I did a crude flow test today and the new regulator actually did pretty well. Not as good as a big Cash or Watts, but OK.
Here's the set-up:
Water pressure: 52 psi
Water source: 3/4 inch pipe feeding a 5/8 inch, 50 foot hose
Bucket marked at the 2 gallon line
Wrist watch with digital seconds display
I repeated each test twice to get consistency but the measurement is admittedly coarse, with me eyeballing the 2 gallon fill line and the seconds ticking away on my digital watch. The fil rate was very fast and there was a fair amount of splash in two of three configurations, so the numbers are approximations.
No regulator: 12 seconds for 2 gallons
Watts N35B regulator: 12 seconds for 2 gallons
Valterra Hi Flow regulator: 17 seconds for 2 gallons
That works out to 10 pm for the unregulated flow and the Watts, so probably that's the max flow the 5/8" hose would handle. The Valterra delivered "only" 7 gpm, but that's probably better than the plumbing of the typical RV, which is often only 3/8 plastic tubing with innumerable fittings and bends. Actually a pretty good performance, I'd say.
As I recall, the regular version of the Valterra regualtors (I think they areactually a Marshall Brass product) deliver about 2-3 GPM, but I haven't owned one in years. Maybe somebody who has a recent model could try a measurement and report?
