Lengthen the life of your water pump and hydrofor!

[SpongeDiver]

Many people complain that Chinese made water pumps don't last very long, neither do the hydrofors mounted on them.
Ah, but there may be a reason - in fact there is!
How many of you, or your plumber or fitter, mount your new pump directly onto a concrete base - most, I guess? This is the reason why so many fail early - either the pump or the hydrofor, or both.
Why? Because it is bad practice to mount a pump, or indeed any engine, vehicle, static [eg. generator] or marine, directly onto a concrete bed or steel chassis - this is why vehicular and most marine motors are mounted on rubber. This absorbs the vibration that would otherwise cause machines to self-destruct.
So, if you are fitting a new water pump, mount it on, preferably, two layers of old rubber car mats and this will eliminate the vibration, which in turn eliminates the resonance caused that destroys the electronics of the hydrofor. Even if you have an old pump and hydrofor, you can usefully extend their lifespan by doing this simple chore.
My cheapy Chinese water pump and hydrofor have now lasted 7 years +, all because I took my own advice - which, of course, I originally gleaned from some knowledgeable bloke!
I look forward to forum readers' comments on this subject.

[MrA]

Totally agree, would also add please put your pump in a suitable housing/shelter/cover this also makes a considerable difference.

[waddo]

Made my pump shelter out of an old flip top bin! Easy to cut holes in the sides for vent and in the ends for pipe work. Light and easy to take off/put back on again and of course its water proof. If you have your pump outside where the wind can get at it then put a brick on top of the bin and that holds it down. Throw the flip top bit away and just use the normal bin bit but upside down of course - lol. Old rubber mat under the pump, rawlbolts to hold the pump and the mats down onto a flagstone then old rubber mat between the flagstone and the concrete roof/ground! Cuts out most vibration and makes the pump a bit quieter as well.

[PapaBravo]

Excellent advice. Thank you.

[Hector]

I shall do exactly that. Useful info, thanks.

[Carbotec]

Have never heard such rubbish regarding rubber mounting for motors, engines yes, as when the turn over the tend to swing due to the torque, this is not the case with static motors. In all my time as an engineer in the UK every motor I have seen or fitted and I mean motors of 600hp and larger have all been bolted down on concrete or steel beams. The only benefit you will get from a rubber mat is vibration elimination through the pipe work.

[waddo]

Then again, shower water pumps come with rubber feet and are rarely bolted down to the floor and these are pumps of 1.5 bar as well. I can understand and agree with bolting down 600HP pumps to concrete or steel, if not bolted down then they will "walk" away anyway. The thing is, the standard 1 HP pump out here is probably made in china, of not exactly perfect parts, and is generally not heavy enough to be self supporting - if however you mount the pump on a sandwich of rubber and concrete material before bolting it down to the bedrock, it will reduce, quite drastically, the amount of vibration through the bedrock and the pipe work! Any reduction in vibration effect on a cheap pump has got to be a bonus for an hours work?? After all the effect of vibration on bearings and moving parts will only assist the wear of same and lead to early failure.

[jofra]

Or to put it another way - would it do any harm? If no, then why not do it?
In other situations/applications, rubber mounting has also been found to reduce noise - if nothing else, that could be a benefit....