I had picked up a water shut off but noticed my sprayer and results using a fireman's hose was underwhelming. I first thought it was fireman's nozzle so I switched back to a mult-position sprayer but still pressure drop and the cause was the water shut off. I ended up doing some looking and found out Gilmour makes 3 different flow rate water shut offs. Most places sell the Gilmour 03V model which has about a 1/2-in inside diameter. They also make a 03VHF model which states for high flow plus they make an metal (not brass) full flow model. The unit on the left is the full flow and the one on the right is what you find most often. The 03V usually sells for about $7, the HF sells for about $9, and the full flow sells for about the same (cheaper because it is not brass). If you have low water pressure or problems with flow the water shut off can make a difference. DSC_2491
If you have low water pressure, wouldn't the more narrow 03V be better? Since the pressure is low, the narrow opening would allow less water through, building more pressure behind it as water builds up hose...or am I wrong?
The fact is that if you add any shut off valves before the nozzle it will diminish or cut the flow pressure to the nozzle.. its a basic fact of plumbing.. I took mine off for that very reason. I prefer the greater pressure to the convienience of a shut off valve...
The full flow will not reduce it that much but you do need to see at all pressure loses (every connection from your water source).
I just tried a hose with a brass home depot shutoff valve and brass multiposition sprayer, the brass sprayer without shutoff, brass shutoff valve with the craftsman fireman nozzle, and the craftsman fireman nozzle. I stood in one spot and the distance sprayed for each combination were all within a foot of each other. If the shutoff valve is right at the end of those, it shouldn't really matter much since the pressure backup from the nozzle itself will extend up the hose behind the shutoff valve in any event. Now if you have a shutoff valve further upstream that is too small, that could cause some problems similar to getting a kink in your hose.
It may depend on the system water pressure. When we installed a whole house water softener, the pressure in the house dropped. If I run water before the water softener and pressure reduction valve (but I think it is wide open so no real impact) the pressure is much better.
