Reading the Label: CRC food grade silicone spray

DIRECTIONS: Read entire label before using this product. 1. Do not apply while equipment is energized. 2. Spray in light, even coats to areas requiring lubrication or moisture protection. 3. Repeat step 2 until adequate lubrication or protection is achieved. Use only the necessary amount to achieve results. 4. Re-apply as needed to maintain performance.

Danger: Extremely flammable aerosol. Contains gas under pressure; may explode if heated. May be fatal if swallowed and enters airways. Causes skin and eye irritation. May cause drowsiness or dizziness. Suspected of damaging fertility.

Precautionary Statements: Obtain special instructions before use. Do not handle until all safety precautions have been read and understood. Keep away from heat/sparks/open flames/hot surfaces -- No smoking. Do not spray on an open flame or other ignition source. Pressurized container: Do not pierce or burn, even after use. Do not apply while equipment is energized. Extinguish all flames, pilot lights and heaters. Vapors will accumulate readily and may ignite. Use only with adequate ventilation; maintain ventilation during use and until all vapors are gone. Open doors and windows or use other means to ensure a fresh air supply during use and while product is drying. If you experience any symptoms listed on this label, increase ventilation or leave the area. Avoid breathing mist or vapor. Wear protective gloves/protective clothing/eye protection/face protection. Wash thoroughly after handling. Store in a well-ventilated place. Store locked up. Protect from sunlight. Do not expose to temperatures exceeding 50°C/122°F. Exposure to high temperature may cause can to burst. When exposed to extreme heat or hot surfaces, vapors may decompose to harmful or fatal corrosive gases such as hydrogen fluoride. Dispose of contents/container in accordance with local/regional/national regulations.

Wow. And that's the food grade stuff.

Free associating CRC food grade silicone spray

I saw it at NAPA, CRC food grade spray
I forget what I was reading about it
For hoses, no doubt, as it is "food grade".

//

At StangNet.com: What is best way to lubricate a tight hose onto a fitting? ... from 2005. (I think I was still using my Commodore 64 back then.)

Timeless2 responds:

Silicone spray.
I would avoid using petroleum jelly on rubber hoses.

That again: avoid using petroleum jelly on rubber
Look into that, art.

//

From Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Stack Exchange: Does Vaseline dissolve rubber?

Paulster2 replies:

I would suggest that those o-rings which are made to work in the automotive realm are made to be resistant to things such as oil, gasoline, and other petroleum products. This would include Vaseline...

Ah... Good point. But I happen to be not in the automotive realm but the garden hose department. I'm remembering Mr Hardware say that he likes the rubber washers or maybe it was rubber hoses. These might be made of modern synthetics. Probably. Synthetic rubber is probably less costly to produce than the natural stuff, so most rubber is synthetic; that would be my guess. But that doesn't really tell me what my garden hose stuff is made of.

Paulster2 continues:

While Vaseline and other petroleum products may degrade real rubber (actually made from the rubber tree), current o-rings technology does not use natural rubber.

Right. But again, he's talking automotive.

Baas says petroleum products like Vaseline might make EPDM rubber products swell so they don't fit. EPDM is synthetic.

//

Stack Exchange is reliably useful.

//

But if I am replacing the garden hose washers every year or so, what would it matter?

Oh, but then there are the rubber hoses also, remember.

//

CRC Food Grade Silicone Grease:

Food Grade Plastic And Rubber Lubricant

CRC Food Grade Silicone Grease is a thin non-curing silicone grease designed for sealing, lubricating and waterproofing o-rings and other rubber and plastic parts used in food processing equipment. It insulates valves, electrical contacts, spark plugs, battery terminals and fasteners from moisture and protects against corrosion. It is resistant to oil, water and chemicals and will not harden, freeze, dry or melt.

Comes in a tube.
The stuff I saw at NAPA was a spray can...

Here it is at Ace for ten bucks, a spray can of silicone "lubricant".

Gotta get some. I want to clean up my hoses and fittings in January so they're ready for Spring. My way to dispose of Winter doldrums.

