The closer I monitor water pressure in my Solitude, the more puzzled I become I'm hoping somebody here can explain what I'm seeing now.
Some background - Each of our three Grand Design 5th wheels has had poor "water pressure" at the shower. Last fall in an act of desperation to increase "pressure", I removed the water pressure regulator from the post at our lot. We enjoyed nice showers all last winter! I then started experiencing water leaking from our water heater pressure relief valve and a swollen water hose feeding the RV. Suspecting high water pressure, I screwed a water pressure gauge onto the hose bib and saw 95psi. Yikes! I've never seen water pressure that high anywhere. I quickly reinstalled the pressure regulator and we went back to pathetic showers.
Fast forward to now. We've been staying at my SIL's house the last five weeks while I recover from knee replacement surgery. They have a well and when we arrived I measured the water pressure at about 50psi. I attached the pressure regulator and used that for several weeks even though showers were horrible. Last week I decided once again to see if I could get a better shower experience by removing the pressure regulator and sure enough, that worked. Showers were great without the pressure regulator. I had the regulator set to 50psi and I had measured the water pressure at the hose bib at 50psi so why did the shower experience get so much better without the regulator? Time for better data!
I decided to install a water pressure gauge in the RV and did that two days ago. I teed into the cold water line under the kitchen sink. This pressure gauge has a resettable maximum pressure needle. After my morning shower yesterday with no pressure regulator I checked the pressure gauge. It was sitting at 45psi but at some point overnight or that morning it hit 125psi!!!!! Sooooo, I re-installed the water pressure regulator this morning and checked the pressure gauge again a couple hours later. Pressure was once again sitting at 45psi but max pressure showed 100psi.
So what gives???? I bought what I thought was a decent water pressure gauge so I'm assuming it's fairly accurate. I know when you open a faucet the pressure drops but how can it climb to 100+psi with a pressure regulator installed and set to 50psi? I know with the well here at my SIL's house, the pressure will drop and then slowly ramp up as the well pump runs but 100psi???
Is my water pressure regulator defective?
Some background - Each of our three Grand Design 5th wheels has had poor "water pressure" at the shower. Last fall in an act of desperation to increase "pressure", I removed the water pressure regulator from the post at our lot. We enjoyed nice showers all last winter! I then started experiencing water leaking from our water heater pressure relief valve and a swollen water hose feeding the RV. Suspecting high water pressure, I screwed a water pressure gauge onto the hose bib and saw 95psi. Yikes! I've never seen water pressure that high anywhere. I quickly reinstalled the pressure regulator and we went back to pathetic showers.
Fast forward to now. We've been staying at my SIL's house the last five weeks while I recover from knee replacement surgery. They have a well and when we arrived I measured the water pressure at about 50psi. I attached the pressure regulator and used that for several weeks even though showers were horrible. Last week I decided once again to see if I could get a better shower experience by removing the pressure regulator and sure enough, that worked. Showers were great without the pressure regulator. I had the regulator set to 50psi and I had measured the water pressure at the hose bib at 50psi so why did the shower experience get so much better without the regulator? Time for better data!
I decided to install a water pressure gauge in the RV and did that two days ago. I teed into the cold water line under the kitchen sink. This pressure gauge has a resettable maximum pressure needle. After my morning shower yesterday with no pressure regulator I checked the pressure gauge. It was sitting at 45psi but at some point overnight or that morning it hit 125psi!!!!! Sooooo, I re-installed the water pressure regulator this morning and checked the pressure gauge again a couple hours later. Pressure was once again sitting at 45psi but max pressure showed 100psi.
So what gives???? I bought what I thought was a decent water pressure gauge so I'm assuming it's fairly accurate. I know when you open a faucet the pressure drops but how can it climb to 100+psi with a pressure regulator installed and set to 50psi? I know with the well here at my SIL's house, the pressure will drop and then slowly ramp up as the well pump runs but 100psi???
Is my water pressure regulator defective?
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