Get a water pressure regulator or suffer my fate

[crunchman12001]

Originally Posted by DieselDrax

While I would never connect a hose without a pressure regulator, it sure sounds like the water filter housing wasn't fully tightened or the O-ring is damaged/missing. I wouldn't blame that on lack of a pressure regulator and would make doubly sure that the water filter housing/assembly is sealing properly.

X3, filter was lose and the leak was not due to high pressure. The lesson to learn from this is to turn the water off when you leave.

[Life Without Whine]

Yes you need a water regulator. You really should consider the possibility you need a new water filter unit too.
This picture was the morning after waking up in our camper around midnight to 2 inches of water inside. Used everything we had to dry it out & then hung them up to dry around the camper. Tightened up the filter & thought no big deal .... until our second trip out after that when it happened again..... got a new filter & all is well & good in the world (with just a bit of water damage along the floor / cabinet interface).

[HONDAMAN174]

My introduction to water pressure issues was in a campground in Utah. During the day everything was fine. Wake up to a puddle in the kitchen in the morning. Could see most the pex fittings leaking. Turns out their well pump was on a timer to fill the storage tank during the evening taking the pressure over 75 pounds as the the tank filled up.

Didn’t figure it out until I talked with another camper that I needed a regulator.

[rockland2002]

Each time I am away for a prolonged time I turn the incoming water off!

[otrtrucker]

Not trying to be codescending here, but that is exactly why I check for leaks as soon as I get the air bleed out of the system. I've found one or two leaks over the years this way.

[Fmueller]

What does everyone recommend the water pressure should be interning the unit?

[Phinias]

I bypassed my water filter hausing immediately upon purchase of my Solera. They are notorious for water filter leaks. An external filter works fine and keeps potential problems outside where they belong

[Fmueller]

Originally Posted by Fmueller

What does everyone recommend the water pressure should be interning the unit?

Entering sorry. My regulator is adjustable

[lesptr]

Originally Posted by emm-dee

Where are these campgrounds with high water pressure? Seems to me at least half that I go to have pressure so low that I only use it to fill my FW tank so I can use the camper water pump in order to have enough pressure for a decent shower.

This is my experience as well.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by Fmueller

What does everyone recommend the water pressure should be interning the unit?

Years of reading forums say anywhere from 40 to 60 PSI.
Mine is set for 50.

[TSman]

Originally Posted by 67L48

I knowingly did the wrong thing, did it anyway, and suffered consequences. I guess I'm about like a 6 year old. Wanted to share the experience so others don't do this.

Pulled into the campground about 4 miles from our house for a simple 1-night, shake down of the new trailer. First time out.

Plan was to set up camper and then drive down to Walmart to get some supplies, food, and various sundries. Wife mentioned she wanted a shower when we got back. I knew that we wouldn't have hot water until a good 30-40 minutes after filling the tank.

So, I decided to connect the campground's water even though I knew I didn't have a pressure regulator. The regulator was on my list for the Walmart trip. I knew I needed one, I knew the risk of connecting to CG water without one, and I proceeded to consciously make a bad decision.

About an hour later, we got back and there was a puddle of water under my trailer. Opened the side up to find that the water filter housing was the weak link. It was spraying a light stream/mist of water out the threads. Fortunately, nothing burst and no lines became disconnected. I had about 1/16-1/8" standing water in my compartment with the water system. Some had migrated out into my kitchen area, but only the size of a couple of frisbees next to each other.

Took me a trip back home and 6 bath towels to clean up. It could have been worse. If a hose would have popped off, I could have flooded my entire trailer.

Rest of the trip went great. But, do yourself a favor, don't be an idiot like me. Believe the 639 various posts and articles warning against super high campground water pressure. Spend at least the $8 to get a simple pressure regulator.

Good luck.

Going back to the original reason for hooking up to the campground water, it only takes 10 minutes to fill my storage tank with water, 5 minutes to get enough for a shower. After that, it would take the same time to heat the water for the shower. You really did not save that much time hooking up to the campground water system.

[DouglasReid]

Originally Posted by Nurek

use a Camco inline filter right off the tap after reading that these filter housings are notorious for leaking.

Never had issues with water pressure being too high.

We use the same filter, connected right at the supply. That way the water in our hose is filtered as well.

The Camco is actually a better filter for more things than the larger filter elements that fit into that large housing.

We have never had an issue with too much pressure either.

Since this is yoru very first trip, unless you had a VERY thorough PDI (most likely not) that connected to a water supply and tested that system, my belief is that it was a factory error (did I really say that).

The PR is not a bad idea, but don't blame yoruself for this one!

