Low point drain valve question

[Missionstreet]

Does anyone know if these "little" valves provide full flow when opened completely? I've got standard 1/2 pex lines from 1998.

I have a male garden hose thread to pex adapter that I was thinking of attaching on the underside so I could use it to run my pressure washer instead of running a new line to the outside. Is this a bad idea?

Thanks!

[2112]

Come back and let us know if it worked

[Missionstreet]

bucky wrote:
If you've got fresh connected to city water why are you not using the city water direct to the pressure washer?

This would be for instances where I do not have the "city" hookup.

[bucky]

If you've got fresh connected to city water why are you not using the city water direct to the pressure washer?

[Grit_dog]

My bad, didn't see your post before mine. If off the pressure side, give it a try. I bet it works just fine.

[Missionstreet]

Come to think of it I don't believe that the ball valve on my backyard spigot is even full width of the connecting pipe inside when wide open

[Grit_dog]

2112 wrote:
A consumer grade pressure washer uses very little water flow. About a gallon/minute.

With that said, I interpret your question as you have shore water pressure and want to tap off the cold low point drain as a matter of convenience. If so, I'm confident you would get enough water pressure and flow to stay up with the washer.

Try it and let us know how well it works.

Good point on where the drain is. I was presuming low point tank drain. Although the OP did not specify. Didn't specify the gpm requirement of his pressure washer though either, so??
If a pressure line, then with water pressure from the pump or city connection will be sufficient.

That said, just try it real quick. If a gravity line provides enough water, you'll know it. If it doesn't, you'll know it.

And the pontification is strong here, considering the OP could have stuck the pex fitting on in about the same time it takes to walk inside, fire up the electronic device and ask the question. No?


And to these points, this is easy to figure out. Know the gpm of your pressure washer and measure the flow of your source. Turn on, fill a milk jug, that's your gallon/however many minutes or fractions of a minute it takes to fill.

[Missionstreet]

I'm using a gas washer that runs just south of 3gpm.

I'd NOT be relying on gravity feed and would be running the water pump.

I just replaced the city rv water connection so I'd rather not fool with that.

[2112]

I sometimes open my low point drains while on shore water to flush the lines and quite a bit of water comes shooting out.

Is it 2 gal/min? Don't know

[way2roll]

I see power wash companies all the time around here with water tanks on trailers. I don't know for sure but I would think they are gravity fed. Similar principal as the OP's question. The RV onboard tank with LPD would be the same as the tank on the trailers for commercial PW companies.

I have an electric power washer at home and use the garden hose under pressure. Maybe the cheap ones like I have require more PSI.

[dougrainer]

2112 wrote:
A consumer grade pressure washer uses very little water flow. About a gallon/minute.

With that said, I interpret your question as you have shore water pressure and want to tap off the cold low point drain as a matter of convenience. If so, I'm confident you would get enough water pressure and flow to stay up with the washer.

Try it and let us know how well it works.

How many gallons per minute does a pressure washer take?
As mentioned above, pressure washers only average around 2-4 GPM of water consumption. That's about the same as the sink in your home which averages around 2.2 GPM. Compared to a hose which puts out 24 GPM. The low GPM and powerful quick cleaning means less overall water usage.

I think you will have hard time keeping up the volume if NOT on the larger pex size. Doug

[2112]

A consumer grade pressure washer uses very little water flow. About a gallon/minute.

With that said, I interpret your question as you have shore water pressure and want to tap off the cold low point drain as a matter of convenience. If so, I'm confident you would get enough water pressure and flow to stay up with the washer.

Try it and let us know how well it works.

[dougrainer]

The valves have about half the size of your Pex lines. I doubt you could get enough volume thru one of those valves for a pressure washer. Are you planning on using the RV water pump and fresh tank as your water source? If so, another way to do what you want is to remove the check valve in the City water input and install a standard water hose manual cut off. When on Water pump that valve stays OFF and when on City Water you turn the valve ON. Doug

[Grit_dog]

Depends. Look at the flow when you drain it. This is literally not a question we can answer. I've had campers trickle drain and others that run good.

But regardless, you have no pressure, so you won't get even close to adequate flow to feed your pressure washer. As in NO pressure.
Have to hook to the pressure side.