Town Water Pressure ReductionThere was a convincing demonstration by member Malcolm Weir (2534) at that park of the value of a "pressure reduction" device. Two identical hoses (the fire hose type which wind up flat onto a reel) were connected to the same tap, one directly and the other via a 2:1 pressure reduction device. In both the "water flowing" and the "water not flowing" situation, the directly connected hose was "rock hard" whereas the one connected via the pressure reducer was relatively "squashy". (Not a very scientific measurement... but you get the message!) As soon as we got home from that trip I set about strengthening our defences against high water pressure. First, all the plastic fittings had to go... mainly the two way splitter used to connect to the park water tap. Pressure Reduced Connections to Park Tap The tap splitter is now a metal Moss G622 (from Bunnings $15.97). It has a good feature in that you can hold it facing any direction whilst tightening it on the tap. The individual taps on it are a reasonable size making them easy to turn. We use a two-way splitter as, quite often, a park tap has to be shared with other sites. The pressure reducer is in fact a pressure limiting valve (AVG PLV15-350) as used on hot water systems etc. It reduces any pressure above 350 Kilo Pascals (up to a maximum of 2,000 Kilo Pascals) back to 350 Kilo Pascals (approx 50 psi). When tried at home (we have relatively high water pressure) it certainly did that, both in the flow and non flow condition. The rock hard hose pipe was magically made squashy! (The type of hose used is not relevant to the pressure reduction) Cost of the PLV with appropriate adaptors was $57.68 from Plumbing Plus in Fyshwick ACT. With the adaptors, it adds an extra 125 mm (5 inches) to the connection.
Hopefully, we will now be able to sleep soundly in our Sportliner A'van with
the mains water still connected!
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