Garden hoses and fittings

I agree that the brass fitting are far superior. I am not brand loyal and buy what I need from Bunnings. I have noticed that what is on offer varies over time, and brands also seem to change their offerings over time.

Thus I look at what is available when I am there and buy what seems to be the best value for money, and not necessarily the cheapest. Consequently I have fittings from a plethora of brands, but for us that mixing doesn’t seem to cause any problems.

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Is it just possible that Bunnings have worked it out?
The pain and cost of selling consumers incompatible fittings is greater than the cost of ensuring a compatibility across suppliers.

It looks like another one of those consumer product tests Choice could consider. The cost of purchasing the product available from various brands would be relatively low. The equipment needed to test reliability of the fittings minimal. More an investment in time. There is also the possibility to include the more common brands of hose, to test security of hose fittings?

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Pope and Holman are the big offenders here, but the ubiquitous “quick connect” hose fittings that are available everywhere, at the total exclusion of any other option, DO NOT WORK. Well, maybe that’s not fair – they work if the intent is to spray and leak water everywhere instead of sending water down the hose, but for those of us who want to transport ALL the water from the tap to the other end of the hose, in the manner of a hose, the design of these fittings are fundamentally flawed. For a country that’s so conscious of its water usage and experiences so much drought, selling these fittings should be a criminal offence.

Precisely why I switched to Hoselink some 15 years ago. Still have the HL hoses and tap fittings. Need to get new sprayer nozzles, the triggers didnt last as long.

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I received that recommendation in another forum too. I’m waiting for my first shipment now :). Frustrating though that I can’t just run down to the hardware store to buy them. The way they advertise and their exclusive single-source made me think they were shonky until all of these recommendations!

One of the reasons that cheaper plastic click-fittings sometimes leak is that their O-rings wear and are not replaced. If the rubber ring is stretched or not there at all each joint is going to leak. You can buy spares quite reasonably and it takes 30 seconds to replace them but few people bother, I suspect many do not realise that it is a problem. Another is that for a given size (say 12mm) different brands are only approximately compatible. You will get fewer leaks if you stick to a better brand and do not mix and match. I am not saying these two fixes will make everything wonderful and 100% water tight but they sure do help.

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Unless you are given to excessive hyperbole the courts will be clogged and the prisons overflowing even more than at present.

There are situations where $10 a fitting is just too costly. I have a portable system that has four sprayers from the same hose. Its purpose is to distribute to four fruit trees and put a slow spray right on each thus avoiding watering the whole orchard which would take many times as much water. The slow application also allows the small circle round each tree to soak in and not run off which adds to efficiency. A single sprayer would water a much bigger area too quickly and waste water both ways. The lower pressure in most branches of the system also reduces the volume of leaks if any joints are not perfect - and I do replace the O-rings as needed.

This requires seven branches of hose which adds up to 14 end connectors, three splitters, four sprinklers and an adapter which is too much money for any possible water saving. We need to consider that not all generalisations apply all the time when making decisions about saving resources.

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Another treatment that helps is to lubricate the O-rings. Every on-off cycle erodes a dry one and it takes just a little bit of erosion to start drips that become leaks.

Since adopting good practices of replacing O-rings from time to time and lubricating them our dogs breakfast of mixed not matched connections has been all but completely drip free save for one combination of brass and plastic that never would seat together properly.

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The O-rings are one of three points of failure. All up, the only solution is to replace the entire assembly. Frequently. Not sustainable, and not reasonable. Hence, shonky.

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This is the problem. The slightest bit of back pressure consistent with normal hose usage, and the tap is leaking and spraying everywhere. I’ve invested in a drip hose system, at the moment probably 40 m coming off of one tap, only cracked open. No amount of o-ring replacement and re-seating the hose crimp stops my veranda from flooding at the tap, and these are not very old brass fittings. And I have to be there when the timer stops to turn the tap off, which kind of obviates using the timer at all. Really looking forward to trying the Hoselink connectors.

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What are the others? Do you maintain your O-rings at all?

I have not had that experience. I use many of these fittings and do not find they wear much (aside from O-rings). Now and then a plastic one gets trodden on or the tongues that grip the hose get too bent or break but not much. You seem to have bad luck.

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Most of mine are about 15~20 years old. They only get replaced when they fail from UV deterioration/age. We had better experiences with plastic than brass so gave up on the brass that were finicky and only worked with brass ones of the same manufacturer.

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The crimp around the hose, and the plastic teeth as you mentioned. I swap O-rings around as I mix and match all the different parts to try to minimize all the leaking, but it’s all pretty futile. I posted in another forum also on this subject, where I also got the recommendation for Hoselink. I’m far from alone on this one.

I went to brass after all the plastic ones proved so fragile and useless. But you’re right – brass are certainly no better, just more expensive.

Every hose I ever had in the US had a crimped on screw-collar. Hardly ever had one that leaked. It was just what hoses were and did. They just worked like they’re meant to. I had no idea I was taking functional hoses for granted. I don’t understand why Australia tolerates such an inferior system.

If they are the wrong size for the fitting they are certain to leak, if they are the same size why swap?

Probably because some have your experience but some have mine.

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Hose link is string and at first appears to be the answer. Then, after time, the rings fail in the connector and you replace them and again and again.
They are probably still be best but you get wet pants and they cost more.

Seems odd.

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I think the word may have been “strong”

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Are you still happy with it, @zackarii ? My wife has just seen the same hose in the Innovations catalogue.

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Yes, it is still sitting in the sun, lying on the ground in the grass and used nearly daily. At one stage it seemed to suffer from a restriction, but that resolved itself, so no idea if there was a bit of crud or the inner lining kinking. The hose itself has outlived most of our green “nylex” hoses. It hasn’t got brittle with age & sunlight, it hasn’t kinked or collapsed, or got gooey. I don’t know anyone else with one as most of our family considered it a bit expensive.

The plastic fittings are the weak point and they look like needing replacement soon due to brittleness. It is on a rainwater tank with pump, so surging pressures. One of the better offerings from Innovations (there’s a lot of junk in their catalogue), along with the stainless steel pegs which we were so impressed with, we bought sets for family Christmas presents a couple of years ago.

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Thanks so much, we’re going to give it a try. We have a rainwater tank too, and the old Nylex hose just burst for the second time (my wife cut it down after the first blowout a few weeks ago).

That’s a good tip about running the hose around the outside of the garden.

We also have those stainless steel pegs!

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