Just remember the magic words: "Assembly is the reverse of disassembly." And don't forget where you left the pliers.

That is so true... and a real problems for little old ladies who lose everything.

When I worry about gripping a hose fitting so hard I might bend it (with channel-lock pliers), I use a 2" piece of garden hose slit so that I can wrap it around the fitting.

I imagine that the rubbery interior gives a better grip on the hose, and distributes the pliers's force so it's less likely to squeeze it into an oval that will never come apart.

Also, if I didn't protect the exposed male threads with a thread cap, they were probably gritty when I first screwed them together. I figure that the spraying/leaking washes some of the grit out of the threads and off the hose end mating surfaces, so that my second tightening will be easier.

If you have enough spigots scattered around your yard, using 1/2" or 3/4" irrigation mainline tubing, you never need to move or unscrew a hose. Everything can stay right where it is until just before heavy frosts.

And my irrigation tubing even shrugs off hard frosts as long as it was drained well. Even my Tee connectors and a timer stood up to my Zone 8 winter despite some poor draining!

For ease of use, it is good, retracts & extends well, but due to the material used in making it and maybe due to our intense hot days here, it is always bound to burst.

I am treating this flexible hose as a consumable. It will burst no matter what. But I do keep getting it, since it is easier to use for me, and not bulky to keep around in the garden. No more expectations of having it last longer like the other garden hoses.

Tarev, do you get the more expensive one with the brass fittings or the cheaper plastic one?

I got that one called pocket hose..I think that is the cheaper plastic one. I also got the Hydro hose, this one is okay material-wise, but does not retract and shorter. The pocket hose got the length I need. So far have two pocket hoses burst already, so as I said, a consumable. I have no issue with its plastic fitting, just the material itself of the hose, it will burst at any point. And I think our extreme hot weather is causing it too.

I wonder if those hoses would last longer if they were brought indoors after use? To help protect them from temperature extremes?

Indoors here in our garage is just as hot..so I just place it in the shadiest side of my garden.

Maybe use a pressure regulator to reduce the water pressure. My city water is 45 PSI, but my irrigation gadgets are only rated for 30 PSI.

Now that is a great idea Rick. How do I check the pressure on my water faucets?

I called the water district where I live. he offered to come out and "check the pressure" with their own meter, but he said that unless there was some problem with the pipes, the pressure everywhere was 45 PSI.

Maybe there would be some variation with hills and valleys, but I live right near sea level.

At 45 PSI, a garden "jet" sprayer will shoot most of the way across my small front yard, but at 30 PSI, it goes half as far.

I thought that buying a pressure gauge would be very expensive, but actually they don't look too bad! You would have to be sure to get something that fits garden hose conenctors.

http://www.dripworks.com/produ...

Thank you Rick. Guess I will just go with what I am doing now, I don't need an added step to watering.

The pressure regulators themselves are cheap and let you use any of the dripper / dripline / drip tape / spray / spin watering gadgets. Maybe some of those could do some of your basic watering, and then you could add water by hand where needed.

http://www.dripworks.com/categ...

My thought was just that it might keep someone's flexi-hose from blowing up so quickly. Especially if the hose advertises a recommended average pressure. All I found in a few minutes of searching was something like "burst strength 200 PSI" and "withstands 250 PSI".

If pressures are an issue, one thing you can do is reduce 'water hammer".

When water in a pipe or hose moves at its top speed, it has both pressure and inertia. If you stop the flow by just letting the spray nozzle snap closed quickly, the water "tries to stop instantly". The water right at the nozzle HAS to stop since the nozzle is closed. but now all the water behind it rams all it's inertia, flowing at perhaps 5-15 feet per second, at the water stopped near the end of the hose. That creates a big pressure spike that pushes back on the speeding water and slows it down within a second or less.

When you slam a valve closed in a chemical factory with 3 inch pipes and very rapid flow rates, you make a huge noise and vibration. You might break things or burst pipes and see them tear themselves off their mountings due to vibration and flex ("water hammer"). You have to close those valves slowly so the water can reduce its speed and momentum in response to much milder, more gradual back-pressure.

I did not know that about 'water hammer'. I will not slowly close my water nozzel. Thank you Rick, you may have prolonged the life of my Pocket Hose.

I'm using one for watering plants on my front porch. Because the faucet is not handy, I put a splitter on the faucet, attached a short length of hose (15') that is always charged with a shut-off between the pocket hose and the lead hose. So far, so good. I like it much better than the coil hose I previously used for this area. First season, so can't speak to longevity but I do plan to bring it into the barn for the winter (if I remember...)

Funny story when purchasing at my local Ace Hardware -- this hose was in an aisle filled with various yard tools and irrigation items with several 50% off all garden/irrigation items signs strewn along the aisle. When I got home, I noticed that I was charged full price for the hose. I took it back to the store the next day and pointed out their error. The clerk initially pulled the 'oh, but not for that particular item' so I took her to the aisle in question and asked how one might discern that this single item didn't qualify for the sale? Of course by then, all the pocket hoses had been moved to another location, but there was definitely a glaring empty shelf where they had been the day before. She then tried to convince me that another customer must have mislaid the hose in the sale aisle, but I assured her there were several of them on the now empty shelf the day before. She finally relented and gave me a refund.

Way to go Deb on winning the pricing game.

Deb, applause on beating the "bait and switch" marketing deceit.

>> Because the faucet is not handy, I put a splitter on the faucet, attached a short length of hose (15') that is always charged with a shut-off between the pocket hose and the lead hose.

I agree! I have 2-valve Y fittings scattered around the yard so I can water particular areas with short hose segments. No dragging!

Inexpensive 1/2" irrigation tubing makes it easy to have spigots absolutely everywhere you might want them. For people with lawn mowers, that might get tricky.

http://garden.org/ideas/view/R...

Way to go, Deb!

I see there have not been any comments here in a while. I am wondering what hoses are judged best now. We need 100' in the back yard. That length tends to be heavy and the kinks are awful. Tried the pocket hoses when they first came out and loved them the first five minutes they worked if I recall, I went through 6 that summer. Buy...return....repeat..ad infinitum.

Have there been improvements in expandable hoses or does anyone have suggestions on a good hose? The 100' gets daily use out back. We use a 50' in front. Thanks for any suggestions.