NH thread

The short version:

The thread standard for garden hose connectors in the United States, its territories, and Canada is known colloquially as "garden hose thread" (GHT), but its official designation is NH... NH stands for "National Hose"... This fitting is used with ​1⁄2-inch, ​5⁄8-inch, and ​3⁄4-inch hoses.
In other countries, a British Standard Pipe (BSP) thread is used... The GHT and BSP standards are not compatible...
Various adaptors made of metal or plastic are available to interconnect GHT, BSP, NPT, hose barb, and quick connect fittings.

Damn! Even the short version is too long.

Mas largo at Wikipedia, under Garden hose: Standards and connectors:

Garden hoses connect using a male/female thread connection. The technical term for this arrangement is a "hose union". Spigots or sillcocks have male hose connectors only, and the mating end of a hose has a captive nut which fits the threads there.

The thread standard for garden hose connectors in the United States, its territories, and Canada is known colloquially as "garden hose thread" (GHT), but its official designation is NH (NH stands for "National Hose"; ¾-11.5NH is for full form threads as produced by cutting material such as the brass spigot outlet or hose male or female end fitting found on more expensive hoses; ¾-11.5NHR is for thin-walled couplers produced by rolling thin material, usually brass, typically found on less expensive hoses; ¾-14NPSH is for female hose ends that mate a hose to a tapered pipe thread without a spigot). The standard was defined by NFPA 1963, "Standard for Fire Hose Connections",[1] then later by ANSI-ASME B1.20.7,[2] which is 1 1⁄16 inches (27 mm) diameter straight (non-tapered) thread with a pitch of 11.5 threads per inch (TPI). The female thread is abbreviated FHT, and the male part is abbreviated MHT. This fitting is used with ​1⁄2-inch, ​5⁄8-inch, and ​3⁄4-inch hoses.[3][4]

In other countries, a British Standard Pipe (BSP) thread is used, which is ​3⁄4 inch and 14 TPI (male part outside diameter is 26.441 mm or 1.04 in). The GHT and BSP standards are not compatible, and attempting to connect a GHT hose to a BSP fitting, or vice versa, will damage the threads.

Various adaptors made of metal or plastic are available to interconnect GHT, BSP, NPT, hose barb, and quick connect fittings.

//

This topic comes up because I was confused. Or maybe I still am. I think "fire hose thread" and "garden hose thread" (GHT) are two kinds of "NH" thread. I think all GHT are NH but not all NH are GHT. Garden hose thread indicates one size of NH specifically. Fire hose thread is bigger and varies in size.

FireHoseDirect has a good info page on fire hose and the NH standard.

Gender inequality

At plbg.com, an interesting situation. jmoody76 says:

I'm looking for advice on what I need to go from a 1 1/2" PVC pipe to a garden hose. I found [www.plumbingsupply.com] and was looking at all the fittings but I'm not sure what combination to get or maybe there is a different way to go about this. Thanks.

Steve says use one of these:

1½ coupling or fitting with a reducing bushing

and then, he says, use

a brass fitting or hose bib, MPT x garden hose thread screwed into the bushing

[MPT = Male Pipe Thread]

In the next comment, packy says go with the hose bib:

screw one of these into the PVC adapter.

Yeah. Why didn't I think of that? The hose bib has pipe thread at the inlet end and garden hose thread at the outlet end. And it has a shut-off. And it's brass, which is always nice.

hj then replies to steve:

quote; screw one of these into the PVC adapter.

And have a few more PVC female adapters on hand so you can replace it when the male metal thread cracks the female adapter.

Ah, it's the PVC-screwing-onto-metal problem, again. This has come up before. Maybe the metal expands more from heat than the PVC does. So on a sunny day the PVC fitting may break and mess you up.

Mr leak says

Sarcasm aside
you need to know that fittings as you show i.e the pvc threaded female is not to be used Reason: the fitting will likely break Not to code
Male threaded plastic into female metal is ok
Think about the reason and it becomes clear

Steve adds:

I've never seen it in the California Plumbing Code, but it is in the California Mechanical Code.
"309.5 Plastic Fittings. Female PVC screwed fittings shall be used with plastic male fittings and plastic male threads only."

