Yeah, I called today about my Alex as well and was told pretty much the same thing. They told me the mounts for the Alex have always been the same. He said there was newer mounts for the Vetrano, which had issues, but there was never an issue with the Alex. I have always had suspicions that there may be a mount issue, but maybe my expectations are too high. I still think its strange that it isn't really much quieter than my last machine which was vibe pump powered.

hmmmm so more people have the same problem. Chris told me he has some soft rubber mounts, and thinks that will solve my problem, so i ordered a set. i will let you know if this solves my problem.

Nice soft motor mounts definitely help to absorb vibration but reality is most machines that are very noisy, are because something is touching inside. Even a small amount of vibration will make a lot of noise when two metal parts are very close together or just barely touching. Find where the vibration is coming from and fix it. Sometimes it's as simple as moving a copper line 1/4' one way or another. We do our very best and so do our manufacturers unfortunately shipping companies do their best to undo our efforts. The good news is once you find it and correct it, it is very unlikely to reoccur.

Hi all, the rubber mount chris sold me made ALL the difference. they are very soft and my machine is very quiet. Thanks chris!

That's great to hear. Is there a specific part number for the new mounts? When I called they weren't sure what I was talking about when I asked for softer mounts.

Tell them I said to try the mounts that come on Vivaldi II machines. I have used them before and they work fine just don't tighten them down too tight or they serve no purpose.

Thanks Chris. I just called and ordered a set.

Well, I got the new mounts installed in my machine as well. They definitely made a big difference in eliminating the rattles and helped lower the overall pump noise as well. The strange thing is, is they looked virtually identical to the old mounts. I'm not really sure how old the original mounts were as I bought the machine used. Anyways, the rubber seemed softer more flexible. The machine is now quiet and is finally living up to my expectations of noise. That's the good news. The bad news is upon removing the motor to install the new mounts, I found out that my pump developed a small leak as there was some corrosion at the interface between the pump and motor. The motor seems to be fine, fortunately, but it's looking like I'm going to need a new pump. I guess it's better that I found it before the motor was ruined as well.

Hmm mine is noisy too. I need to call about it and my gritty steam knob.

mike01 wrote:The bad news is upon removing the motor to install the new mounts, I found out that my pump developed a small leak as there was some corrosion at the interface between the pump and motor. The motor seems to be fine, fortunately, but it's looking like I'm going to need a new pump. I guess it's better that I found it before the motor was ruined as well.

Good catch; also lucky. More typically, based on my experience and the anecdotes of others, the leak would continue silently, until one day you would notice the machine getting slightly louder, at which point you would be doubly screwed: by both a bad pump and a ruined upper motor bearing. In my case, the insidious aspect was that, other than a slight and externally invisible leak, the pump was completely asymptomatic: it was the growing noise of the corroded motor bearing that gave it away, and by then it was too late to save it. This was diagnosed by decoupling the pump and running the motor alone, which reproduced the same metallic ringing/grinding sound. My guess: if your "corrosion" is whitish scale or oxidized aluminum from the motor housing, your bearing may be fine. But if it's reddish (iron rust), it's likely the bearing is affected, which will shorten its life, perhaps drastically.