Why are external pump mounts so designed so... poorly?

[DMBillies]

Having now set-up a few external pumps and seen a lot of others, I'm struck by the fact that all of the mounts I have ever seen are these tiny little things that won't hold the pump flat (the mount is always under the motor part and the head make the pump fall in that direction). I assume there is a reason for this (mounting to square steel tubing?), but in reef application and I assume in others, this necessitates the building of some kind of home grown mount that is a monstrosity to look at. Another peeve is that they always put the mounting holes underneath of the mount so that it is impossible to get a screwdriver straight onto any kind of screw you would use to mount the pump.

If the mounting plates were longer, the pump would be free standing (or even if they were in the middle of the pump to balance the weight). They could also be designed to reduce vibration quite a lot better. I know a lot of these pumps are not necessarily created for reef application or even applications where noise is of utmost importance, but a good value added feature to go along with the pretty reef packaging could be a mount that is balanced and floats on some foam or porous rubber to reduce vibration (as opposed to the dinky little hard rubber feet that most of them have). Heck, this mount could even just be a piece that is just bolted on to the standard mounts so that you can take it off if you don't want/need it.

I'd say 75% of the noise generated by pumps is a result of the vibrations going through the stand and reverberating around inside. I've always created mounts that would reduce this noise (and have sometimes used bed padding inside of my stand to further absorb noise), but people who are less motivated to do something like this would be more likely just to slam the pump for being a loud piece of junk and try to find something that works better out of the box. A nice mount would be a cheap and easy way for a pump company to reduce the apparent noise generation of their product and in turn sell more pumps through a better reputation among reefers.

Anyway, this is just an observation and a peeve of mine. Am I crazy?

 

[fallinapart]

Re: Why are external pump mounts so designed so... poorly?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13269104#post13269104 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DMBillies
Am I crazy?

Well, to answer your question. Yes!....but in a good way

Also, the hammerhead I have has feet that extend enough to use a screwdriver or nutdriver on, so you can secure it if needed, but being one of those "less motivated" people mine is just sitting on the floor behind the tank .

Over all I agree with you and am always looking for better quality products, but with a reasonable price tag, and that is hard to find.

Norman

 

[rcmike]

The Evolution pumps I have for my pond have a seperate part that can be screwed to whatever and then the pump snaps onto it. I just have them sitting on concrete blocks though with the 2" pipe holding the pump in place.

 

[DMBillies]

Crazy like a fox...

mike - sounds exactly like what I'm thinking would be appropriate here. I can see that a smaller mount would come in handy for many applications, but for the most part the pump head and plumbing determine if something fits in my set-up, not the size of the tiny little feet they stick them on.