check valves and which one you would recommend. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

-Charles

 

[RenewDave]

If you are pumping waste vertical out of a basin to the main drain line the “swing” check you have is causing the noise. It is pushed open when the pump operates and shuts when the pump satisfies and the waste in the pipe tries to fall back into the basin. If you use a “spring” check, solids within the waste will fowl the the spring and it will not close correctly and you will burn out your pump over time. I believe “spring” checks are approved for water use only. How often does the pump cycle? Although a nuisance, the check valve is doing its job.

 

[Charles Shahar]

It cycles every 40 minutes or so, sometimes less sometimes more, depending on the wetness conditions. Are you saying that no silent check valve can do this job? That is very bad news since I am sensitive to noise. Are all silent check valves spring operated?

Thanks.

 

[Mr_David]

I personally have never heard of a silent check valve. There are some valves that are more quite than others.
Brass valves with brass swing gates seem to be more noisier than plastic ones.

Zoeller is what we use. they make a plastic or cast valves

I guess they do make silent check valves. try this

https://www.sumppumpsdirect.com/pumps/silent-check-valves.html

 

[RenewDave]

Yeh, “silent check valve” is not a plumbing term. Standard swing checks, whether brass or plastic in the vertical can be loud. Spring checks are less likely to “chatter” but still can produce noise. I wonder if your plumber could reconfigure the check valve to a horizontal orientation and cycle your pump and see if this would lessen the noise. If your pump cycles every 40 minutes 24/7, that’s pumping a lot of volume. How long does the pump run when it’s on? Maybe resizing to system so it only cycles a couple of times a day is what I would go for. If your pump cycles 24 times a day (1440/40), I couldn’t live with that.

 

[RenewDave]

Check that, 36 times a day.

 

[Charles Shahar]

I know. That's the problem. As I say, I am sensitive to noise. The pump doesn't run very long. Just a few seconds...

 

[Geofd]

Hi Everyone:

I live in Montreal, Canada. My plumber installed piping and a sump pump to carry water from a 3-foot pit / water table below my house. Because the original piping apparently was condemned my plumber diverted the water through a 4 feet vertical pipe. Anyways, the check pump makes a horrible clanging sound every time it works. Much to my delight, I found out that there are silent check valves. My plumber is a bit skeptical, saying that spring action check valves may not be as robust. Anyways, i have to do something about the noise. So he has agreed to install a silent check valve for 1.5 inch piping if I find one to order. I live in Canada so hopefully I can order it from here.

Please let me know any experience you have with silent check valves and which one you would recommend. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

-Charles

look up charlotte pipe i know i have installed a few loud ones and quiet checks....yes the quiet ones sound a lot better it might even be called the quiet check valve...it would be easy for him if there is enough room he can just cut install a ball valve then quiet check all with the check
valve on 2 4 band no hub clamps so if the check ever goes bad you can isolate wiyh the ball valve and just loosen the the clamps and re install a new check

 

[breplum]

I have used many of the "quiet" check valves and they do a decent job of reducing the noise. You can order them on -sadly- Amazon. Zoeller 30-0041.
The quiet units have a bulge that is distinctive. The clear plastic ones are fine.
They come in 2" or 1-1/2" and it will definitely help.
Of course, the cycle rate is annoying but unrelated to the check valve.

 

[Charles Shahar]

Thanks both this is very helpful!!!! I badly need a solution!

 

[chiraldude]

What is the total height from the pump to the discharge and what is the total length of pipe? The height and total volume of water determines how much force comes down on the valve when the pump cuts out.

If your pump is running only a few seconds, it is way too big for the application. Ideally, you would size the pump so that it runs for at least a minute before emptying the sump. If you are running a 3/4 hp pump you could probably go all the way down to 1/3 hp. You probably don't want to replace the pipe but if you went down to 1/3 hp, you could reduce the pipe size which would reduce the total mass of water hammering on the valve. Of course a smaller pump would mean less reserve capacity so if you have issues where heavy rain causes the sump to fill quickly, you would need to keep the larger pump.

If you don't want to do all that, maybe you could put in 2 (or even 3?) check valves. One close to the pump and the other(s) separated by at least 4'. I don't know for sure if this would work but the theory is that the force of the water flowing back down would be spread out between them, reducing the noise.

