Water Pressure Regulator with Green Grip?

ramble_on · November 15, 2018

Hello! One of the vendors at the 2018 Escapade had a water pressure regulator with a green grip. They indicated it was easier to turn than other water pressure regulators. Does anyone know the brand of that regulator? Or do you perhaps know the website for the vendor? I think they called themselves "An RVers Friend," but I can't find them when I search on that phrase. Thank you!

Fhkw9DPJ8V1g · November 17, 2018

You can buy them from The Water Filter Store, an Escapees commercial member. Here is a LINK to their website. If you are an Amazon Prime member you can buy the same product, also shipped from The Water Filter Store, with free 2 day shipping.

We have one and it has worked well for us. I'm pretty sure we bought it at Escapade 2018.

ramble_on · November 17, 2018

Thank you!!! 😃 💧💧💧

FL-JOE · November 17, 2018

Not sure if this one is just a fancy water restrictor or not. Looks similar to the ones for $12 except without the extra green part to help you tighten it. We used to use the small in-line restrictors but would have to replace them every couple of years. Finally purchased a high quality brass adjustable regulator with gauge.

Dutch_12078 · November 17, 2018

One test of any pressure regulator is the measured pressure on the output side when no flow is present. If the output pressure stays within specs, it's being regulated, not just restricted. A restriction only will allow the output pressure to rise to the incoming line pressure when there's no flow to restrict. I've tested low cost "barrel" regulators from Camco, Valterra, and Fairview, using gauges before and after the regulator with 100 PSI high flow input. In every case, they performed as regulators, not "restrictors", with just small output pressure jumps when the flow was cut off abruptly at the output. Even Camco's $5 plastic regulator performed adequately, although it's easily damaged, making it a poor choice in that regard. The Fairview regulator had the highest flow rate, followed closely by Valterra's high flow model.

FL-JOE · November 17, 2018

Just saying from past experience using the small in-line non-adjustable ones, they don't last. I spent around $50 - $60 for the Valterra adjustable with gauge and it has been great. I keep it set on 60psi and we rarely find a CG service with less than that.

Kirk W · November 18, 2018

9 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

One test of any pressure regulator is the measured pressure on the output side when no flow is present. If the output pressure stays within specs, it's being regulated, not just restricted. A restriction only will allow the output pressure to rise to the incoming line pressure when there's no flow to restrict. I've tested low cost "barrel" regulators from Camco, Valterra, and Fairview, using gauges before and after the regulator with 100 PSI high flow input. In every case, they performed as regulators, not "restrictors", with just small output pressure jumps when the flow was cut off abruptly at the output. Even Camco's $5 plastic regulator performed adequately, although it's easily damaged, making it a poor choice in that regard. The Fairview regulator had the highest flow rate, followed closely by Valterra's high flow model.

1

I very much agree with what you say. In all of my years of RVing I have never seen a flow restrictor sold as a pressure regulator. I suspect that opinion has come from the fact that cheaper pressure regulators do not have a large enough water passage to keep the pressure up if water demands are high. When that happens the downstream pressure does drop because the flow demand isn't being met. It used to be that only the home plumbing type regulators had a large enough diameter port for the pressure to be maintained when high water flow is demanded but now there are some of the regulators which are not adjustable that do have enough flow capacity to keep pressures up. The pressure regulator that was asked about at the start of this thread is one of those quality pressure regulators which is not adjustable. It is the JR Products 04-62425 Deluxe High Flow Water Regulator and is available from Amazon for $44. I use a stainless steel regulator from Valterra that I got from Amazon for $25 and pressure gauge on the downstream side and have never seen the pressure drop more than 3# from it's 55# setpoint.

Dutch_12078 · November 18, 2018

I should add that some of the cheap regulators do in fact restrict flow, but that's just a function of the smaller passage size through them, not a part of the pressure regulation. If the flow rate is adequate to meet the needs of the user, then it's of no consequence. A single person in an RV that never opens more than one faucet at a time for instance, might never notice any flow restriction from the smaller passage, where they might well notice an over pressure condition if it caused a plumbing failure.

docj · November 18, 2018

I've been using this one for a year now and it works well: pressure regulator It looks similar to the Watts regulators but is a bit smaller and a lot less expensive.

FL-JOE · November 19, 2018

Doc, that is a good price and no doubt a very good regulator. I would suspect you will get multiple years of service from it.

Big5er · November 22, 2018

I had a regulator similar to the one docj listed....until it broke on a recent trip. I used the old cheapo inline regulators I had laying around. After I got home I thought I had poor pressure but it didn't bother me enough to get off my butt and do anything about it..until I read this thread.

I went to the RVWaterFilterStore and bought the the one DonCoyote listed in his post. I also bought two of the inline gauges they sell.

I put the gauges on the cheap regulator, just to see what they would read. I have 70psi in and about 45 out. Then I installed the new regulator. I still have 70psi in and now 50psi out....and I have a ton more flow at the faucet than I had with the cheap one. Is this gauge over priced like some say? Maybe but it has the best "flow" I have ever seen in a straight, inline, regulator. I never noticed a lack of flow with the adjustable one but I never really liked it anyway. I always wondered "what if some ne'er do well walks by and cranks up the pressure"? Now I just have to worry about some ne'er do well stealing my pretty inline gauges

docj · November 22, 2018

4 hours ago, Big5er said:

Then I installed the new regulator. I still have 70psi in and now 50psi out....and I have a ton more flow at the faucet than I had with the cheap one. Is this gauge over priced like some say?

Everything in life is relative. The cheap regulator I'm using provided a lot more flow than the POS one that was built into my Beaver. So replacing it seemed like a huge step forward! 😀 Eventually, I'll probably replace it with a really good one from Watts. But until then, the flow rate is a lot better than what I'd been accustomed to!!

Kirk W · November 22, 2018

8 hours ago, docj said:

Eventually, I'll probably replace it with a really good one from Watts.

I started with one from Watts, back when there was little else available and I used that one for more than 10 years. One advantage to the Watts is that rebuild kits are readily available, but nothing from Watts is cheap so I'm not so sure that you couldn't replace the one you are using for little more cost and much less work. For small RVs today there are the old style regulators that aren't adjustable that will work just fine if you pay a bit more to get them. They do have a much better volume than the cheap ones but they also don't save you a great deal over the cost of one of the adjustable regulators like what you have. There are far more choices available today than there were 15 years ago.