Add water regulator & plumbed into fresh & black tank flush

I finally got around to adding the pressure regulator into the water bay. This time around I purchased one with an oil filled gauge to hopefully help extend it's useful life. I picked it up on Amazon for $34. Pic #1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N7JZTYX/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The process was fairly simple once I figured out what I wanted to do. And of course a Home Depot run where I bought a bunch of stuff that I mostly returned later.

The hardest part was figuring out what kind fittings I needed to buy to adapt the 1/2" NPT fitting to the 3/4" fittings on the regulator. Searching them out was time consuming. It turned out I just needed 2 fittings and a length of good water hose.

The first one needed to be a 1/2" male to a 3/4" female to attach the regulator to the hose reel. The regulator was next, and then the water "Y" to split the feed.  The left side of the "Y" connects a 2' piece of hose to the main water feed for the RV. Another 1/2" male to 3/4" female  was needed here.

The right side of the "Y" connect to the black tank flush. The inlet already has in inline back flow preventer to keep things safe. A short 6" in piece of hose made that connection. I purchased a 4' piece of Camco 160# nylon reinforced hose and cut it in half to make the needed pieces.

Pic #2

A few hose repair ends and the connection was complete. If I ever find some short pieces of braided stainless washer hoses, I can replace the nylon hoses. Teflon tape was used to wrap all fittings to keep them water tight.

Pic #3

The whole mod was less than $50. And now I don't need a separate hose to do a tank flush. Just a turn of the lever and I can flush the black tank.
If I am ever in a place I need to flush and  I can't hook up the on board hose for some reason, I can still spin off the short hose and hook up to the tank flush. 

I know some folks are concerned about putting a regulator on the outside faucet to protect the water hose. But honestly in 20 years of RVing I have never had a water hose blow due to pressure.

Nice job Sarge. The only thing different I would have done is the line going to the flusher, I would have tried to tap into the system before the regulator thereby getting maximum water pressure for the flusher. Right now the pressure is being regulated which may work for you.  In my case, I want the highest pressure I can get to flush. So back at the pedestal, If there aren't 2 valves, I put a "Y" there and connect my fresh water hose on one side and the flusher on the other side.
I also added a second gauge to tell me what the CG pressure is before it goes through the regulator. Not really needed but I just wanted to monitor that. Like here at the CG we're at, the pressure is 80 PSI but I have the regulator set at about 50 PSI. So now when flushing, I get 80 PSI of water pressure. Looking at your situation, it looks like you're limited because of space.  You would have had to put a "T" in the line before the regulator and connect the flusher to that "T" with it's own shut off.

Looks good and very convenient.

But am I the only one that cringes a bit with the black and fresh water plumbed together?

Tom

Heli_av8tor said:

Looks good and very convenient.

But am I the only one that cringes a bit with the black and fresh water plumbed together?

Tom

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Nope, I wondered about that too. It has a shut off on the Y, but I would have added a redundant check valve.

Heli_av8tor said:

Looks good and very convenient.

But am I the only one that cringes a bit with the black and fresh water plumbed together?

Tom

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I dont cringe a little ...I cringe a lot. All valves will eventually leak and let contaminated water into the potable system if the right conditions exist. If a water mail breaks or a fire department connects to a hydrant and drops pressure it can suck poop water into the mains.  Been there and done that.

catblaster said:

I dont cringe a little ...I cringe a lot. All valves will eventually leak and let contaminated water into the potable system if the right conditions exist. If a water mail breaks or a fire department connects to a hydrant and drops pressure it can suck poop water into the mains.  Been there and done that.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't be concerned because RV tank flusher goes through a Vacuum break/backflow preventer (if installed by the RV manufacturer, per RVIA). To be extra sure I added a second Backflow preventer in the splitter, but it's really not needed. Note that the Flush valve is normally off - it's only opened to flush the tank.

ken

I would've added a second shut off valve at the inlet.  I'm less concerned about the contamination than I am about being Robin Williams in the movie RV with the contents of the black tank coming up through the vent . 

Good advice on the pressure requirement Rene. After some experience I may add another "Y" at the flush inlet in case a separate hose is needed to get the flush done. 

SargeW said:

The inlet already has in inline back flow preventer to keep things safe.

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In case anyone missed this in the first part of the post.  I disassembled the inlet prior to assembling the new parts. About 5 years experience with this brass back flow preventer in my previous Phaeton has shown it to be reliable.

Ken & Sheila said:

I wouldn't be concerned because RV tank flusher goes through a Vacuum break/backflow preventer (if installed by the RV manufacturer, per RVIA). To be extra sure I added a second Backflow preventer in the splitter, but it's really not needed. Note that the Flush valve is normally off - it's only opened to flush the tank.

ken

Click to expand...

That the right way, an air gap and a backflow....good job Ken

Looks good, Marty, although my own preference is to mount the regulator at the spigot so the hose is also protected.

NY_Dutch said:

Looks good, Marty, although my own preference is to mount the regulator at the spigot so the hose is also protected.

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Yeah, I get it Dutch. But as I said, I have never lost a hose to pressure. I have however heard of folks losing a regulator to theft. The only water item I have ever lost was a water filter that burst due to freezing (my fault).

SargeW said:

Yeah, I get it Dutch. But as I said, I have never lost a hose to pressure. I have however heard of folks losing a regulator to theft. The only water item I have ever lost was a water filter that burst due to freezing (my fault).

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I agree a quality hose should be OK, but I have seen a few hoses turn into sprinklers over the years when the line pressure exceeded the hose rating. We were in a park a couple of years ago where the line pressure went up to ~150 PSI during the night when the town fired up a pump to refill the water tower next to the park. The park had signs in the office and at each site, but I guess some folks didn't believe them...

After using my tank flush for a while, I could see I needed a modification to the waste line flush. The really short hose to the flush inlet eventually kinked in the middle, due to the bay heating up in the sunlight.

So I added a few more 90 degree street L's and another water "Y". The water "Y" will give me another inlet in case I need to hook up to a dump station hose. I also added a back flow preventer up where it's visible. A double hose connector and 3/4" nipple, and it all screwed together. It's also a good idea to pick up a few extra hose washers for the 90 degree "L" fittings when you put them together. It's easier to keep them from leaking.

BTW, if you have a hard time finding the 90 degree fittings, it's because they are in the sprinkler section at H/D, not in the usual section with the rest of the PVC stuff.