Okay. That's the idea. When I read something like that, it sticks in my head forever. I can come back in 6 months or a year and talk about it like it was part of the same conversation. Politics? Nah. Current events? Nah. Sarcasm and unfinished thoughts? Yep.

Anyhoo, I now have a better answer to that problem. In part, it comes from the same PlumbingSupply.com site that jmoody76 was using, at the Frequently Asked Questions page:

Q: "I've had a few female adapters break. What am I doing wrong?"

A: Many codes (such as UPC 1994 sec606.2.2) prohibit female PVC screwed fittings for water piping. The reason for this is pressure is exerted outwardly and eventually a female adapter can crack. We always recommend instead using PVC male adapters with metal female fittings. Specialty female threaded transition adapters, incorporating a reinforced outer stainless steel retaining ring, can help reduce problems associated with over-tightening, outward stress, etc. and may help provide a strong, leak-tight seal for plastic-to-metal transitions. Note that in some codes even these reinforced female threaded fittings are not accepted as well.

That's useful. It provides enough of an answer that I can continue designing my hose stuff and not be stopped cold by things I thought I knew, but didn't.

PS, Pipe threads are tapered so when you tighten the connection it's like a wedge creating pressure on both pieces. Under that kind of pressure, the outer piece is more likely to break.

Back to Harbor Freight

Well, I finally did it. Made myself a way to move the bagger.

Maybe I should say: I don't have a lot of tools. I'm not what you'd call a "tools" person. First time I ever went to Harbor Freight was maybe three months ago. It's a Wonderland!

I've come around a little, now I'm retired. I have time for things other than work and my computer. Time to invent little projects for myself to do. Not necessarily to do them, but at least to think about. I'm a How would I do that? kind of person. I'll think of something and ask myself "How would I do that?"

If I can answer the question, I'm satisfied. I don't get satisfaction from doing things. I'm not good at doing things. But I get great satisfaction from working out how I would do things. Plus, it saves me all that work.

But I'm coming around a little. I have time to do things, now. And now I want to tell you about something I did.

Maybe I should say: Don't expect too much.

//

I have a 25-gallon garden sprayer. To use it, I hook up the garden cart to the garden tractor and put the sprayer in the cart. It works, but it's not satisfying. The sprayer deserves its own cart. So I started thinking about making a cart.

Then I started thinking about building a cart for the rototiller.

Then I started thinking about hooking up the wheelbarrow like a cart, to the tractor. In case I put too much in the wheelbarrow and can't push it up the hill.

Somewhere along the way there, I bought myself two ten-inch wheels. That was my second visit to Harbor Freight. I went back for the wheels because I saw them on my first visit: $4.99 apiece. With all these carts in my head, I had to have those tires. I knew I'd need em.

A month or so later I picked up a three-foot round rod to use for an axle. Again, I knew I'd need it. Whatever I was gonna build, it was gonna have wheels and an axle.

That was late October.

The stuff sat in my garage for several weeks. I didn't give up on it. I had it on hand, but I wasn't ready to use it.

//

Lately I've been fixing up the spare room in the basement. Cleaned up. Painted. Moved some shelves and installed some more. I'm calling it my "project" room: a place where I can work on little projects I come up with. The room even has a sink: a utility sink, American Shower and Bath, model DFC-1. Looks like they are no longer in business. Plastic tub screwed to the wall, sitting on four plastic legs.

I had to put spacers under two legs so the water would drain rather than pooling at the front of the flat-bottom tub. Half inch, no problem. Then I went looking for concrete anchors to anchor the legs (and spacers) to the floor. So I was down at the far end of the "nuts and bolts" aisle at the True Value, looking at concrete anchors. And I happened to see "shaft collars" there. Shaft collars! To hold the wheels on the axle. I grabbed four of em, $3 apiece. In the moment, it even seemed like a low price.

I went home, finished up my Projects room, and got ready for my first project.

