Shake, shake, shake, shake that… Our DC cistern pump is great, but is vibrations can rattle the utility room’s walls.

For those who have visited my home, you can attest to the wall rattling, cistern pump that kicks on each time to return the house to the correct water pressure.  My wife and I elected to place the pressure tank in the utility room to prevent possible freezing of the home’s water pipes in the winter.  Living off grid means the luxury of running a portable electric heater in the pump house is not an option.  Unfortunately, like most reasonably priced rotary DC pumps used with cisterns, our pump provides a vibration as it does the work.  That vibration travels up the supply inlet pipe under ground to the concrete slab foundation and into the wall until it leaves the wall and joins the pressure tank.  From the pressure tank on it quiets out.  How many others have faced this problem?  I really don’t know, and I feel somewhat alone since I could not find much information about it online.

Books, the Internet on paper… This is the page from the Popular Mechanics do-it-yourself Encyclopedia. The idea to soften water pump vibration is found in the upper right corner.

A few years ago, I remember reading a solution in my old collection of Popular Mechanics do-it-yourself Encyclopedias from 1968.  The book showed one picture with a brief solution to dampening water pump vibrations.  Even though the pump vibration is still apparent,  it is now a nice hum instead of a banging, rattling, clanging sound within the wall.

The parts I used to fix the problem were a Dollar Store pool noodle, a 4 ft piece of 1/2″ flexible pipe, the two original  hose clamps, and six eye-hole zip ties.  The job took me about twenty minutes, but priming the pump and getting it working again added to my time considerably.   This simple solution seems so far to have help my situation, and it cost me a total of $15.91, and I still have 94 eye-hole zip ties to use on other jobs.

Adaptations… Who knew the versatility of a pool noodle? The extended pipe and loop help soften the pumps vibrations on the home’s water supply line. It is much quieter now.

I have completed this project about a month ago and the rattling has lessened considerably.  There are moments in which the intensity of the vibration returns, but not at the same levels it once was.  I would say this was not a fix all solution, but cost wise, it was worth the effort.