Vibration from water well pump heard on floors above

[Bucky Plumber]

Hello,

A minor annoyance of my current water well pump system is the noise of a low steady vibration heard on the main floor and second floor of the house. It is not a knocking or clicking noise, just a steady, low vibration noise.

I am guessing it is the vibration from the pump system traveling through the copper piping into the wood foundation. I have tried to put rubber pads between the copper pipe and wood foundation where the copper pipe is mounted to the wood. This did not dampen the vibration at all.

My next thought is to remove a piece of the copper pipe on the main pipe (vertical piece show in picture) and insert something that will absorb the vibration. I was thinking possibly a 1" steel braided hose but am worried about restricting water flow through the main pipe and also what would happen when this line fails.

Any ideas or suggestions to help? Is there a piece that can be soldered in the main line to break the vibration?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Valveman]

You are on the right track. A short piece of flexible pipe like the steel braided or even black poly will usually isolate the house from the vibration. Short piece of 1" braided is not going to restrict much at 10 GPM or less.

Sometimes the vibration is from a resonance. The length of pipe in the well can accidentally be the right length to cause a resonant vibration. Shortening or lengthening the drop pipe even a foot or two will usually stop that.

 

[Bucky Plumber]

Thank you for the reply! I will let you know how it goes, although it will probably be summer time before I complete the project.

 

[frodo]

vibration isolation
if your picture was bigger than a stamp I could tell you what type

 

[Diehard]

Strange. I get the picture with the option to zoom in on it. Try this one.

 

[frodo]

to vibration isolate the pipe as it goes through the floor

this is how i do it. your mileage may very

https://www.plumbingsupplynow.com/3...m_term=4574861726366157&utm_content=Catch All

 

[frodo]

your pipe does not seem to be bolted to the wall

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Bluefin...lamp?msclkid=5919bc81cb5e1e46d3c5e2ecccf5ea55

use 7/8'' unistrut or 1 5/8'' unistrut
bolted to wall.
Cut a thin piece [inner tube] rubber strip, to isolate clamp from pipe


unistrut

 

[Jeff Handy]

Can’t tell from the pic, but maybe the copper riser is vibrating against one of those junction boxes on the wall.

Or anywhere else there is metal touching metal, or metal touching a joist, subfloor, etc, stuff in some rubber gasket material doubled up, as a vibration isolator.

Or doubled up foam packing wrap, etc.

 

[Bucky Plumber]

Thank you for the response! Sorry it took me so long to see, I did not get an email notification that there were new responses.

I would like to implement both of your ideas; the PVC pipe and bolting it to the wall. Just want to make sure I do it correctly.

1) Not sure where to place the PVC pipe as the water line does not go directly up through a floor. It goes to the basement ceiling and then runs around the basement to various places (outside spigots, water heater, etc.)

Should I install the PVC vibration isolate on the first floor joist that the water line attaches to (see 2nd picture) or somewhere else?
As you can see in the second picture I tried padding with some rubber mat between the pipe and the floor joist but the hanger is still nailed into the floor joist so it didnt help much.

2) For bolting the pipe to the wall, I have about 6 inches from pipe to wall. Is there a longer pipe clamp that I should use with your design or a different way to bolt it to the wall?

to vibration isolate the pipe as it goes through the floor

this is how i do it. your mileage may very

https://www.plumbingsupplynow.com/3-black-riser-clamp?msclkid=122e68eece2b1ad88bdb3683cab6fa83&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=**LP Bing Shopping All Products&utm_term=4574861726366157&utm_content=Catch All

View attachment 23736

 

[Bucky Plumber]

Tried that, didnt work since the pipe clamp is still nailed to the floor joist.

Can’t tell from the pic, but maybe the copper riser is vibrating against one of those junction boxes on the wall.

Or anywhere else there is metal touching metal, or metal touching a joist, subfloor, etc, stuff in some rubber gasket material doubled up, as a vibration isolator.

Or doubled up foam packing wrap, etc.

 

[Valveman]

A short piece of flexible pipe will isolate the vibration. You can use one of those Stainless braided connectors like they use on water heaters.

 

[Bucky Plumber]

Like this one?

I mainly worry that it will eventually fail/leak and that would be disastrous. I also worry about restricting water flow, not sure that would be a huge factor though.

A short piece of flexible pipe will isolate the vibration. You can use one of those Stainless braided connectors like they use on water heaters.

 

[Bucky Plumber]

What about something like this?

Can’t tell from the pic, but maybe the copper riser is vibrating against one of those junction boxes on the wall.

Or anywhere else there is metal touching metal, or metal touching a joist, subfloor, etc, stuff in some rubber gasket material doubled up, as a vibration isolator.

Or doubled up foam packing wrap, etc.

 

[Valveman]

Like this one?

I mainly worry that it will eventually fail/leak and that would be disastrous. I also worry about restricting water flow, not sure that would be a huge factor though.

View attachment 24136

Yeah that's what those were made for. Probably only a 10 GPM pump, not going to restrict the flow.

 

[Bucky Plumber]

What is the lifespan and fail rate on those hoses?

Thank you!

Yeah that's what those were made for. Probably only a 10 GPM pump, not going to restrict the flow.

 

[Valveman]

I use thousands of the smaller braided flexible hoses. Failure is rare, and I don't know how long they will last. But many are 20 years old so far.

 

[Bucky Plumber]

I've done a few tests to stabilize the main water pipe coming from the water pump; put a wood block between the pipe and concrete wall to stabilize, remove pipe hangers from the floor joists and had someone hold the pipe while the water well pump was running.

None of these things changed the noise heard on the main floor at all. I am beginning to think that the vibration noise is from the water pump directly and not secondary to the copper pipes vibrating.

Any thoughts on this theory? Any ways to dampen the water pump vibration?

 

[Jeff Handy]

You seem to be ignoring the suggestions to add something flexible to your solid water line.

A flexible section would prevent any vibration or resonance from the pump from being transmitted directly through the hard pipe.

The same idea is used with furnace ducts and fan exhaust ducts, a short section of duct is cut out, and a patch is made with a material like a fiberglass type of cloth.

 

[Valveman]

Sometimes the vibration is from a resonance. The length of pipe can accidentally be the right length to be tuned exactly to the pump resonant frequency. Shortening or lengthening the drop pipe even a foot or two will usually stop that. Adding a flexible piece also works.

 

[Bucky Plumber]

Not ignoring them Jeff.

If I took the time to shut down and drain the whole house and insert the flex hose without it helping I would kick myself.

The fact that no other attempts to dampen the pipe vibration have helped makes me think a flex line wont either.

You seem to be ignoring the suggestions to add something flexible to your solid water line.

A flexible section would prevent any vibration or resonance from the pump from being transmitted directly through the hard pipe.

The same idea is used with furnace ducts and fan exhaust ducts, a short section of duct is cut out, and a patch is made with a material like a fiberglass type of cloth.