Water pressure regulator -- Fail?

ScottG wrote:

This just isn't true at all. The common regulators most of us use don't have fixed hole in them, they have a spring and diaphragm.

the $9.00 special that lots of folks here use and are included in the RV starter pack sure look like they just have a fixed hole with no springs/diaphragms etc.
bumpy

Not seeing the hole:



In fact I can see the mechanism in there:


If it just had a hole then the pressure would creep up to the full input pressure within a few seconds when there was no flow.

I would love to see a flow/pressure chart to prove what the performance characteristics are, but I have been unable to find anything for these cheapie "regulators". I'd also be interested in seeing a cross-sectional diagram if someone thinks there is something other than a hole inside these things. I would say there is a reason why they don't publish this info.

I have an Aqua Pro regulator in front of me and it has a small hole in it and it's only visible from one end. You can't see daylight through it because it has a sort of diverter "plate" at one end which is fixed in place and behind the filter screen if you remove it. The hole appears to be less than 1/16". If you look down the barrel, the internal part from where the hole is to the opposite side where the plate is, is only about 1/4" long - no room for a regulating mechanism.

These are all basically identical with a hole in them. There is definitely no diaphragm and no spring that together control pressure.

The diagram in this link shows how a typical fixed orifice "regulator" works. They don't even call it a regulator, they call it a restrictor. Note that the outlet pressure depends entirely on what the flow is and that the lower the flow is, the closer the outlet pressure is to the inlet pressure and to the point with zero flow, the pressure is the same on both sides of the "regulator". fixed orifice flow/pressure diagram

incidently if one wanted to use the small flow restricter pressure regulator he could use two in parallel to double the flow rate. I used two filters in parallel to get an adequate flow myself.
bumpy

...all right you guys ! You pushed me over to the bandsaw. I had this old Camco $20 regulator that I had tossed aside because the gauge no longer registered and I was not sure if it worked to reg pressure or not. I grabbed a pic of what it looked like new from their website, and here is what's inside :B

Edit: needless to say the spring kinda got mangled as the saw ripped and shredded through there, but I trust you can imagine it's place in there.

gmw photos wrote:
...all right you guys ! You pushed me over to the bandsaw. I had this old Camco $20 regulator that I had tossed aside because the gauge no longer registered and I was not sure if it worked to reg pressure or not. I grabbed a pic of what it looked like new from their website, and here is what's inside :B

Edit: needless to say the spring kinda got mangled as the saw ripped and shredded through there, but I trust you can imagine it's place in there.

Looks like it had some kind of mechanical pressure regulation in there.

Question, did you ever see the dial gauge move into the yellow or red?

gmw photos wrote:
...all right you guys ! You pushed me over to the bandsaw. I had this old Camco $20 regulator that I had tossed aside because the gauge no longer registered and I was not sure if it worked to reg pressure or not. I grabbed a pic of what it looked like new from their website, and here is what's inside :B

Edit: needless to say the spring kinda got mangled as the saw ripped and shredded through there, but I trust you can imagine it's place in there.

Good stuff!
Hey, I was always wondering what the inside of the fridge coils looked like. As long as you have the saw warmed up........:B

BTW, good hand on that cut, I bet it wasn't too easy to get a straight cut.

hddecker wrote:


Looks like it had some kind of mechanical pressure regulation in there.

Question, did you ever see the dial gauge move into the yellow or red?

Yes, the gauge worked normal when it was new. Then it stopped working so I didn't trust the regulator so I just tossed it aside and bought a new one. Could be this this was still working ok ( pretty sure, it ain't no more ! :) ).
I went ahead and bought a more expensive one ( different brand ) and it seemed to work ok for about six months, then it's dial too malfunctioned. Took it back to camping world and they gave me a new one just like it, and so far it seems fine. Seems like at least on the ones I have had, the dial gauge is perhaps the cheapskate part of the device.
And yes you are right, this one had a spring and plunger assembly. What it lacked was any sort of external adjustment.
The new, more expensive one I bought has an adjustment screw on it.

Edit: ..and yes, Westend, I'll keep the idea of the refrigerator in mind ! :B So far, my fridge is working a-ok though !