//

The bagger for my tractor installs easily. It sits on a little shelf at the rear of the tractor, and hooks over two bolts to keep it in place. It's okay for the summer, putting the bagger on and taking the bagger off, when everything is right there in the garage. But come winter, the bagger goes away and the snowblower goes on, and there's no room in the garage for the bagger. So I have to lug it down the hill to the shed. Or up the hill to the garage, as the case may be.

The thing is heavy.

So I was looking at the bagger one day, looking at the mounting. There's a plate that sits flat, that sits on the "shelf" on the rear of the tractor. And there are two upright plates, rectangles with a little notch in the bottom edge, that reach in and hook onto bolts to keep the bagger in place.

I suddenly realized that those notches could just as easily sit on an axle and keep the axle in place. If I had wheels on the axle I could move the bagger. Bingo!

I already had the axle and 10-inch wheels. I needed only to drill the axle, or find shaft collars, and to have a design that would work. On a recent visit to Harbor Freight I had seen 8-inch wheels at a good price, $6 and change, max load 300 lbs. The bagger ain't that heavy.

I checked dimensions on the bagger. The 8-inch wheels would work better than the 10s. Back to Harbor Freight.

Out-to-out, those two notched rectangles on the bagger are just under 14 inches apart. So I put collar-wheel-collar on the axle, left a 14-inch gap, put again collar-wheel-collar, then cut the extra off the axle, half an hour with a hack saw.

Tipped the bagger a little, put wheels under it, and dragged the bagger up to the garage and back. It works!

//

Oh, but I need something better than a hack saw.

The River Birch in mid-December

The dogs wanted out since three in the morning. I took one on a leash. The others can wait.

Seven AM. Daylight. Dogs are out. I'm sittin on the porch with my Irish coffee. Cold but not windy. Comfortable enough. And I see the tips of our River Birch tree, tips of the twigs, They don't look like buds.

This is December. The thing's not growing now. I'm seein what'll be growing in the Spring.

Still not even light out yet. (Facing North West)

What are those tips? Here's a detail view:

A few minutes later, facing East

That's not one bud. It's a whole package. Follow the twig up from the bottom edge of the picture, you'll see a bud or two that do look like buds. Next year's twigs. Yeah, but not that stuff at the tip. That's next year's flowers or somethin. And by midsummer I'll find seedlings growing in my gutters.

The touch of white in that detail photo, that's probably frost. It was a cold morning.

snow sticks in snowblower

Ariens Non-Stick Polymer Coating
$9.98 at Home Depot / 11 oz can (91 cents an ounce)

Lowes offers it for two cents less for the can, but my local store is out of stock.

JBAD0 at Home D says

I used this for the first time last winter on my Ariens 30" snow thrower auger and chute assembly. The polymer coating helped a lot and made heavy snow throw further. I resprayed the snow thrower for this pending winter. I also used it on all my snow shovels, which made the snow slide off easier. I purchased an extra can and sprayed the chute on my riding lawn tractor which helped to prevent the grass from clogging.

I'm sold!

---

DuPont General Purpose 10 oz. Dry Lubricant
$7.59 at Ace Hardware / 10 oz can (76 cents an ounce)

Oddly, we've had snow already, but my local Ace doesn't have this stuff in stock.

Odder yet, This item is no longer available on Lowes.com.

Not at all odd, the 10-ounce can is available for 90 cents less at Walmart than Ace, until you add the $5.25 shipping. So $4.35 more than Ace in the end.

Walmart adds: "Pickup not available". Now that's odd.

At Walmart, BarJoseph says

This product makes wet snow slide right off of both shovels and the chute of the snow blower. Result: less clogging of the blower and the I don't have to lift a heavy snow laden shovel or constantly be banging it on the ground to get the snow off of it. Awesome.

Sounds good.

---

Does Anyone use Pam to keep snow from Sticking?

Several replies:

Yes... I use the cheapest generic cooking spray I can find... I apply it each time I use any of my snowblowers, single or two stage. If they get used they get sprayed. I spray the chute, the impellers, augers and inside of the bucket. Usually try to have a decent coat of good wax on the outside so snow won't stick as well.

Some use WD-40...

I use spray silicon down in the impeller housing... and then I use ski wax on the inside surface of the chute... the ski wax I am hundred percent sure of the fact that it is actually formulated for cold snow, super slippery, and durable.

