# Newbie: External Pumps. Quiet as possible.



## hjnewcomb (7 Apr 2011)

Hey, been trying to find some helpful tips around the internet and it led me to here, assuming that a forum may be able to offer me some mor helpful advice than just coming across the information elsewhere.

To set the scene a little.. 
I'm an art student currently in my 3rd and final year on a fine art course in Norwich at NUCA.
My degree show is looming and i am on my way to build an installation from a bath and fountain pump.

if it helps here's a diagram - http://henryjacksonnewcomb.tumblr.com/

There will be a standalone bath set away from the walls of a room, the bath will have all four sides on.
The plug will be firmly fixed in and the bath will be filled so its very close to the rim and from overflowing.
From the overflow hole there will be a pipe going to an external fountain pump, which will then pump the water back out of one of the taps.

I'm looking for an external pump thats as quiet as possible so as not to become obvious - sure people will realise what is happening after a while but they don't need to straight away - and i'm looking for a pump which pushes out a decent burst of water the same as if you had the bath tap turned on full.

i read somewhere that a tap turned on would put out 15l a minute which makes 900lph.. but is this enough, looking at some of the fountain pumps of that size they don't look big enough, do you think the original calculation is wrong?

any help with any of it would be much appreciated, from pump ideas, the reliable good makes, or connections to fit with a bath pipe outlet.

thanks for reading and i hope i've put in the relevant information, look forward to hearing anyones replies. 

Henry.


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## bigmatt (7 Apr 2011)

Eheim filters (not sure about the pumps) run pretty much silently.  900lph is not massive flow - most people on here run with a lot more than that in their tanks.  Connections might be an issue as most pipes we use are plastic and are therefore push fit.  You could try threading some standard filter tubing (probably 12/16mm)inside the tap.
Hope this helps,
Matt


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## hjnewcomb (7 Apr 2011)

cheers, thats what i thought when looking at the pumps and the size and price of them, if you think the outlet from a bath tap on full... would imagine it would need something bigger but no way of me knowing really unless i just buy pumps and try them.

thanks for the pipe suggestions though its something i was only just looking into. 

henry.


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## hjnewcomb (7 Apr 2011)

also as the water will just be continuously circulating, getting the viewer to think the bath is about to overflow yet it can only fill up at the same time it empties, and it will be indoors in a gallery space. 
i would imagine i wouldn't need any filters.
am i right ?


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## bigmatt (7 Apr 2011)

Yeah - it would just be a pump.  You'd be surprised at the output of even relatively small pumps!
Matt


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## Bobtastic (7 Apr 2011)

There are load of pumps out there that will meet this need. The obvious requirement is that it works outside of the body of water so that you could mounts it on the back or underneath the bath and out of side. I have a Maxi-jet pump that outputs at that sort of rate and fits to a regular garden hose sized pipe. 

You could even connect the inlet of the pump to the plug hole or overflow of the bath to allow a seemless hidden flow/return.


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## LondonDragon (7 Apr 2011)

I have an Eheim 1260 that is pretty quite considering its size.


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