Pressure Regulators

Pressure Regulators and Pressure Relief Valves

Pressure Relief Valves

There are several ways to regulate pressure in a watering system.  A pressure relief valve is used to divert water out of the system should the pressure be exceeded.  Normally this water would be diverted back in to the water tank.  The pressure that the relief valve opens at is adjustable and is ideal for systems that rely on a large pump that service both high and low flow situations.  The pressure relief valve will prevent damage to the pump should a fault occur or on low flow zones it will prevent the water in the pump heating up or for serious damage to occur to the pump or the pipe. 

Pressure Regulators

Pressure regulators are not the same as pressure relief valves.  I pressure regulator is installed inline and it controls the amount of pressure that a particular zone will work out.  AS an example if the maximum pressure that is required for a drip or spray line is 4 bar then we would want to make sure that the pressure in this line stays below 4 bar and would probably set the pressure regulator to 3 bar so as to make sure that damage does not occur.  So unlike a pressure relief valve which allows water to divert a pressure regulator controls the pressure