... fluid film... you can get it off line or at a Deere Dealer.

I never had a snowblower chute clog ... I wonder what is causing your chutes to clog?

---

How to Keep Your Snow Blower Chute from Clogging

As Google summarizes it:

• Use a Non-Stick Spray. Snowblower non-stick spray coats the chute and auger just like a cooking spray, shielding the metal so snow passes through without sticking, clumping, or clogging. ...
• Use a Clean-Out Tool. ...
• Go Faster.

Go faster. Wow. I'll have to try that. I've been slowing down, to go easy on the machine!

Notice the recommendation seems to be to use a spray that works like a cooking spray, not one that is cooking spray. However, I'm gonna try "the cheapest generic cooking spray I can find" first, as that's what I have. And maybe I'll go faster.

How to get those brass fittings apart

Lots of notes at this link:

How to remove garden hose nozzle that is stuck on a hose

.These stand out:

retiredjg:

Boil a big pot of water - in a pasta boiling pot. Carry the pot out to the recalcitrant hose/nozzle. Dip the nozzle and a few inches of hose into the pot for 30 seconds or a minute. Unscrew it. If this does not work, try again using a longer or shorter dunking time.

Masterblaster:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BibpHxS4ako

jharkin:

Usually the nozzle is in pretty bad shape as well and getting it apart requires techniques that may destroy it anyway, so I just cut off the hose with utility knife. Then repair it with a hose mender and a new nozzle...

sam5:

For the future, this situation can be prevented by using pipe tape (white teflon tape) when assembling the nozzle onto the hose, or the hose onto the house faucet.

LifeIsGood:

Be careful using Vice Grips on a soft metal fitting. Too much pressure can deform the fitting making it even harder to remove. I have had great success getting stuck threaded fittings apart with PBblaster. Readily available in hardware, auto and home centers.

So heat, or a saw, or PBblaster, or throw it away. And use teflon tape. Got it.

Seals (hose washers) for brass Quick Connect fittings

World's Best Garden Hose Quick Connect Heavy Duty Coupler Washer Seal Set
Amazon's price: $9.95
$10 for 6 pieces. I can get three pieces for $2 at True Value, and I'm looking around because I think that price is too high.

Gilmour 114GAMP PRO Heavy-Duty Rubber Seals for Brass Female Quick Connector
Amazon price: $6.24, free Prime shipping.
3 per package. $2 and change apiece. Heavy duty rubber seals.

Gilmour Brass Quick Connector Seals 09QSRBAG
Amazon price: $5.47, free delivery.
3 per package. $1.83 apiece. These say "For 09Qc series female connector". So, do they fit any other QC fittings?
And the top of the Amazon page says "Heavy-duty rubber construction" but the "Compare items" section says they are vinyl.
I'd avoid these, because there's no good information here.

Nelson 50339 Hose Quick Connector Washer Set
Amazon price: $3.55, free delivery.
3 per package. $1.19 apiece. These say "for brass female quick connectors". The "Compare items" section says the seals are plastic. And under "size" it says "universal" which suggests they fit most brass quick connects.

GaiGaiMall 20Pcs Garden Hose Washer for 3/4" Hose Quick Connect
Amazon price: $9.99, and free delivery.
$10 for 20 pieces is half a buck apiece... "heavy duty thermoplastic rubber"... "heavy duty rubber". Sounds good.

Swivel hose connectors

I bought a Swan Swivel a couple weeks back (q.v.). Now I was thumbing thru True Value's Hose Fittings & Accessories and found not one but two additional brands of swivel fittings: One from Miracle Gro, and one from Green Thumb. Good price on that last one, $2.99.

And come to think of it, I remember Gardener's Supply offering something similar for half-inch hose, a bendy elbow but without an inlet-end swivel connection. Part of their Snip-n-Drip system.

I didn't know there were so many to choose from. Now I'm wondering what else I can find.

Amazon shows one from Melnor. The one from Swan. One by Gardena for 26 bucks. And Melnor again, for $20 plus shipping.

