Paid $80 for a cheap pressure regulator and it saved my pump on a job last week

I was out on a driveway clean in Portland last Tuesday and the water pressure at the client's house was way higher than normal. My machine was surging bad and I knew if I kept going I'd blow a seal or worse. I had this little brass regulator in my van I grabbed off Amazon for like 80 bucks and figured why not try it. Hooked it up between the spigot and my hose and the difference was instant. Machine ran smooth the whole rest of the job and I didn't have to stop every 20 minutes to check for leaks. Now I'm thinking I shoulda bought one years ago after all the headaches I've had. Anyone else run into sketchy water pressure on residential jobs?

3 comments

3 Comments

wesleyb2013d ago

Yeah I've had that happen a few times out in the suburbs where the fire hydrants are close. One job in Beaverton the pressure was so high it was shaking the whole pressure washer frame. I threw a cheap regulator on and it calmed right down like night and day. Saved me from having to replace a pump that same afternoon. You got a link to that brass one you used?

quinncarr12d ago

Man that pump shake is no joke, I've been there with a cheap unit myself and it's gut-wrenching watching it rattle like it's about to blow. @wesleyb20 you made the right call throwing that regulator on before it gave out, those pumps are ten times the headache of a fitting. I don't have a specific link handy but any solid brass inline regulator from a hardware store should do the trick if you check the GPM matching your machine. Saved me a weekend of swearing when I swapped one in on a rental property job last year. The peace of mind alone is worth the few bucks over cheap plastic ones that crack in a season.

joel_jones12d ago

Nah man I gotta disagree. Brass regulators are overkill for most residential jobs and can actually restrict flow more than you think. I've run cheap plastic ones for years on high pressure jobs and they hold up fine if you just replace them every season. The real trick is making sure your feed line is big enough and not kinked, that causes way more pump issues than a regulator ever fixes.