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Last Changed 2/10/2009
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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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Here we used a single water filter. This was the highest flow filter we could find at Camping World.
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. |
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We finally get it right |
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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 reducing the potential
for organism growth. This also 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. The better quality brass disconnects have appeared at 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. |
