mine had a slight buzz as well, and the cats weren't all that
impressed with it.  They preferred the big water bowl they share with
the dogs.  

Mine doesn't buzz.  Or, if it does, it's so quiet I don't notice it.
The only time it makes noise is if there isn't enough water in it, so
perhaps yours is defective.  And, BTW, I've been using a Drinkwell for
about 10 years now and all four of my kitties love it!

dragon

I've had a Drinkwell for over 5 years and have had no issues with it.

Yes, it does make a bit of noise which changes with the level of water
inside the bowl.

My cat loves it. If I take it away to wash she waits patiently until it
has been reassembled and filled with water... then she does her
inspection to make sure all is well and goes for a drink.

If it breaks I will definitely have to replace it... my cat will be lost
without it.

I have one at home and one at work.  I just emptied/cleaned/refilled the one
at home on Monday and noticed that the motor was a little noisy, and it
usually isn't.  That's happened before.  I think maybe I didn't tighten the
motor fully when I put it back together.  You might want to empty it and
remove & replace the motor to see if that stops it.  You can also plug it in
for a second before adding water to hear if it makes the noise.

The Drinkwell at work is in my office and I never hear it.  The two cats at
work love it, and Stinky will often spend a long time just staring at the
little bubbles in the bowl.  I usually add water each morning so the bowl is
as full as possible because it bubbles more that way.  At home, Tiger (15
years old) uses it a lot but I rarely see Otto (5) near it.  He prefers to
drink water from the dishes in the sink.  In the morning, after I open their
can of food I put it in the sink, rinse it and fill it with cold water for
him.

--
Liz

I have three, and only one buzzes.  I wash them once a week, taking them
almost completely apart (I got tired of removing the motor from the lower
housing - my fingers aren't that strong), and when I cleaned it, I made sure
that the 'axle' that the impellor goes onto was seated properly - it wasn't.
It came of in my hand, but it was esily put back in.  I seated it securely,
and the buxxing stopped.  Seemed that the 'axle' being loose was causing the
impellor to 'wobble' and the blades to strike the housing, causing the noise
I was hearing.  Now it's quiet.

I might add that at first my cats were afraid of it, wouldn't go near it.
so I emptied it, and set it in a central area of the house, empty and
unplugged.  Every day I would scoot it (with my foot) a couple of feet
closer to thier regular water dish.  Once they were used to it's presence
there, I added water to it, but still left it unplugged.  After about a
week, I stopped refilling their old water dish, and just let them drink out
of the fountain.  Then another week went bu, I cleaned the fountain, added
fresh water & plugged it in.

They loved it!

So I bought 2 more (one was for a d*g, but he's such a sloppy drinker, I had
to wash it every day, so we confiscated it from him and gave it to the
cats).  I have 1 cat that hasn't known any other water source, and when we
had to isolate him for a day after his big snip, he wouldn't drink from the
water dish I gave him, he wanted the fountain - made a beeline for it the
first chance he got, and drank for about 5 minutes.

I have one. I've had a buzzing noise when the cover is loose. Check to see if the
noise is from the cover vibrating.

Adam

I had the Drinkwell for several years, no buzzing. However, it's poorly
designed as far as cleaning goes -- way too many nooks an crannies that
are way too difficult to get to. I now use the Petmate Freshflow. It
still has several trouble spots cleaning wise, but it's much better.

Mine's quiet, so the only thing I hear is the water running through it
(which, since it's in the bedroom, sort of makes me need to pee all night!
;>).  But, I figured I'm getting the same benefits for free which some
people pay for when buying a "white noise" babbling brook machine to help
them to sleep at night.

I love it, and more importantly, my cats love it.  Jessie would only drink
out of the faucet, but now she uses this (I think the carbon-filtered water
tastes and smells better than water directly from the tap.

Hugs,

CatNipped

Mine buzzed when I first got it.  So I set it on
a piece of old carpet.  No more buzz.

LT

This fountain is certainly interesting, although what exactly is the
point?

Don't mean to sound rude, although, does the water fall make them drink
more or is it just entertainment?

When folks say "they love it (the fountain)" what exactly does that
mean? Do they sit and watch it mezmorized with intrigue (as cats often
do) or do they drink more or both?

One of my cats, Little Darkie, loves his water best from dishes in the
sink. He even tries to drink the dirty shaving water in the bathroom in
the morning if I don't stop him from doing so!

I may like to get one but for about $50 I should know WHY I want one!

Thanks, have fun, Karl.