Water pressure gauges

[Bill Dufour]

A pressure gauge should be capable of reading roughly double the normal operating pressure to be most accurate. So that 200PSi gauge should be used to measure around 100 PSi. Which seems the perfect range for home water supplies.
Bill D.

[Lee Schierer]

Neighbor put a Pressure Reducing valve in to drop his house to 80 psi. I changed the pressure tank on the hot water tank to double the size, two different solutions to same problem.

Can you explain how changing the size of the pressure tank changed the pressure?

[Mike Cutler]

I agree on the Ashcroft gauges. WGG is also pretty good. Used to use both of these in extreme environments that no gauge survived long in, but these did the best.

Yeah, we don't have extreme ambient environments, other than radiation, and that doesn't really have an effect on analog gauges.
Typically a stainless steel gauge will be for liquid process. Brass for gasses, and fire systems, and Monel for sea water. We have some special types for sulfuric, and hydrochloric acid. I haven't found any that last very long with sodium hypochlorite.

That's a nice gauge in your followup post. I need to recharge and reset my well pump tank, and I can screw that right onto the hose connection at the tank. Have to see if they have one in a 0-100psig range.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Yeah, we don't have extreme ambient environments, other than radiation, and that doesn't really have an effect on analog gauges.
Typically a stainless steel gauge will be for liquid process. Brass for gasses, and fire systems, and Monel for sea water. We have some special types for sulfuric, and hydrochloric acid. I haven't found any that last very long with sodium hypochlorite.

That's a nice gauge in your followup post. I need to recharge and reset my well pump tank, and I can screw that right onto the hose connection at the tank. Have to see if they have one in a 0-100psig range.

The extreme environment I'm speaking of is farm sprayer and applicator. Constant vibration of the machine, usually in a rolling dust cloud situation, a variety of chemicals and pH. Found phosphorous fertilizer, 10-34-0 to be the worst usually, it crystalized with practically no reason and just destroyed things. Gauges had to be reasonably priced to so that they could be disposable, I didn't mention that but both of those makes are.

[Tom Stenzel]

Stephen

Look for an Ashcroft, 2-1/2" to 4", stainless steel ,glycerin filled gauge, in the range you need. You need to determine if you want bottom mount, or back mount.
This gauge can stay under pressure for the rest of your life.
Other than when they are being calibrated, I have had Ashcroft's, US Gauge ,and Helicoid's, at work, under pressure ,since the early 70's when the were installed.

"Test" gauge is a term. Generally it will be a more resolute gauge, perhaps with a higher accuracy spec, with customer feature, such as MIN/MAX memory needles, defined areas of interest,or suppressed and elevated zero's. Stuff like that. It's still a basic gauge inside.

In the boiler room at the plant I was at there was a big 12" gauge for the air pressure (normally 80-110 psi). It was installed in 1939 and still working when I left in 2012.

One problem with a permanently installed water gauge is freezing in the winter. The expansion will can damage the Bourdon tube and wreck the gauge.

-Tom

[Jerome Stanek]

My pressure gauge on my water supply has been working for 50 years now. Never had to replace it

[Myk Rian]

Ok, but I'm not sure that any gauge would be designed to be continuously under pressure.

You've never worked in industry. Gauges are designed to be under pressure 24/7/365.25

I want to install a gauge upstream of a pressure regulator on the main water line to a house. If that's not advisable, I want to make a provision to temporarily install a gauge there to test water pressure.

Go ahead and install it where convenient. Attach a valve to the line, and the gauge to that.

[Bill Dufour]

My Dad put a used gauge on a outdoor faucet around 1975. It is still there and working 45 years latter. No idea how old it was when installed, probably not more then ten years old then. the guage on the air compressor is at most 1950 or older.
Bill D

[Mike Cutler]

In the boiler room at the plant I was at there was a big 12" gauge for the air pressure (normally 80-110 psi). It was installed in 1939 and still working when I left in 2012.

One problem with a permanently installed water gauge is freezing in the winter. The expansion will can damage the Bourdon tube and wreck the gauge.

-Tom

Tom
Here in New England, any process instrumentation that is outside is heat traced and in an insulated Hoffman Enclosure, with a plexiglass door.
One winter, about twenty years ago, the Long Island Sound Temps, in the Vicinity of Niantic Bay, got cold enough to freeze standing salt water. Lot's of gauges had to be replaced. Condenser efficiency for the turbine was amazing the following spring. The water stayed cold into July.

[Mike Cutler]

The extreme environment I'm speaking of is farm sprayer and applicator. Constant vibration of the machine, usually in a rolling dust cloud situation, a variety of chemicals and pH. Found phosphorous fertilizer, 10-34-0 to be the worst usually, it crystalized with practically no reason and just destroyed things. Gauges had to be reasonably priced to so that they could be disposable, I didn't mention that but both of those makes are.

Steve
Ashcrofts have an installed snubber in the stem. Sometimes you can just take it out, as that is where the restriction develops. Never played with fertilizer, so it might not work like it works on salt water.