Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Product sources Which pump?

Which pump would be the quietest? Rocking piston or rotary vane.

My pond is only 16' at the deepest and 3/4 acre big.

Shallow end is 5' deep. The pond is about half and half." shallow/deep "

rotary vane from my limited experience. you will need 1.5 to 2cfm at 10psi minimum.

Coondog, A small rotary vane such as a Gast 0523 would be a little quieter than many of the piston pumps. I sent you a pm also, Ted

Rocking piston are quite loud, the air intake making the majority of the noise which can be silenced but air-flow then suffers and can lead to pump overheating. They do work well however...

Yep Rotary vane for sure from my experience. I have a 1/4 horse Gast rotary vane that you have to walk up on to hear. The other two rocking piston aerators I have one of my neighbors complained about the sound a couple of years ago. He's a good 250 feet away but he was too cheap to air condition his house when it got hot, and left all the windows open. Funny he didn't have a problem with all the semi's that go by on the highway.

If the rp pump is housed in a sealed/vented case, wont that cut the noise quite a bit?

I have two nieghbors each about 500 feet away (different directions) from where my pump will set (will be installing aeration next week). Will want to run mostly at night.....:0 hope I dont disrupt the hood.

I got a rp and ran it last year. it runs hot and noisy. I bought a $40 rotary vane from C & H surplus which pushes nearly as much air, is very quiet, and used 1/5 the electricity. Both are gast.

Sure, that will cut the noise, possibly alot, but make sure it is very well vented and install cooling fans if you can. The Rocking Piston pumps tend to produce an awful lot of heat.

Burgermeister,

Can people just by the air pump minus the motor, I have 1/4 motors laying around. Then make it a belt drive or something like that?

Okay,

There are three types of pistons out there. The first was a standard piston that Gast manufactured, with pistons at a 90 degree from the motor. **Very loud and beat itself to death**

Second, Gast came out with the "Rocking Piston" used in the medical field. **A little bit softer with the noise issue, but still not quiet enough**

Lastly, Thomas Industries, now Gardner Denver, Thomas, Inc. came out with the WOBL Piston compressor, **A great improvement, but still requires some sort of housing to reduce the noise**

This is why all of the Aeration Manufactures spend so much time invested in desiging, testing and research in pump houses. It is not as simple as just putting a box over the system and let it run. This is also why these cabinets cost so much. An adverage prototype is costing about $2,000 to design.

Here are the sound measurements using a sound level meter 2' from cabinet.

AirPodONE = 59 Decibels
AirPodTWO = 58 Decibels
AirPodTHREE & AirPodFOUR = 60 Decibels
AirPodFIVE & AirPodSIX = 62 Decibels

Ambient Noise outside our warehouse was measured at 51 Decibels.

Central Air conditioner = 70 Decibels
Normal Office noise = 50 Decibels
Normal Street Noise = 70 Decibels
Lawn Mower = 100 Decibels
House Vacuum = 98 Decibels
Conversation Inside = 70 Decibels
Conversation Outside = 82 Decibels

I know that sound is a personal preference and a violin is a beautiful sound to one, but is a noise issue to another. The above numbers just give you data to use in comparison.

trialsguy, yes you can buy just the air pumps. You just have to match them to the motor. I have shopped for them Go to Gast web site and see what they have.

thanks burgemeister,

It looks like I have 660 foot run to the pond and it is a half acre tear dropped shape 12 foot at the deepest. I want to run the 3/4 or 1 inch air supply to the pond. Just looking breifly it looks like a max 15 psi, 1.5 cfm 1/4 horse pump would be ok? It is a down hill run to the pond, I am wondering if that would make a difference?
I went to the gast site, where do you find pricing for these pumps?

Look under Gast for dealers. Graingers is one. You may get sticker shock, though. Some of the aeratiion sites may have better deals on in stock compressors. Ted and Carey have posted some pretty good prices on gast units.

Roger that! thank you,
I sure wish I could start getting the stuff I need for my pond,sonar, aeration, etc. But...We are heading down to Disney world in less than a month, Oh sure the trip is paid for already but you know you have to have money to feed the mouse and I hear thats high dollar. We are so looking forward to this trip my kids can hardly stand it, well the 8 yr old is more so than the 16 year old.. And if there is any money left than I get to work on the pond, But I wouldnt bet on it. I hope that I can apply the sonar as late as it is and still get the desired effect.