Low water pressure in Excella

[murf]

Please help! My wife and I are having a problem with low water pressure in our recently renovated 31' 1995 Excella. We bought it from a salvage yard and spent 9 months re-habbing it. Everything is great except the water pressure is so low that taking a shower is almost imposible and filling the sink to do dishes takes forever! We are connected to city water via the appropriate hose and our trailer is the only one in the campsite that has this problem. The toilet seems OK but even the bathroom sink seems slow. The hot water is worse than the cold.

Under the kitchen counter top there is a black-plastic domed "filter(?) that has an air pressure valve on it that I don't know what it is or does. It is inline with the cold water line.

I've tried cleaning the inlet filter screen and even tried bypassing the regular inlet and feeding in throught the outside water spigot (as an experiment) and the water pressure is still low. What am I missing?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Murf

[thenewkid64]

Murf,

It sounds like the internal pressure regulator has a blockage or has been miss-adjusted. The regulator is the thing that looks like a brass dome with a screw or bolt sticking out of the top of it. If you have pex tubing (the grey plastic stuff) you could attempt to temporally bypass it and see if that is the problem. I highly recommend not making the bypass permanent as some campgrounds can have 60psi water pressure and this would surely cause a failure in your plumbing system. Opening your door when you get home and having a wave come out would not be fun!

[Jim W]

Murf, is your pressure better when you disconnect the water hose & turn on the water pump. The water pump is independent of the pressure regulater, so if your pressure is low every where when hooked up to water inlet hose, but much better on the water pump, it would probably be the pressure regulater is faulty or needs to be adjusted. On mine, the pressure regulater is just inside the unit in the back where the hose hook up is. Its under the road side twin bed.

[FrankR]

Here is my guess....There is some obstruction in the water inlet line. When water pressure regulators fail, the pressure doesn't decrease. What would make the spring get tighter?? My suggestion would be, with city water attached, to go to each outlet, in order of supply. Check volumn and pressure. If no good at rear bath, bugs or dirt is in the supply line. Remove water heater drain plug. Check for volumn and pressure. If all else fails, connect 50-60 psi air line to kitchen sink. Remove city water connection. Turn on the air and stand back........ When testing faucets, remove aireator and filter in spout. The 3/8th line is very easy to restrict......

[murf]

Well, thanks folks for the suggestions. I have tried using the water pump instead of city water and my water pressure increases to a much better level. Using the water pump (not the city water) I tested all the faucets and the shower and they ALL showed a marked improvement. I've gotta think that it's the regulator...but WHERE IS IT?

I have the mid bath and the hot water tank is located in a very awkward position making it virtually impossible to see the water inlet. The piping under there is CRAZY! After the water comes into the trailer there is this weird loop; on onside there is a shut-off valve (not shown in the manual) and the other side of the loop seems to loop around and bypass this valve. Located in the middle of this "bypass loop" is a brass fitting about 3 inches long. It appears to be a check valve. There are no adjustments on it. Is that it?

I can see the pressure relief valve for the black water flush out but there is no pressure valve that I can see. I'm told it may be right at the water hook-up for the city water but after removing the 4 screws that hold the water inlet flange all I can see there is a white plastic fitting. Again, there aren't any adjustments on it either. Could that be it? If so...Heaven Help me! How do you get it out of there? Yikes!

[thenewkid64]

Murf,

It sounds like the inlet for city water may have been modified. The valve and the 3 inch brass fitting are where I would start. The brass fitting you mention sounds like a pressure regulator. This may have failed or become clogged. If you look closely at it the end may have standard hose type connectors on them. I would remove it and by pass it temp. with a short garden hose. Also the valve you mention is it open all the way??

If this does not help, is there a way for you to get a picture and post it. You know what they say about pictures and a 1000 words.

[BobbyW]

Just curious. Are you using one of those inline water hose filters on your city water hook-up? Some of these only allow about a 1.5 gallon per minute feed to the trailer.

What kind of flow do you get if you remove your shower head?

Also, what kind of flow do you get out of your low point drain valves when hooked up to city water?

-BobbyWright

[murf]

Yes, I do have an in-line water filter but that was one of the first things I disconnected with no luck. When I disconnect the shower head the water pressure is still dismal. I have not tried the low point drain valves. Do you mean the petcocks that are located under the trailer and used to drain the water system for winterization? Thanks for your input!

I'll try to take some pictures the next time I get up there and post those. They really are worth 1,000 words.