Fresh Water Pump - Recommendations

admillington

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On my Squadron 58 I have a Cleghorn Waring CW436 Twin-Max Pressure 4+2 System. It is noisy and had a leak that I have fixed and I am considering upgrading to a better pump. Knowing that Fleming are renowned for using the best equipment available, I looked up Play d'Eau list of equipment and it lists a Headhunter XR-124 - I cannot see how to buy it in the UK but have emailed them.

Can anyone suggest a quiet and powerful pump?

-Andrew
 
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Piers had a Groco before this, I know because he kindly sold me his spare parts which I used to service my freshwater Groco which is still going strong after almost 30 years. A pretty good recommendation in my books.
 
On my Squadron 58 I have a Cleghorn Waring CW436 Twin-Max Pressure 4+2 System. It is noisy and had a leak that I have fixed and I am considering upgrading to a better pump. Knowing that Fleming are renowned for using the best equipment available, I looked up Play d'Eau list of equipment and it lists a Headhunter XR-124 - I cannot see how to buy it in the UK but have emailed them.

Can anyone suggest a quiet and powerful pump?

-Andrew

Hi admillington. Headhunters are centrifugal and therefore quiet which was the main reason for changing to them on Play d'eau. There are two versions. The XR is for fresh water and the XRS is for freash and salt. Once set up they are good pumps, although I know Fleming has changed to another make.

Have I had a failure? Yes. So I carry a spare just in case.
 
Hi admillington. Headhunters are centrifugal and therefore quiet which was the main reason for changing to them on Play d'eau. There are two versions. The XR is for fresh water and the XRS is for freash and salt. Once set up they are good pumps, although I know Fleming has changed to another make.

Have I had a failure? Yes. So I carry a spare just in case.

Is that a recommendation then Piers?

The Groco is noisy, the only thing that I don't like about it, but at least on the few occasions when it's run dry I've heard it and known there was a problem.
 
Is that a recommendation then Piers?

The Groco is noisy, the only thing that I don't like about it, but at least on the few occasions when it's run dry I've heard it and known there was a problem.

In a way, I hoped you wouldn't ask. Yes, the pumps are fine, but the customer service is simply appalling. On the fresh water side, I've had to order two replacements plus 1 spare in 12 years since installation either due to faulty on arrival, or failure of the electronics. It takes an age to get them to process these warranties/replacements. Maybe it was this that made Fleming alter their supplier. Having said that, they are great pumps and I'm happy to stay with them now that I carry a spare and know their systems.
 
All interesting stuff this..... I've got basically the same set up as Andrew on his Squadron but I would also love to improve to a much quieter pump, I'm currently looking at insulating as much as I can in the pump area including insulated mountings for the pump and it's housing, plus all pipe clips in the vicinity in case the noise is partly transferred vibration. But a quieter pump would help solve it at source. I've previously thought all centrifugal pumps were prohibitively expensive.

Are the centrifugal pumps really that much more noticeably quieter ?

Andy
 
All interesting stuff this..... I've got basically the same set up as Andrew on his Squadron but I would also love to improve to a much quieter pump, I'm currently looking at insulating as much as I can in the pump area including insulated mountings for the pump and it's housing, plus all pipe clips in the vicinity in case the noise is partly transferred vibration. But a quieter pump would help solve it at source. I've previously thought all centrifugal pumps were prohibitively expensive.

Are the centrifugal pumps really that much more noticeably quieter ?

Andy

Yes. Without doubt. We've moved ours to the lazarette where it cannot be heard in most areas of the boat. Really good. We also have a large accumulator to buffer the water supply.
 
Ok, thanks Piers, good to hear, at least that means it's a worthwhile investigation for me to see if it's viable.

I'll start looking into pumps.

Andrew,.... Are you in LYH ? If so we can meet and pool info ?

Andy

Andy

We are at Berthons - on E pontoon - not difficult to find as so few Fairlines left - the same number of Broom 50s
 
Andy

We are at Berthons - on E pontoon - not difficult to find as so few Fairlines left - the same number of Broom 50s

Ok, will be in touch by pm etc, will let you know if I find anything useful on this, I like the idea of getting the domestic water quieter, the pump is next to our cabin so it goes off in the night if anyone uses a loo and wakes us up. Hopefully there's an affordable solution out there ?

Will be interesting to hear if anyone else has swapped to a centrifugal system, it sounds from Piers like there is a significant difference .

Andy
 
I strengthened the board our water pump sits on over the winter, by screwing on a piece of 18mm ply underneath.
It's made an amazing difference to the sound.

Instead of drumming it's now a distant hum, not at all unpleasant.
And ours is a standard Shurflo pump, located right underneath our feet near the galley!

Installation makes a huge difference to the noise.
 
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