Home D has the Melnor for four bucks. Target, too. And Ideal True Value has the Green Thumb swivel -- identified as a Melnor product -- for $2.09 plus, ouch, shipping.

And there's a similar product from Pope, but for 12mm fittings. Never saw that before. It's probably the British standard, not GHT.

All in all, not a lot of variety in the manufacture of these things. More variety in seller and price.

My first shrinky hose was 3/4" diameter x 50ft unshrunk

Shrunk, it was 15 feet long maybe, and about 3/8" diameter, and weighed next to nothin.

What you give up when you get shrinky hoses is durability. I didn't know. After two, two and a half years, I found out the hard way. It wasn't pretty. There was a hole 10 feet from one end of the thing. So I cut it in two, at the hole.

So how do you put a new hose end fitting into a shrinky hose?

I did it last year. It took hours. I kept pushing the fitting with my thumb till it was all the way in.

Yeah, but the thing came out a few weeks later. Dunno, maybe I didn't tighten it enough. Or didn't check it and re-tighten. Definitely the latter. Lesson learned, I hope.

Since then, I sat down two or three times to stuff the fitting into the hose again. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. My thumb hurt just thinking about it. I pushed on that fitting and ignored my thumb, the first time, and when I was done it hurt for a week. Felt like I pushed my thumb out from under the thumbnail.

That was using a fitting designed for half-inch hose.

So recently I had a thought: Try a smaller fitting. Try a fitting designed for 3/8" hose. So what if it's small, at least I might be able to use the hose.

So I bought some fittings. The best I could come up with locally was

• Green Leaf Garden Hose Adapter, 3/4 in. MGHT x 3/8 in. Barb @ $1.49 for the male end. And then because I didn't find a 3/4 in. FGHT x 3/8 in. Barb I had to invent one by combining a
• Green Leaf Nylon Straight Adapter, 1/2 in. MPT x 3/8 in. Barb @ $1.69 with a
• Green Leaf Nylon Garden Hose Coupling, 3/4 in. FGHT x 1/2 in FPT @ $2.29 for the female end.

It wasn't a perfect solution but I was happy with it.

It took me two minutes to insert the barb into the shrinky end. Took me almost 10 minutes to find a wrench to tighten the hose clamp.

Didn't test it yet. I'll let you know how it holds up.

Garden Hose Washers

Good prices

Litorange Outdoor Garden Hose Washers Gasket 30-Piece Combo Pack Red. Made from Soft Silicone (Not Rubber, Better Sealing Than Rubber),Used for Washing Machine Hot Water.
(30) pieces for $7.88 (less than 27 cents each)
or
(108) pieces for $12.99 (only about 12 cents apiece)
I'm thinkin
If I'm gonna spend $8, why not spend $5 more and get three and a half times as many washers?
The question is: Am I gonna spend the $8 or not.
Depends...
I might.

//

How many hose washers do I need for a season, all told? Still have to figure that one out.

//

At PexUniverse, 50 black rubber washers for $4. Eight cents apiece, plus shipping. Shipping's always a "gotcha" isn't it.

You can do what you want Abe but

here's how FireHoseDirect recommends measuring a hose fitting:

"Do not overtighten connector."

Good tip.

Pinkish

The wife came home with this plant last spring.

Hypoestes Splash™ Select Rose

Kinda sparse now. Shows my skill level. But some of the stems are still full and lush, the way the whole plant was before I brought it inside for the winter. The new growth is green (lack of sun, probably) but the older leaves show an amazing amount of pink. The photo doesn't do it justice, either. It was the brightest, boldest pink, most unexpected on a plant.

I planted the thing outside when the wife brought it home, near a little rose bush. It won't survive the winter, she told me. It survived the summer, though. Meanwhile it grew. And it grew on me.

By the time we were starting to expect frost, I decided to bring the thing into the house for the winter. The photo above is how it looks now.

No no, actually it was the wife who suggested bringing the thing inside for the winter. My idea was to take some cuttings before first frost. Yeah, that's what happened. That was some time in mid-October. So maybe five weeks ago.

Here is one of those cuttings now:

Green shoots. This one's gonna make it.

