New Reeflo Dart Gold loud! Need your help!

[lagatbezan]

My reeflo dart that was on my system for 4 years started giving me problems recently so I decided to upgrade and purchased a brand new Gold dart hybrid.
I received it the other day and set it all up and now I have a loud humming noise that's radiating through the house. The old pump had some humming, but was minimal, but this one is a lot louder. Also the pump gets extremely hot!
Its set up in my stand sitting on a nice cushioned spacers. It has 2" PVC going in and 1.5" going out and is set up as my closed loop system. All the plumbing is the same as before and nothing changed! Contacting them is becoming a hassle since no one ever picks up the phone and their site seems to be down for over a week. any suggestions? Do I have a bad pump?

[slief]

You might remove the fan cover off the rear of the pump and see if that has anything to do with it. if the fan blades are too close to the cover, that could cause excessive hum. The other thing is whether or not the hum you are hearing is resonating through the PVC. I know you say the plumbing is the same but if there is any tension on the PVC, you may hear more noise. If you PVC runs through any walls and is touching a wall anywhere, that could cause more noise. Especially if the PVC is under tension. Can you shift the pump left or right or forward or back at all? If you can, you might try shifting it slightly to see if that makes a difference. The kind of noise you describe is one of the reasons many of us use a bit of flex PVC between the pump and the hard lines. It helps reduce noise from the plumbing. The Gold Dart Hybrid also pushes more flow and if the PVC lines are generating much head pressure, that additional pressure could cause the pump to run a bit louder as well.

I run a Super Dart Gold and a Dart Gold. The Super Dart just replaced my Hammerhead Gold and the Superdart is noticeably quieter and runs cooler. That said, the motors do tend to run on the warm side but there is less heat transfer than their bigger counterparts.

Other than the suggestions above, it's really hard to say whether the noise you are hearing is normal or not. Especially without hearing them first hand. I find them to be very quiet compared to other pumps half their size.

Have you left messages for them? Their email is working and their site is back up although not completely restored?

[lagatbezan]

hey Slief, thanks for the response.
I have been in contact with them via email, but its hard when you have everything apart on the tank and have to wait for a reply which can take some time. and then your wife is yelling at you why there is fish stuff all over the house LOL.
anyway, I dont think the fan is the issue. I think you might be right about the noise coming from the pipes. I'm using hard PVC for the whole plumbing and its going to be hard for me to do major modification.
now when you say flexible pvc joint, are you talking about the white flexible PVC or to use the black rubber bushings between the lines (I think they use clamps.. these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Fernco-2-...00096490-_-N)?
can they be used safely for a pressure rated pump? I would be nervous just having clamps on them. Can they be secured by cement pvc glue?
Here is a picture of my setup from a few years ago with the old pump sitting on the left. the new pump is exactly the same. how would you suggest I go about it? (keep in mind that my drains and returns are going to the bottom of my tank so i'm limited to where I can cut the PVC).
[IMG][/IMG]

[slief]

I'm talking about the white flexible PVC. You glue it just like standard PVC. It adds a bit of cushion to the lines and helps reduce noise. If you were to do that, you could be a small length between the union and second elbow on the inlet and another piece between the valve and the T on the outlet side. That would eliminate some if not all of the harmonic noise from the plumbing. That said, the hybrid shouldn't be much if any louder than your standard dart shown in the pictures but with all that rigid PVC in close quarters, it certainly could be noise transfer through the plumbing. It might be worth trying to shift the pump slightly forward or to one side or the other to see if the noise subsides. If there is pressure on the PVC from the pumps orientation, you will get harmonic noise and a slight shift one direction or the other may alleviate it. The Hybrids motor should be the smaller one than the dart shown in your picture. That motor is smaller and does run hotter to the touch but transfers less heat to the water.

[lagatbezan]

okay i was able to get my hands on some 1.5" flexible pvc but no 2" locally. but the flexible is still really rigid. Also I would be able to use maybe about 6" at most of it. you think that would do it?
I saw someone else use the black ones on their tank (the pic below). you think I can get away with using them? are they considered reef safe?
[IMG][/IMG]

[billdogg]

If it were mine, I would use a short length (6-12") of vinyl tubing on both the intake and output of the pump. I have that for mine (DART Gold) and what was a definite hum went silent.

[lagatbezan]

billdog, how did you make the connections to the pump and to the hard pvc? did you use cement glue? is there a way to send me a pic of your set up? thanks.