Water pressure

[Bill B /bus]

I have seen water pressures over 100PSI. A campground in Kentucky, they warned use not to hook up unless we had a pressure regulator. Measured the pressure at 110PSI. These high pressures don't happen often but when they due you will be in trouble.

Bill

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

Me too.  I fill my tanks before I leave on a trip and rely on my 3.0 GPM SHURflo water pump to do all of the work.  Then I hook up water and sewer usually before I run out and fill and dump.  I do not like to travel with dry tanks as some folks do for weight and balance just in case this old bus breaks down and I have to live in it on the side of the road for a while.

The last time I hooked up to park water was about 5 months ago and came home to a big puddle of water under my bus.  Someone had turned the park water faucet off before I returned...thankfully.  I turned the water back on and heard water running which it should not have been. I went inside and discovered water running into my bay from behind my shower wall.

I had to cut an access hole behind my shower, which was behind two large heavy pantry slides, to find the problem.  One of the water lines had blown off the shower handle fitting and was spraying inside the wall.  Thankfully it ran down the wall and out in one of my bays so it did not do any real damage.

Another time I was returning to a campground and saw water running out someones entrance door on their trailer. I turned it off.  Not sure what they came home to but I assume they too had a broken water line inside.

New RV's if plumbed correctly with PEX should not leak with line pressure up to a bit over 100 PSI, but these older buses may not be leak proof under pressure.  Some have good old copper pipes that may never leak. However unless you did all of the plumbing yourself and know what you are doing, anything can go wrong and even a toilet can stay running after you walk out of the coach and overflow. It has happened to me if the drain closes but the incoming water valve sticks open.

Bottom line, I use my own water pump which does not put out much pressure for a shower and the potty may not flush as complete as it could, but with that low pressure you are not likely to have a leak, but you never know.  You can use a water pressure relief valve, but even under low pressure, you may still spring a leak or a toilet valve can stick open then you have an endless supply of water filling up your coach.

I also have a water pump switch on my dash and if I plan to leave the bus for a couple of days, I will generally shut it off. I figure it is good insurance. I only have a 200 gallon fresh water tank, but 200 gallons can do a lot of damage. 

I think every bus and RV I have had has had water leaks at one time so I do everything I can to prevent is as they tend to spring a leak when you least expect it and may have to get up in the middle of the night (like I have) to the sound of spraying water and have to fix the leak and mop up the mess.

[richard5933]

We live in a house with a well & pump. The pressure tank switch turns on the pump at 40psi and off at 60psi. That means we do all we have to do at home with water pressure between 40-60psi and everything works well. Higher pressure is not needed, unless you plan to pressure wash yourself in the shower.

What make the lower pressure work is water flow. Having a pump that can keep up with the flow required is all the difference in have a pleasant shower and feeling like you're showering under a trickle. The fixtures in the bus, especially the shower head, must be matched to the capability of the pump. Our pump puts out 3.5 gpm and we matched the shower head to be one that performs well on this flow.

I have a mix of copper tubing and nylon braided hose in our water system and would never trust it to be safe connected to a park system without a high quality pressure regulator. Even then, when we leave the bus for any reason we turn off the pump, as once we didn't and came back to an empty tank and a very wet bus. (Cause was a bad hose clamp application on my part).

[luvrbus]

I have 2-5.7 gals @ 65 psi pumps tied in parallel it's going to take it all for the dw's clawfoot tub and rain forest shower,the 2-5.7 pumps should work and save me from buying a headhunter pump.I like the headhunter pump but not the price   

[PP]

The best water system I ever experienced was in our old skoolie. I installed a 90 gal steel boiler tank with a 12V air compressor that came on at 85PSI and kicked off at 125PSI. I plumbed everything in flexible copper except the tap feed lines and never had a problem with leaks. The less water in the tank the longer the pressure stayed up between the pump kicking on. The DW loved it! Beat the heck out of pumping water through conventional water pumps.
Will