The other one had little purple flowers a week or so ago. I picked em off because I figured they would just take energy away from the rooting-and-growth process. Looking at it now, I see new hints of growth (which may only be more flower buds). But I also see some new growth coming up from the soil near the stem of the cutting. So that one might just make it, too.

I keep the cuttings in a Ziplok bag on a windowsill in the kitchen, facing southeast. I open the baggie once or twice a week, and take the flowerpots out and see how things are going. Plus I deflate the baggie, to change the air. Then I put the flowerpots back in and zip the bag closed -- except I leave a couple inches unzipped. I exhale into the baggie to inflate it, then seal it up for another few days.

If that's more than you wanted to know, well, okay. But I always want more detail than I get when it comes to things like this. I'm often left figuring out "how" for myself. I definitely don't think I have the best methods. If you read this and you have better ideas, let me know.

Meanwhile, I see green shoots!

GHT plugs

Plugs? A hose plug is like a hose cap, except a cap screws onto the male end of the hose, and a plug screws into the female end.

Onto versus into, I like that. Gozonta versus gozinta.

Hose end caps are pretty easy to find in the "brick and mortar" places I look for such things: Lowes, Home Depot, True Value, Ace. But hose end plugs are hard to find in those places. That struck me as odd, at first, because every ordinary garden hose has male and female ends, both.

But maybe it's really not so odd. The spigot always has male threads, far as I know. So if you wanted to close it off, you would need a cap, not a plug.

If you attach a hose to the spigot, you attach the female end to the spigot, and the male end of the hose is open. If you want to close it off, you need a cap, not a plug.

If you attach another hose to the first hose, the free end of this new hose is male. To close it off you'd need a cap, not a plug. Or forget the second hose. Say you attach a splitter to the hose. Now you're left with two open ends, both male, and now you need two caps if you want to close them off.

But you almost never need a plug. Maybe that's why they're hard to find. (File this post under fascinated by simple things.)

Me, when I put my hoses away for the winter I like to close off the ends to keep dirt and bugs out. Just connect the ends together. But after I had my hoses rolled up this year, I kinked a couple of em when I was connecting ends together. Not happy about that. For next year I want to have hose caps and hose plugs enough to close all the ends.

So I've been looking for hose plugs. They're hard to find, but I gathered up some links. First, links for when I get a 3D printer. Yeah right... links for IF I ever get a 3D printer. Don't hold your breath.

• Thingiverse by hwright14
• Thingiverse by mrtaylor
• Thingiverse by sundewzer

And in the meanwhile, links I might actually use. (Assume I have not bought from these suppliers unless noted otherwise.) Prices given are for one plug, as of 18 November:

• $20.11 at Amazon, plus $10.12 shipping. "PLUG W/CHAIN".
• $13.47 at Amazon. Package Quantity: 1
• $13.38 at Amazon .
• $9.37 at Amazon. (A week or two ago, this one was $10.87.)
• $8.22 at Amazon. (Can't tell if the quantity is 1 or 24 for this price.)
• $7.23 at Amazon.
• $6.95 at Amazon.
   
• INTERMISSION
   
• $6.10 at Amazon.
• $5.55 at Amazon. (The offer is 4 pieces for $22.20.)
• $4.92 at Amazon.
• $4.75 at Amazon . 
• $1.62 at Amazon. And free shipping.
• $1.59 at Amazon.

Or I guess you could look elsewhere:

• $2.10 at eBay. (Free shipping)
• $1.99 at RV Plus.
• $1.62 at Walmart.
• $1.46 at Midland Hardware.
• $1.32 at RV & Auto Parts.
• $1.13 at RV & Auto Parts. (I bought some of these, couple months back.)
• $1.00 at dollar1.com.

Advertised prices. I didn't look at shipping charges.


I found two other sources, which I find rather more interesting.

One of these sources is Specialty Sales Inc.

I found 3/4 GARDEN HOSE PLUG PP at Specialty Sales for $0.74 each. The "PP" in the description stands for "polypropylene" (I think). What it's made of. Anyway, 74 cents apiece is a good price. Dunno about shipping cost.

