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Last changes 2/11/2007 |
This may seem to be a mundane subject, but there really are reasons
to care about fresh water system components.
First off, fresh water hoses tend to be white to show that they
are made with a harder surface material than garden hoses.
This harder surface is more resistant to picking up micro-organisms,
making the water carried safer to drink. Some of the curly-cue
hoses out there are poor for fresh water.
We have an assembly which includes in-line water filters, a high
volume pressure regulator, and a pressure gauge. We like to
place this assembly under Tige’s belly near the water inlet.
This works well except for one thing, the pressure regulator is
at the trailer end of the hose. This means the hose is subject
to park water pressure. We were in a park where the park water
pressure was 100 psi. The pressure regulator was protecting
the trailer plumbing but the hose was unprotected. The hose
grew to be almost 150% in diameter as a result of the high water
pressure. Typical RV water hoses are not rated for much more
than the 60 psi the RV plumbing is rated for.
A solution could be to connect the pressure regulator at the
park faucet end of the hose so that the regulator would protect
the hose as well as the RV plumbing. This was not reasonable
for us since we have a high volume pressure regulator that is much
larger than the typical RV style pressure regulator, which is not
much larger than a hose fitting.
Valterra does offer high pressure fresh water hoses with ratings
of 120 psi and 160 psi. These hoses could have solved the
bloated hose issue.
We had another issue with the fresh water hose. In most
RV parks, we found that the 25’ hose was not quite long enough to
reach the park water faucet. We had to connect the second
25’ water hose to complete the connection. Quite often we
were only a couple of feet short.
Shower spray force is the usual metric for water pressure.
The real metric is the flow rate (gallons per minute). In
your fresh water system, the flow rate will be that of the lowest
device in the system. This includes the hose (diameter too
small), the pressure regulator, and the water filters. Any
one of these can give you a weak shower spray.
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We found Kwik Link Ultra
water hoses on the Internet. They make custom length very
high pressure water hoses with 200 psi ratings. The hose fittings
are made from stainless steel. We had a 35’ hose made for
us. Now we don’t have to worry about what park water pressure
might do to our hose, and the extra 10’ has meant we have only needed
one hose since we got the Ultra hose.
<update>
We were so happy with the Ultra hose we got, that we replaced the short
hose from the filter to the trailer water inlet and the secondary
hose when we need to go a long distance. This time we acquired
the hoses from
The RV Water
Filter Store. with our new filters. The RV Water Filter
Store makes the same hoses as Kwik Link. We still need to
replace the hose we use for tank flushing.
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The typical RV water pressure regulator does a good job of protecting
the RV pluming from high park water pressures. However, the
flow rating of these regulators is 1 gallon per minute. We
chose to use a household regulator because it was rated for a maximum
flow of 4.5 gallons per minute. Higher flow makes the shower
feel better than higher pressure. We have a
Watts N35B regulator. We put a hose connection fitting
on the input to the pressure regulator. We connected a pressure
gauge taken from a standard RV regulator gauge combination.
We have a hose quick disconnect between the pressure gauge and the
water filter. From the water filter we have a short hose to
the trailer water inlet.
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We used a single water filter. We had this old half-width
crate. We cut a hole in the bottom and use it to hold the filter.
When we travel, the filter and pressure regulator and the short
hose to the water inlet, fit into the crate. |
click on images to enlarge |
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<update>
The trouble with a standard RV water filters is that they do
not sustain a good water flow rate and they clog up rather quickly.
We decided to get a better water filter system. We also decided
to go to a dual filter system with a sediment filter and a charcoal
filter. We wanted a better water flow rate so we choose jumbo
filter canisters. We found what we wanted at
The RV Water
Filter Store. The RV Water Filter Store is run by RVers
and really know what an RVer needs. |
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<update>
We reused our Watts regulator. We added a Tee just before
the filters so that we had a source of pressure regulated but unfiltered
water. We also added another gauge, that we also acquired
from The RV
Water Filter Store, so that we can monitor what the park water
pressure is going into the regulator. |
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<update>
We put the filters with the regulator setup into a storage tub.
This keeps the filters out of the sunlight and makes the setup a
little more neat. We can put the water hoses into the tub
for traveling.
With our new dual jumbo canister filters, our shower spray now
feels like a regular house shower. |
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We use hose quick disconnects between everything. We just
don’t like twisting hose connections. We have quick disconnects
on the Y connection we put on the park water faucet, the two fresh
water hoses, the pressure regulator filter unit, the hose to the
trailer inlet, the trailer inlet, the adapter hose we use to fill
the fresh water tank, the spray nozzles we carry, the hose we use
for flushing the black water tank, and the black water tank spray
input.
As a result of our experience with Training Wheels, we found
that we prefer plastic hose quick disconnects. The brass type
fittings we bought for use with the motorhome corroded. The
quick disconnect between the pressure gauge and water filter is
a brass unit we purchased from Wal-Mart. This Wal-Mart quick
disconnect is heavier than the ones we tried previously and so far
has not shown any signs of corrosion. If in the longer term,
this brand of fitting proves to be non-corrosive, we may change
out all the plastic fittings. Currently we get our standard
quick disconnects from Home Depot. |
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The reason we have the one brass quick disconnect is that we ran out of plastic
pieces. You need to standardize on one brand and buy extra pieces.
Pieces will wear out and new uses will arise. Murphy's Law says that
you will not be able to find addition quick disconnect pieces when you need them. |
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The water inlet for the Travel Supreme is on the side of the
trailer. Attaching a hose to water inlets is not easy.
The finger wheel to tighten the connection is problematic.
We use quick disconnects to simplify this. The water inlet
on our motorhome was inside a compartment and we left the quick
disconnect attached. With the trailer, we had this door over
the water inlet to deal with. We found that by attaching a
45° adapter to the inlet, it would stick through the access hole
in the door. We could leave the quick disconnect on the 45°
adapter. When we travel, we attach a capped quick disconnect
to seal the inlet. |
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There was a side benefit to the adapter sticking out the inlet door.
The quick disconnect gives us a visual indicator for
the end of the trailer when viewed from Red Rover's mirrors. |