The thing about plumbing noise is that it all depends on how the pipe vibrates when the event occurs. One thing to think about is to replace the section of pipe around the check valve with a couple short lengths of galvanized steel. These would be bolted to the cement basement wall. This will reduce a lot of vibration. You could also try wrapping the check valve in sound damping insulation.

Now I am a hard core DIYer so if it were me, I might end up trying most of these ideas. Unfortunately, plumbers are often only interested in how much they can charge and how long the job will take. Your plumber should be willing to discuss some of these options. If not, maybe find a different one?

 

[Charles Shahar]

Thank you for the great advice! There seems to be more than one way to deal with this problem....

 

[Mr_David]

What is the total height from the pump to the discharge and what is the total length of pipe? The height and total volume of water determines how much force comes down on the valve when the pump cuts out.

If your pump is running only a few seconds, it is way too big for the application. Ideally, you would size the pump so that it runs for at least a minute before emptying the sump. If you are running a 3/4 hp pump you could probably go all the way down to 1/3 hp. You probably don't want to replace the pipe but if you went down to 1/3 hp, you could reduce the pipe size which would reduce the total mass of water hammering on the valve. Of course a smaller pump would mean less reserve capacity so if you have issues where heavy rain causes the sump to fill quickly, you would need to keep the larger pump.

If you don't want to do all that, maybe you could put in 2 (or even 3?) check valves. One close to the pump and the other(s) separated by at least 4'. I don't know for sure if this would work but the theory is that the force of the water flowing back down would be spread out between them, reducing the noise.

The thing about plumbing noise is that it all depends on how the pipe vibrates when the event occurs. One thing to think about is to replace the section of pipe around the check valve with a couple short lengths of galvanized steel. These would be bolted to the cement basement wall. This will reduce a lot of vibration. You could also try wrapping the check valve in sound damping insulation.

Now I am a hard core DIYer so if it were me, I might end up trying most of these ideas. Unfortunately, plumbers are often only interested in how much they can charge and how long the job will take. Your plumber should be willing to discuss some of these options. If not, maybe find a different one?

A minute is a long time , maybe at least 1/2 0r 1/4 that. But you're right, that short 2 sec cycle should be a bit longer.
2 checks ?? That's just double trouble.
DIY'rs labor is usually free, Plumber @ $100+/hr can get a bit expensive but some customers don't have a problem paying the extra to get it done right.

 

[chiraldude]

Ok, maybe 30 seconds then? Point is that if the pump is running for 3-4 seconds then how much water is accumulating in the sump? 3-4 gallons at most with a 3/4 hp pump?
How big is your sump? Most sumps can hold 20 gallons with a few inches to spare before over flowing. Make sure your float switch is set to let the sump fill up before turning on.
Another consideration is the water table under your basement. In many cases, the sump will fill quickly at first but then take a long time to actually reach an overflow state. This is part of the "tuning" process of a sump pump. You will find that the start and stop set points will have a huge effect on how frequently the pump cycles.
If there really is only 3-4 gallons coming in every hour, you could get a small fountain pump and a float switch. Hook the pump up to a 1/2 inch hose instead of a 2" pipe. As long as it can develop enough pressure to push the water up to the outlet, who cares if it runs for 10 minutes at a time? It will be whisper quiet. And, with a 1/2" hose, forget about a check valve. Just let the water in the hose fall back into the sump. It won't be that much.

Would like to put your water issue in perspective if I may. I once lived in a house where the basement was built in sand. Water flowed into the footer drain freely! The first year I lived there the winter snow pack was huge an then we had a very rainy spring. The water table rose 2 feet above the basement floor for almost 6 months. (Don't ask how I know it was 2') The 3/4 hp pump took about a minute and a half to empty the sump. Then it would fill back up within 2 minutes. That's almost a 50% duty cycle and I figured I was spending $30 per month in electricity just to run the pump. Plus I had a backup generator so I could keep the pump running in case the power went out (which it did 2x that year). Eventually the water table went back down below the floor. At that point I set the pump to turn on when the sump was 3/4 full. It went for a couple of months without turning on at all.