Arizona's Profilers

High Water Pressure With a Regulator.

Of course you always use a pressure regulator when you are hooked up to the Campground water supply. This little device prevents your water lines from getting over pressured and saves you from having a leak. Right?

Well... Yes and No.

The water supply isn't the only source of high water pressure. Your little, friendly, reliable water heater can be the cause of some major problems. As we all know, there is always a small amount of air in the top of the water heater A to allow for expansion@ . Or there should be. If you seldom drain the heater after a season of camping, then that bit of air will dissolve into the water and there is now no more room to expand. What happens? The pressure on the water system builds up until something relieves it.

It could be as simple as opening a faucet. Note a sudden blast of water pressure, before things return to normal? You have water expansion-itis. If you are hooked up to fresh water and are not using a pressure regulator, this will not happen. If your water pump has a slow reverse leak in one of the check valves, this will likely not happen. If, however, everything in your water system is working perfectly, then there are two ways to solve the pressure rise before it blows apart some piece of plumbing pipe. Remember, the part that fails will ALWAYS be in the most difficult and inaccessible spot in your unit.

The simple fix, go drain that water heater occasionally. Annually should do it. Let the air bubble back in. Sure you will still have the expansion and some pressure rise, but usually not enough to cause a failure in the trailer.

Finally, where to drain the water heater? Most recent water heaters have a plastic plug screwed into the drain hole. A 7/8" wrench should loosen the plug where it can be removed with your fingers. After draining, replace it. Not too tight! Remember how tight it was to take out. All you need is tight enough to prevent leakage. You can always re-tighten a bit if there is some leakage. Other trailers might have a petcock similar to the old radiator drain valves. These simply turn to open, and turn back to close. The opening is much smaller, obviously, thus the drain time will be much longer. Have patience and a cup of coffee while you wait. The time spent draining will benefit you later.

If this fails to solve your problem and you still experience a pipe break, don't come to us. Blame the guy that wrote the article in the RV magazine that you read in the barber shop where you got this tip.