Water Pressure Regulator

Remember the second law of Engineering: Better is the enemy of 'good enough'. If it works don't spend more to get something more expensive that does the same job as the cheap version

This is the one that just failed on me after 4 years. The pressure drops to close to zero when I turn the water on. Couldn't even flush the toilet.

I had the blue plastic Camco before that.

willald wrote:

MFL wrote:
^^I agree, there is a reason the Watts regulator costs more. The RV Guard model looks like the Valterra regulator. Bad thing about a cheap model, just more expense, when you decide to toss it, and get a proven high quality one.

Myself...I quit using any, just fill my 60 gal fresh tank as needed, and have a great, consistent water pressure. Nice too, in case you ever have a water leak, you catch it right away.

Jerry

I curious....How long have you used this approach, and how many water pumps you replaced?

I like this idea, but am always hesitant to, as I'm concerned that the water pumps they put in RVs, like many other RV components, aren't meant for prolonged use.

I'd be concerned that if we used the water pump all the time for everything water related like you are advocating here, we'd be replacing a lot of water pumps.

How has your water pump held up under this kind of constant use?

I do not use external water connections except to fill my fresh tank.

I have faith in my Sureflo pump. In my last 5er, I accidentally left my pump on for a day and a half, running dry. I was sure I ruined it so I ordered a new one and replaced it. I am still using that pump to pump water from my 60 gallon bladder to my tank in my current 5er. I haven't done a thing to that pump yet.

We had our last 5er for 8 years, this one is on it's 5th year, and we stay over 100 nights a year in it since we like it better than our home, but can't afford to full time yet.

I've done the tank fill & use method for over 8 years and had no problems with pumps. Another benefit to doing this is if your tanks are in a heated basement and the water coming out of the ground is 36º is has a chance to heat up before you use it.

Well, using water pump and fresh water tank all the time and not relying on campground water pressure and a pressure regulator wasn't really the original topic here, and I apologize for hijacking the thread some to discuss such.

However, from reading everyone's experience with this (water pump and FW tank) approach, sounds like I may have been a bit too paranoid about water pumps wearing out, and that isn't really much of an issue. I may well just switch to using water pump, fresh water tank all the time and not worry about it.

There's definitely several advantages to this, not the least of which is like already said, you can switch off the pump whenever you leave the RV and not have to worry about a pipe bursting and causing a huge mess. Consistent water pressure is nice, too.

Just to be a contrarian... :B

Probably 75% of our camping is boondocking and we use the heck out of our pump. I think I've only replaced the pump once on any of our rigs when it developed a leak on one of the connections. (It made sense to replace it when I tore into it.)

But we never use the pump when we have full hookups. I'd much rather use the silent water service from the camp. We've probably logged a few hundred nights with FHU and I've gone through a bunch of cheap pressure regulators, but we've never had a pressure related failure. I wouldn't hesitate to keep using a regulator and take advantage of the silent water hookup and give the pump a vacation of its own. Yes, I'll switch over to our fresh tank if it's too cold for the hookup, but that's an exception and not a habit.

I bought the" Twinkle Star" adjustable water pressure regulator from Amazon 3 years ago. Cost $26.99. Just looked it up and still $26.99. It has gotten a lot of use and still works fine. It can be taken completly apart to service it too. Last year it stopped working so I took it apart. I found the water inlet screen broke for some reason and a piece of the wire got caught in the pressure adjusting spring.
Removed it put it back together and it has been worked fine.

I've had a Valterra adjustable regulator for at least 15 years. I had to rebuild it once. Rebuild kits are readily available.
Valterra Regulator

I haven’t used one in near 20 years of RVing. Everywhere from the Rocky Mountains to the east coast and Canada to the Gulf! Always left my water on. I have one I bought along time ago because I was told I needed it. Never found a need for it. It now just sits in the bin in the water bay.

dodge guy wrote:
I haven’t used one in near 20 years of RVing. snip... Never found a need for it. It now just sits in the bin in the water bay.

Hmmm. Never found a need for it YET! You never need one until you need it. :)
Barney