Water pressure regulator -- Fail?
We just got back from a great trip to Cheyenne Mtn State Park. But here's the thing.... At all our stops we had water hook up. I used a water regulator with a gauge...hoping to get a read on the p...
Forum Discussion
myredracer wrote:
The cheapie inline exterior regulators simply have a small fixed orifice (hole) in them of around 1/16" or so. Look inside it and you will see the hole. They are not true regulators and the pressure will equalize on both sides after it sits there with no flow. At zero flow, there is zero differential pressure across it. There is simply no way a fixed diameter hole can control and maintain pressure. Also, the flow rate on these is low at around 1 gpm due to the small orifice size. I put these things in the category of snake oil.
A proper regulator has a diaphragm and spring in it. As the incoming pressure varies, the diaphragm acts against the spring pressure which controls the output pressure. With any diaphragm regulator, you can find a flow/pressure chart from the manufacturer.
With the inline "regulators", they do not publish a flow/pressure chart. If they did, you would find that they do a poor job of regulating. They get away with it because there are no regulations they have to comply with. The average consumer does not understand how regulators work or perhaps even care and they buy it because of what it says on the package and because of the low price. If you use one of these regulators, you are at risk of damage to your water system from excessive pressure.
If you want a REAL regulator, get a Watts 560 or 263A, or equivalent. As good a price here as anywhere else on the internet: RVwaterfilterstore.com
A similar thing happens with water filters. There are no industry regulations. Manufacturers can though, voluntarily certify their filters to NSF standards. I've seen some pretty outlandish claims on filter performance that are not NSF certified. They get away with it on filters too because of no mandatory regulations.
This just isn't true at all. The common regulators most of us use don't have fixed hole in them, they genuinely regulate pressure, otherwise you would see a creep. I routinely connect to to a CG water source that's well in excess of 80 psi but my reg. keeps it to 45~50. And you can look down the insides and see there isn't just a hole in it. Anyone that has one or is contemplating buying one can see this for themselves.
For some reason some people get all riled up when it's suggested they could have bought a $12 part that will work for an RV just as well as an expensive whole house reg.
For RV use a fixed high flow regulator will work perfectly fine and you will not notice any difference in flow between it and and a whole house regulator because our rigs just don't demand that much volume.
