Water pressure gauge recommendation?

[Midwilshire]

Hi all,

Were starting the house plumbing and would like to put in a few water pressure gauges.  The ones at Home Depot look a little flimsy, and the local tractor supply only had 200 psi, while we're looking for something in the 60 to 100 psi range.  Anyone have a preferred source for these?

[Iceni John]

I bought two 100PSI gauges from Grainger for my fresh water system.   One reads the incoming city water pressure.   The other reads either the regulated city water pressure, or the output pressure of one or both of the pumps if using water from either or both tanks.   (I set the Watts pressure regulator and the pumps all at 45 PSI, so it won't matter whether I'm on city water or using tank water.)   These gauges have 1/8" NPT inlets on their backs, making them easy to connect to my regulator and manifold.   They're just basic import quality, but for non-critical applications like this they're fine.   I prefer to use gauges that read about twice the typical working pressure, as cheapo gauges are most accurate in the middle of their travel.   So far, so good.

John

[bevans6]

You'll want a 200 PSI gauge on the city water, because what you need to fear is indeed over-pressure.  I've heard of 125 psi sometimes, so I use a pressure limiting valve and hope it works.  I tend to buy gauges at industrial supply shops, they often have trays of them on special.

Brian

[luvrbus]

I saw a new bus that had a Watts pressure reducer built in it had 0-160 gauge on the inlet side and 0-125 for the outlet side oil filled gauges too so check a plumbing or irrigation supply house 

I know replacing the cheap gauges ACE sells for water tanks is a once a year thing for me

[Sam 4106]

Why not just use an adjustable pressure regulator, with gauge, set at your desired pressure, at the campground faucet? Then you know at a glance what pressure is going to the bus system. Our regulator is set at 45PSI which is the same as our FlowJet VSD water pump puts out. That is adequate pressure for our needs and won't damage the house system.

Good luck, Sam

[Ed Hackenbruch]

In the 30 years that our bus has been an rv there have never been gauges on the water system. More potential leaks for every fitting, how often are you going to be watching the gauge anyway? every time you turn on a faucet? We just fill the tank and run off of the pump even though we are able hook direct if we want to. If we are gone from the bus and a line breaks the very most we could lose is 100 gallons. Heard recently of some folks that were gone for most of the day and came back to find water had been coming out of their coach for hours.  A lot of times we even turn off the pump when we leave for the day. If i was to hook direct to city water i would do like Sam and use a regulator at the faucet, in fact i carry one that i have not used in years. No gauge on it though, just fixed at 45 psi if i remember right.  Years ago i had a fitting leaking and replaced it. I hooked up to city water in the rv park we were in to test it. Did not put the regulator on it, found out later that the pressure there fluctuated between 80 and 120 psi!  Nothing leaked.   

[luvrbus]

125 psi is common in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area the restaurant in Arcadia area runs about 150 psi FWIW so we used a Watts pressure and back flow prevent combo unit to protect the plumbing without it the toilets would jump off the floor lol

[Len Silva]

I first ran into it near Roanoke Va. in the seventies.  My old travel trailer had a pressurized water tank and the local pressure was well over 100 psi.  Blew out my tank which was under the bed on a near freezing night.  Bad day.  I was told that the pressure was so high because they were providing city water to customers up on the mountain.  Never go without a regulator.

[rusty]

Seven or eight years ago we stayed in an RV park in WaKeeney Kansas. When we got there in the evening we hooked up to the water and all seemed fine. We woke up in the morning to water running down the road. The water was coming from our Eagle. I went in the apologize to the owner and come to find out in the day the people sprinkle  their lawns and the tanks get empty and the pressure goes down. At night the tanks get full and the pressure goes up. Well it went up enough to blow a hose off. I but in a pressure regulator when we got home and no more problems.   A gauge would not have done any good.
Wayne

[lvmci]

Hi All, just like Len, started out many years ago in a travel trailer, learned to shut off water and pull plug or throw the breaker when leaving. I put a water filter, pressure regulator all built into a 5 gallon paint bucket with top, drilled holes for the hoses and could seal the bucket, sits on the ground outside, if anything leaks it happens outside, worked out well. When someone buys my rvs, they always want the bucket, lvmci...

[Midwilshire]

As always, great ideas.  We appreciate it!