Dream pump (reeflo gold hammerhead) is a total let down...

[ResplendentReef]

I finally upgraded my internal mag18 pump for a reeflo gold hammerhead external pump after countless hours of research. I bought the gold in order to get the American made baldor motor as well. Well looks like reeflo pulled a fast one and basically doesn't use the baldor motor anymore on their gold series pumps just a slightly better seal... This was a huge disappointment but I decided to still give it a try.

Installed the pump yesterday, took me half the day due to needing to move my sump as well as replumb half of the return line. Welp I have the pump running now and it is significantly louder and more vibration than the old 100$ pump. Also keep in mind that my sump is in my basement and display is right above it in living room. The pump/vibrations can be heard from the livingroom and surrounding rooms slightly. I wouldn't mind if it was just loud in the basement but this is ridiculous.

Honestly not sure if mine is just bad or what. Everywhere I checked for info on pumps it seemed like people agreed that reeflo gold would be the quietest external besides the 1000$ red dragons.

Any input or real life experience with reeflo pumps would be greatly appreciated. I am not sure how to move forward as It would be a huge pain to switch back to the mag18 internal at this point and I can't even find any recommendations for a quieter external pump.

 

[DC Reefer]

I run an Iwaki MD 70 (been going continuously since 2013). My sump is in my basement as well. The pump is not quiet but I can not hear the pump upstairs above the sump. At the pump it is about 72 decibels, 5 feet away (same room) it is about 50 db. This includes all the other sump noises. I can't hear it upstairs at all but I am running 4 mp40s and a couple of gyres in the DT so there is some other pump noises.

 

[ca1ore]

How much flow do you need? I’m not a big fan of the Reeflo pumps frankly. Noisy and the seals don’t last. Not sure about relative power draw, but I much prefer the PanWorld/iwaki style magnetic pumps.

 

[NabberNate]

Is it vibration in the pipes from backpressure or the pump motor?