Clicking noise from heater fuel pump

John_Clarke

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Eberspacher and Webasto heaters have a diesel fuel metering pump which make a noise similar to a burgee halyard tapping against a metal mast. This can be annoying, particularly if you are trying to fall asleep in an aft cabin with the pump in an adjacent locker. A test report in Sailing Today (Oct '02) stated that, with the pump installed under the cabin floor, the noise was irritating and skippers tended to use the heater at full blast but in short bursts.

Has anyone tried enclosing the pump in a box to deaden the noise? I was thinking of trying a plywood box filled with a sound absorbent quilt. The box could be on soft rubber mountings (as well as the pump) to reduce noise carried through the structure of the boat. The pump also creates a jerk in the pipe at each beat - I am not sure if this would also carry the clicking noise to the fuel tank and heater.


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I find it totally amasing that we can sleep on boats that have ropes banging on masts,and creaking through fairleads, singing rigging, fenders rubbing, boat snatching but we can't stand that slight ticking sound that dam pump makes whilst it keeps us warm and snuggley<s>.

BUT I know what you mean, let me have the results of your tests?

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If you have copper fuel pipes i.e to conform to BSS, form a coil before and after pump to help isolate pulse into tank. Works well on my system.

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Easy fix...

Wrap the pump in foam rubber and fix it in position with a couple of loose-ish cable ties. I can't hear my pump - and, yes, my hearing's quite good!

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This is no slight ticking sound. My Eberspacher pump resonates through the structure of the boat and when you are trying to sleep it's maddening. Sounds like someone tapping on the hull with a mallet.

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