MTH House-on-Fire Loud noise

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

Has anyone else experienced this? I just installed the farm house on the layout and it was received with quite a few “WOWs” and “Awesome!” from the kids. The smoke output is very good and the fire effect is believeable. The unit is REALLY loud though. I suspect it’s the water pump making this “whirring” sound. Is this normal operation?

Thanks-
Jim

2

Jimmy,
I was once from Bergen County, (Bogota). As to your problem, it does sound like the pump. I don’t have this model, but do have several water pumps in operation, they make noise when they have a problem. Usual problem, is not enough water, or having an air lock. Another problem could be cavitation, if the inlet is blocked. I would check to make sure that the pump stays primed. Make sure that the reservoir (water level)is higher than the pump. Hope it helps, and please let us know how it works out. I am considering buying this too.
Dennis

3

I finally got through to MTH tech support. I spoke to Nick who was very helpful. He said that this accessory is very noisy and the unit was most likely behaving normally. I demonstrated the sounds coming from the unit over the phone to him. ( I don’t think I would want my auto mechanic to diagnose a sound coming from my brakes like that) He asked about the power supply and if there were any other accessories hooked up to it. I am using a CW-80 just for the house and a pair of LED traffic signals. He said they recommend 14V for the houses. I am going to try to use the 14V accessory output from my MRC dual pure power to see if that changes anything.

Thanks for your suggestions Dennis. My Mom lives in a senior complex in Bogota. Small world. [:)]

4

Jimmy,
Thanks for posting the progress. Let me know how the MRC transformer works out with this. Another possibility is that with the CW80, because of its sin wave, may cause the motor to act odd. That may be the whole problem. Never thought about that till now. Dennis., oh yea, small world indeed. My parents live right down the hill from Petrick funeral home (just a landmark that folks from the town seem to know)