[satdog01]

CG that have a lot of weekenders just about always have issues with water pressures. Low pressure as everyone files in for weekend, then shoots up as they leave! Same thing with power, some cg adjust taps on transformers to handle extra load. Problems arise if they fail to adjust them back down later. Water regulator and good ems is the best insurance in both cases,

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by kc8lvy

Pressure regulator is a great thing to have and use. All newer RV's are ran with pex tubing and connectors which they use in house plumbing and rated for high pressure. But the RV it gets bounced around a lot. I don't use one and we have 80 psi here at the park. But I have a water filter and a water softener in line so my pressure at the RV is not at 80. I used to have an adjustable one and had it set on about 80. When we leave for any long time I always turn off my water and hot water heater.

When you turn all taps off, the pressure on both sides of the filter and the softener are equal. 80 psi on both sides.

What you have done is to reduce the FLOW, not the PRESSURE. The Venturi principle teaches that the downstream pressure will be reduced when there is flow. But when there is no flow, the pressure is equal everywhere.

It's a common error. Even my son, a chemical engineer, made it once.

Larry

[Larry-NC]

The downside of a regulator is that they (some at least) contain a backflow preventer. So you have this 6-gallon hot water heater, a plumbing system with no air traps behind the taps, and the system is filled with water, an almost incompressible fluid.

So what happens? You use a bunch of hot water--say you've had a long shower or you're just setting up and starting the heater. It's full of cool or cold water. The water expands. With no backflow preventer, the trailer just pushes a cup or less of water back through the hose into the campground water tap. But with a backflow preventer it has no other place to go and starts weeping out the hot water pressure/temperature relief valve.

We have a regulator, but we also carry this cute little $10 pressure gauge that screws right onto the campground hose tap. My concept is to test the tap first, and omit the regulator if not needed--although reading the post about the campground that raised pressure on a timed cycle is giving me pause.

On the other hand, the pressure relief seems to be a safeguard against over-pressure. The trailer plumbing has been tested many times and will withstand all the pressure the relief valve allows. So I'm not that worried.

Water pressure in this region of Raleigh, NC is 140 psi. They expect each homeowner to install (and maintain!) a Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV). These can be bought at Lowe's. They are adjustable, typically come preset for 70 psi, and last about 10 years. I can always tell when they fail because the toilets dribble. The PRV does not have a backflow preventer, but when the city installed one at the meter I started having the same problems in the brix-and-stix house. I had to install an air-chamber (air is compressible) to handle the water expansion.

Larry

[fella10]

Originally Posted by 67L48

I knowingly did the wrong thing, did it anyway, and suffered consequences. .....

I sure hope that didn't cause damage that will not show up for some time to come, ...

ruptured lines can happen at any time, if we're there we can respond quickly and appropriately, but if it happens when we're not there(sightseeing, restaurant, shopping, bike riding, ect) major damage can be the results, ... one of our habits is to shut of the water any time we leave the trailer, ... I installed a hose valve to make that easy, because some of the cg blue lever style faucets can be very stiff and DW would not be able to close or open them, ...

[Maxwell D Pratt]

I removed the filter in my trailer also. I use an external one. And never not use a regulater
.

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

The downside of a regulator is that they (some at least) contain a backflow preventer. So you have this 6-gallon hot water heater, a plumbing system with no air traps behind the taps, and the system is filled with water, an almost incompressible fluid.

So what happens? You use a bunch of hot water--say you've had a long shower or you're just setting up and starting the heater. It's full of cool or cold water. The water expands. With no backflow preventer, the trailer just pushes a cup or less of water back through the hose into the campground water tap. But with a backflow preventer it has no other place to go and starts weeping out the hot water pressure/temperature relief valve.

There are several reasons you don't need (or care) about a backflow preventer in you water regulator with respect to your water heater:

One reason is you have a check valve on your city water connection which will backseat. If you're running on your FW tank/pump, it's already backseated. Then your pump discharge check valve will back seat when the pump shuts off.

But the main reason is that your water heater is not water-solid. There is a designed air space at the top of it. See middle of page 20 of the attached Service and Training Manual. So you really shouldn't be leaking from your P&T valve unless you've lost the air space. See page 20 for how to get it back.

[CaptnJohn]

Originally Posted by Nurek

I bypassed by filter housing and use a Camco inline filter right off the tap after reading that these filter housings are notorious for leaking.

Never had issues with water pressure being too high.

When checking into Ozarks Country CG in Branson you are told water pressure can hit 110 psi ~~

every unit I ever had with an inside filter ~~ bypassed as 1st mod.

[Cyclemike]

Take that X3 Water filter out and through it away. I had the filter housing pop off 6 times this year and I had a good pressure regulator at 40 lbs. I finally took the whole thing out and tossed it. Now I use a filter at the hose.