Sad post alert. Garden hose fittings, what’s better than Hozelock?

Apologies for plumbing the depths of dull thread topics. Getting peed off with constant leaky connectors and sprayers that crack or won’t stop spraying or that blow off the end of the hose no matter how tight the connections are.

I’ve bought loads of Hozelock kit over the years because it’s everywhere and they seem to have cornered the market. IME the plastic soon goes brittle, the tolerances are poor and sprayers and accessories fail so often I get sick of taking them back. There must be a better quality alternative that doesn’t cost a fortune?

Used loads to water a big garden with loads of flower borders, fruit bushes, raised beds etc. As well as for occasional car/bike washing and on the pressure washer to clean patio etc.

Our outside tap is in an awkward position at the back of the house, so we need to run a really long hose.

Grateful for ideas, ta 🙂

Oooh I know this! I went through the exact same thought process earlier this year. Ended up buying a Flopro Professional hose reel, spray gun and various connectors, and they are good. Not cheap but seem to be worth it so far. The spray gun has had a couple of months of use (that’s the first bit I bought) and despite generally being treated terribly and dragged around on our concrete path etc., it’s still working perfectly:

https://flopro-uk.com/product-range/sprayers-spray-guns-and-hose-nozzles/flopro-elite-jet-spray-gun

Set up an irrigation system on a timer..

Karcher seem okay to me. More solid and reliable than Hozelock, but then so are most things.

Thanks finbar, they do look good quality. I’ll research local suppliers and price some up.

cloudnine, not really an option as the garden is massive, an odd shape and randomly planted. It would cost a small fortune in fittings and tbh I’m not fussed about the labour saving aspect, especially as it’s mostly my wife who does the watering! 😁 We don’t actually mind dragging a hose round but would just like one that works reliably.

BWD thanks, never thought of Karcher for ordinary hose and fittings. I’ve had a Karcher pressure washer for years and it’s been very reliable. I’ll take a look

We bought Gardena recently. They have a recommendation from the older members of the family who are averse to replacing things regularly. I hope that they are right as I don’t want to replace it in a couple of years time.

BWD thanks, never thought of Karcher for ordinary hose and fittings. I’ve had a Karcher pressure washer for years and it’s been very reliable. I’ll take a look

No worries. We bought a Karcher hose and spray gun a couple of years back, all the fittings and hose are still going strong. Not insanely expensive either.

The horticultural industry tend to use Geka fittings – brass, replaceable gaskets and don’t fail after a few years out in the open. And Tricoflex hose.

I’ve just got some Claber fittings, which I’d never heard of before but is what one of the local builders merchants stock. They seem very solid and so far have been fine. Although anything is going to seem good after the shite X-Hose produce.

I have Hozelock fittings that are between 7 and 10 years old. How much extra life should I expect from these other brands?

I bought one of these in black, 100ft with brass fittings. £20 delivered. It’s on its 3rd winter. Everything else I’ve bought hasn’t lasted.

Problem I have is that the water would always freeze in the hosepipe so I couldn’t use it to clean my bike in winter.

This shrinking hose pipe squeezes out all the water. It packs down small too.

So far, so good.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262344358018

Cheers all, lots of alternatives to look at here. A fun evening of research ahead of me! Scotroutes, either you are very lucky or I am very unlucky, but based on my experiences I’ll never buy any of their products ever again.

Dullest of the dull – what hose pipe fittings?

:-)

I bought a bag of 20 rubber o-rings off ebay and replaced them on my existing fittings and all leaks are gone. Less than £2 IIRC

I’ve found Homebase own brand stuff to be better quality than Hozelock, it looks super cheap but the connectors last longer, the Hozelock stuff seems to wear very quickly and start leaking.

Scotroutes, either you are very lucky or I am very unlucky, but based on my experiences I’ll never buy any of their products ever again.

Yeah, I’m just thinking that whatever I replace them with could be my last such purchase. Ever!

What Scotroutes said. ^

I used to curse these evil little fittings which seemed to conspire against me and would fail at most inopportune moment tried all different makes. until I had problem with boiler my plumber said water pressure in my area was way to high and fitted a pressure regulator

since then all is sweetness and light with my hose fittings just a thought.

Brass fittings FTW. Put Teflon tape around any threads to make sure they seal properly, then they should last practically forever. Brass won’t perish through UV light/sunlight exposure.

V intersting. I almost saw the connectors as consumables as we replace every couple of years, like others use hose all year round. Useful tips here :)

Brass fittings FTW.

I did start off with a load but they all failed, I think bi-metalic corrosion with steel inserts.

All replaced with plastic now, which has outlasted them.

I have these brass fittings from Screwfix and they’ve been leak free for years. The hose nozzle isn’t very useful and I just continued using the trigger gun I have:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/brass-hose-fitting-set-4-pieces-4-pcs/13866

I had brass ones for a while, they seemed to leak and fail almost because they were too rigid, the plastic ones make much better seals.

Just bought another 50m of screwfix’s cheapest hose, 5x sprinklers and some 3-way connectors off amazon. Oddly you can’t seem to get 3-way fittings cheaply, I’m, taking this as an indication of a lack of demand for such thing as a single tap just isn’t going to be man enough to feed 5x sprinklers at the same time!

f*** the environment for once, I’m getting a green, moss free lawn this summer!

That Geka stuff looks good but no hose brush?

I’ve got a brass Hozelock tap outside which works well, l have a few issues with leaky connectors elsewhere though.

Reading with interest, need to sort a mixer for the hot/ cold taps in the garage so the dogs get a warm wash down outside.