water pressure

James McCanne · 05-10-2014, 04:53 PM

Does anybody know what the max water pressure for fun finder 189fbs?

profdant139 · 05-11-2014, 05:27 PM

Whatever the rated pressure, I do not trust the plastic plumbing in trailers. So I use a regulator on our hose, whenever I am hooked up to a city water supply in an RV park. They are durable and inexpensive. Yes, that may cut down on the pressure in the shower, but I don't mind -- it's only camping, after all!

**LJAZ** · 05-12-2014, 08:44 AM

About 45 psi. You should absolutely use a pressire regulator. You never know what an RV park's water pressure will be, or how much it will fluctuate.

webslave · 05-12-2014, 09:26 AM

The trailer systems, when assembled, are tested for leaks at 85+ psi by the factories. Given the QA done to the trailers, 45 psi is a "safe" pressure. I've, personally, always used 60 psi (that's what my Watts pressure regulator is set for) and have never had a problem in several trailers. One thing you need to be sure of is the quality of your water pressure regulator; you get what you pay for. The lower cost adjustable regulators are "variable" in regulation and the safe measure of 45 psi allows for some variance in the calibration. The high end regulators (like Watts) are very accurate and can be trusted to keep the pressure they are set for. Another advantage to the higher end regulators is that they tend to have a higher flow rate at any given pressure than the cheaper adjustables and definitely higher than the non-adjustable pressure regulators that rely on a non-linear path for the water as part of the regulation process (a twisting path for water, by its physical nature, reduces pressure and flow).

Now, a lot people will say that you don't need a regulator at all, that parks struggle to even supply 30 psi. I've stayed at hundreds of parks (both commercial and not) and have run into supplied pressure in excess of 120 psi. The highest I've encountered was a commercial park in Kansas that measured at 157 psi and the park had warning signs to use a good pressure regulator and if you didn't have one, they would lend you one for the duration of your stay. Many parks are reclaimed farm land in the middle part of the country and the water source is usually the irrigation pumps that were designed to supply water to hundreds of acres for irrigating crops; these pumps are designed to produce enormous pressures to get water out great distances. I use two pressure gauges, one on the regulator and another attached to the regulator's input so that I know what the supplied pressure is before the regulator steps it down to 60 psi if it is over that set-point. Another point; no matter what your hose says it was tested to (pressure), make sure that you put the regulator at the spigot and not the trailer...you need to protect the hose from high pressure also. As the sun comes out and the material the hose is made from gets very hot, it loses some strength and you can blow the hose right off the connections...ask me how many years ago, I learned that lesson

Nothing like coming back from a hike to find your RV sitting in a swamp...fortunately the guy in the next site saw what happened and turned the spigot off before too many gallons had been pumped out, but, I had a muddy time getting the replacement hose hooked up and the regulator moved from the trailer to the spigot...

Kevin & Kate · 11-17-2014, 08:49 PM

Thank you for this post, webslave. I'm preparing to blow out my water lines with compressed air, and I've seen recommendations all over the map. Several suggest not exceeding 25 PSI for the compressed air, I've seen 30, one suggests 45 PSI. I had a feeling the numbers were more like what you mentioned. Makes sense. Thanks.

Eagle · 11-18-2014, 09:46 AM

A quality water pressure regulator on your RV is a smart investment.

But, don't forget about your site built home as well: http://www.diyplumbingadvice.com/waterpressure.shtml

roy · 11-19-2014, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin & Kate

Thank you for this post, webslave. I'm preparing to blow out my water lines with compressed air, and I've seen recommendations all over the map. Several suggest not exceeding 25 PSI for the compressed air, I've seen 30, one suggests 45 PSI. I had a feeling the numbers were more like what you mentioned. Makes sense. Thanks.

I used the compressed air method first time this year. I set my little compressor regulator at 40 psi. It did the job ok. I had to remove the debris screen on my city water inlet and use regular hose washers there for the air nosske to fit properly. I blew my system out twice to be sure. First go around I Hooke up my water regulator into city water port then air nosle as I was unsure how accurate my small compressers regulator was. 2nd go around I did not use that and results were the same. So I don't think using the water regulator makes it any safer. I will know how well it blew out the water yodel since I need to add water back to the system so I can use the camper this coming weekend. Hopefully I don't have any leaks due to residual water left in the system after blowing it out 4 weeks ago.

Eagle · 11-19-2014, 08:40 AM

I also used air this fall to blow out the water lines in my XT276 for the first time. It seemed to work well but I went ahead and pumped in RV antifreeze afterwards to be sure water would not settle into any low spots in the lines.
And, of course, RV antifreeze must be dumped into the sinks, tub and black water tank too.

looking4fun · 11-19-2014, 06:43 PM

I just blew all of my lines out a few weeks back. Had my dad inside checking to make sure there was no more water coming out of anything. If I had the right fittings I would use a vacuum pump I got for automotive a/c work after blowing the lines out. Let it run for a while and just let any remaining water evaporate out but don't have the means to do that right now.

roy · 11-20-2014, 06:42 AM

I added water back into my system yesterday after the air removal a few weeks back. Weather here is up and down now days and I need to use the camper at Nola Motorsports park this coming weekend. I filled hot water tank and turned on all the faucets to pressurize the system. As of now no leaks and it only took about 15 minutes to be up and running. It got down into the low 20s last few weeks so I know the compressed air method worked good enough. I will be removing the water next week for good until late January when my race season kicks off again at Nola. I now know how much pressure I can get away with to remove the water. I feel comfortable doing it this way verses the messy anti freeze method. Of course I still pour that pink crap down the sink drains and black tank.

I took this opportunity to add a new anode rod to the hot water tank. The original one had some good signs of corrosion but doing its job.