I just acquired a used 2007 Quickmill Andreja and found the pump to be very loud. I was prepared for it as I had read that they were loud. I went and looked at a new Andreja in a store and was surprised at how much quieter it was than mine, I assumed they improved something with the pump, or it was an aging thing.

I opened up my machine and turned the pump to be able to read the label and see what type it is, it's an Ulka EAP5 52 W pump with the plastic tube. It was mounted with the pump not level, it was slanted/turned at an angle (rubber mounts are correctly secured to the machine base) so it had been sort of swung to be sitting at a 30 degree angle. I assumed the mounting angle must have been like that for a reason. I swung the pump back down and maybe levelled it out a little, not sure, wasn't paying much attention to that. Anyway when I closed up the machine and made an espresso the pump is suddenly about half as loud. Everything seems to be working as normal, pressure is the same during a shot but the pump is about half as loud now, much like the new Andreja I tried in the store.

So I'm very pleased! From what I've read in other pump quietening threads the rubber mounts have a lot to do with quietening the pump. Maybe I inadvertently positioned the pump and mounts in a better way and now it is functioning as it should have been originally. Or maybe twisting the pump a little moved a piece of scale that could have been stuck in the pump? I just descaled this machine and it had previously been sitting unused for a year and a half with water in it so there was scale build up inside. However, after I descaled it the pump was as loud as before, the pump volume only changed after I physically turned the pump.

Any thoughts as to how this happened?

In my old Andreja you had to be careful when working around the pump because it was possible for it to move and touch some of the copper tubing nearby. Made it much louder. Or it could be your machine is quieter because all the shell's screws are freshly tightened and snug.

Rubber mounts may have hardened with age. Also 52 watt pumps are quite a bit louder than the 41 watt ones, with no benefit in regards to performance.

Yes, so I hear about the rubber. In this case it got quieter after I moved it so something changed for the better. I read somewhere that 52 W pumps are supposedly quieter because they don't have to work as hard. I'm coming from a Silvia which I think was 41 W, I would say that the volume level is comparable now that my Andreja has quietened down.

I have both 52 and 41 watt, and the 52 watter is clearly louder in same machine. If you watch it, the amplitude of the movement is also noticeably greater. It is possible that it is just my pump or setup, they are the only two pumps I've owned and the only machine I have tried both pumps in. Maybe someone else can speak to this.

This machine had been sitting unused for a year and a half with water in it. I took apart the pump to check for scale, turns out the pump was perfectly clean inside, quite amazing, no sign of any scale (first time I've taken apart a pump). I think the pump is functioning normally. My guess is that it was noisier when I first got it because perhaps the pump wasn't properly anchored on the rubber pump mounts. Now it is and it sounds fine...onto other things!