# Covering air pump with towel to dampen sound. Is it bad?



## arenaranger (Jun 5, 2011)

I have a few air pumps and while not loud per Se, they can be somewhat annoying. 

I tried folding a towel up and gently laying it over the top in order to somewhat insulate and dampen the sound. It is still able to breathe but the sound has reduced quite a bit.

Is this bad to do this for any reason?


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## MriGuy85 (Aug 29, 2013)

I don't run air pumps in my tanks anymore, but when I did I would also cover them. Towel got a bit warm, but never had an issue.


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## Fishtail76 (Oct 17, 2013)

I am not using an air pump either but I did while I was do a fishless cycle. I folded a washcloth and placed it underneath, it worked pretty well.


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## arenaranger (Jun 5, 2011)

Is it underneath where the sound dampening should go?


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## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

1) Call me a nit-picky engineer (true) but you want to damp, not dampen (unless you plan to submerge your air pump).
2) These things draw so little power that it's quite hard to overheat them. The most likely downside to overheating is that the rubber boots inside won't last as long. By this I mean they might last 5 years instead of 7 (numbers as examples only).
3) I put mine in the basement and ran long airlines to solve my noise issue. They are near my laundry, and regularly end up burred under a mountain of clothing. They get a bit warm, but it hasn't killed them yet.


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## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

One thing I've seen people do to quiet their air pumps is to suspend it in mid air.


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## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

^That's a good point actually. I had one hanging from a rubber band for a month or two to quiet it. A lot of the noise from these things isn't actually from the pump, but from the vibration they make touching other things (why a towel under them works so well). Make sure the sides and nearby part of the cord aren't touching anything that is particularly vibration prone such as large hollow cabinets.


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## Fishtail76 (Oct 17, 2013)

arenaranger said:


> Is it underneath where the sound dampening should go?


I fold the washcloth in quarters and place the air pump on top. When mine makes a lot of noise its because it walks from vibration, the wash cloth helps absorb the vibration without the noise.


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## Botiadancer (Dec 30, 2013)

jccaclimber2 said:


> 1) Call me a nit-picky engineer (true) but you want to damp, not dampen (unless you plan to submerge your air pump).
> 
> From the OED
> Dampen
> ...


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I think it would depend on the quality of the pump, as to whether putting something on top. I've seen some cheap ones get warm enough that covering it would scare me.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I just set mine on a piece of foam...no sound after.


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## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

Botiadancer said:


> jccaclimber2 said:
> 
> 
> > 1) Call me a nit-picky engineer (true) but you want to damp, not dampen (unless you plan to submerge your air pump).
> ...


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## arenaranger (Jun 5, 2011)

wow, 

all this technical stuff from just wanting to shut a darn air pump up.......lol


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