Mixing Valve Recommendations?
- Thread starter sir_keith
- Start date
I had wanted to do one of those in the garage. From researching Amazon reviews, it sounds like most of them, once dialed in hold the temp well. I did see some complaints on some brands that said the threading was not standard, some said it was a weird metric size and it made for some difficult plumbing.
This topic is of interest to me too.
This topic is of interest to me too.
I double checked the one in my Amazon wish list and it was listed as:
- US STANDARD FITTINGS -Coming with 3 PCS G1/2 British straight thread to 1/2NPT adapters.
- I would not buy this one due to the extra fittings and the potential for leaks, I would get one that was already standard threading, Im going to change the one in my wish list accordingly.
John58Ford
Well-Known Member
I use one of these all the time and love it. I thought we talked about it here somewhere already.
A link to a build thread I did years ago on fishlore:
www.fishlore.com
The link to the one I use:
Can say I've been very happy with the build, used it since 2021, only thing I changed was using a ball valve master instead of a gate valve. $3 upgrade lol.
A link to a build thread I did years ago on fishlore:
John's DIY auto-temp fast/easy fill system | Cleaning and Maintenance Forum
Good evening fishlorians. Continuing my drive to make my fish room more little helper friendly, I have finished making sure that it isn't "required" to be able to haul a bucket or roll a barrel through the house. This thread will list the parts required and how I built my fast fill system...
The link to the one I use:
Can say I've been very happy with the build, used it since 2021, only thing I changed was using a ball valve master instead of a gate valve. $3 upgrade lol.
Aha @John58Ford! I was waiting for you to reply (Thanks!) because I remember that we talked about this in the past. And I'm glad to see in the link that you are still happy with this setup after 3+ years. So I think I'll go with the plan.I use one of these all the time and love it. I thought we talked about it here somewhere already.
A link to a build thread I did years ago on fishlore:
John's DIY auto-temp fast/easy fill system | Cleaning and Maintenance Forum
Good evening fishlorians. Continuing my drive to make my fish room more little helper friendly, I have finished making sure that it isn't "required" to be able to haul a bucket or roll a barrel through the house. This thread will list the parts required and how I built my fast fill system...
The link to the one I use:
Can say I've been very happy with the build, used it since 2021, only thing I changed was using a ball valve master instead of a gate valve. $3 upgrade lol.
One question- rather than the mixing valve you used, which requires the G1/2 British straight thread to 1/2NPT adapters, why not use the unit below, as suggested by @DMD123, which has US Standard 1/2NPT Thread outlets? That seems to be the unit in the pic I posted initially.
Mixing Valve with US 1/2NPT
John58Ford
Well-Known Member
I have no reason I could offer to not use a different one, only a positive experience to share about a specific one. Can't prove a negative very easily so honestly that one's worth trying too. In my case other than specific chemistry and math, I usually only recommend the things I have experience using. I totally believe a water mixing system is the way to go in a fish room doing calculated water changes like we do. Not so worth it for someone doing 24 hour drip lines and overflows. Either way you go I think you'll be pretty happy with the outcome, and tapping in before the faucet gives such a great flow rate I could never go back to filling from a faucet or faucet attachment.
This is what makes refilling my 300 such a pain because I use the closest water source which is a low volume bathroom fixture, even with aeration off its likely only about 1.5 gpm. My laundry room faucet was chosen for its higher gph, I believe it is 2.2 gpm, and it makes quick work of refilling. I did notice other refill vales that had 3/4” threads… wonder if it would make any difference?
John58Ford
Well-Known Member
I doubt it would make much difference having 3/4 vs 1/2 unless your whole home has lower water pressure, and your sources have bigger fittings than mine. My source valves are only 3/8. I stepped the thing up to a rv freshwater hose (same connections as a standard garden hose) and get excess of 5 gallons per minute, as the hot water runs lower in temperature I get closer to 3 gallons per minute. If I manage to run out of hot water it basically shuts the hose off to a trickle but so far that's only happened one time, while doing white laundry, running the dishwasher and having the boys showering after a baseball game(white knickers are the death of baseball but they do look good). That's a feature I really appreciate about this mixing system though, instead of surprise freezing the fish, it just slows down until you can safely do the job.
John58Ford
Well-Known Member
Oh and on that topic, once you set it up, make sure to run the hot water tap at the sink until you get hot water before trying to run the filler system. Trying to heat the pipe from the filler itself takes forever thanks to it throttling down so far because it doesn't have any hot water to open the valve with.
For me I have a tankless, gas water heater with a short run of pipe to where I would install it, so really no issues for me. Ive been considering doing this for a while now, @sir_keith got me rethinking this project in my garage.