If the link to the plug page doesn't work, start at their Home page. On the left, under "Shop by Category" click the second item: "PLASTIC FITTINGS". On the Plastic Fittings page click "POLYPROPYLENE FITTINGS". And on the Polypropylene Fittings page click "GHT PLUG POLYPROPYLENE".


One last source:

$0.32 at Industrial Specialties Mfg.

JACKPOT!

An oversize mender test

Well I have a whole baggie full of hose end fittings: brass, male, still in the package. But no females. It figures, right? End-of-season imbalances.

What I do have, a whole bunch of screw-on connectors from Ace that I got for $2.39 apiece. Remember? What the heck, I'll use two of them.

I still have this test case lying around. I need to cut that 8-inch piece of hose in half, fit the free half of it on the copper fitting that's half sticking out the hose, and clamp it. Then I'll put the Ace hose-end fittings on the open ends, and I'll be all ready to test my oversize mender.

//

Done. Just hooked it up to the utility sink and put a shut-off on the open end. Let it sit for a couple hours. Didn't leak, and didn't come apart from the psi.

Dunno how it would hold up if I treated it like a hose. Might come apart.

Didn't do any sort of pressure comparison or flow rate check. Some other day.

"Choosing the Right Garden Hose"

Hose manufacturer Terraflex has some thoughts on what questions to ask and what to look for in a garden hose, including vinyl versus rubber. "Vinyl often costs less", they say. Vinyl is good for "a mild climate" and for "light watering". They say "Choose heavy-duty rubber hoses for intense commercial applications".

So rubber makes a better hose.

I had no idea. But I did notice, couple days back, Mr. Hardware likes rubber, not vinyl, for hose washers.

Two sources, one thought. I'll remember now. Rubber is better.

//

Let's see what sort of hose washers I have on hand.

• Gilmour 10-pack: "durable rubber"
• Yardsmith 10-pack: "durable vinyl"
• Green Thumb 10-pack yellow: "light duty poly"
• Green Thumb 10-pack black: "light duty rubber"
• Orbit 6 o-rings, 6 washers: (doesn't say)

Okay, I thought the yellow ones were pretty. I didn't think about quality.

What's "poly"?
Not rubber, huh.

I went to OrbitOnline and searched for the part number that's on the Orbit package:

Orbits Hose Washers Combo Pack are soft and resilient for a water-tight seal. This combo washer pack includes 6 red rubber washers and 6 black O-ring rubber washers. The O-ring design allows for maximum sealing performance. Saves water and helps prevent leaks between your hose, sprinklers, and hose-end products. Use with any standard female hose end product. Durable rubber material resists hardening and cracking. For outdoor use with cold water only.

Good to know, but I wouldn't call em "red". U.S Plastic has red washers. I like em, them and True Value yellow. Yardsmith green ain't bad.

I was thinking about using different color washers in different years, so I could tell by the color how old a washer was. I still like that idea, but it ignores rubber/vinyl/poly quality differences. More recently I was thinking about changing all the washers once a year. Quality differences might not matter if I did that. Even a light-duty hose washer should be good for a year, right?

The red ones from U.S Plastic are vinyl.


An idea worth trying, from skruft:

"Also - I have found that the trick to a garden hose that will last a long time is to get one rated for hot water."

That's what the guy who fixed my boiler had -- a hose rated for hot water.

The times they are a-changin

Well, some weeks back I was looking at "screw-on" hose menders. Compression style, I guess they're called. Anyway, I was looking.

One of the ones I found was this, at Amazon:

I liked it a lot, but not for the price.

Later, when I found more, similar fittings, I linked to them in the comments. I want to look at some of those fittings now: in particular, fittings from alexnld.com

Let's start with this:

These are the five different views you can look at for the Expert Brass Car Garden Hose Pipe Connector Joint Repair Joiner, $5.99 from alexnld.com. Look at the fourth of these, going from left to right:

This is quite clearly the same as the fitting shown above, connecting blue hose to blue hose. It is a mid-hose mender.

Notice that the left-side cap and the right-side cap are equal in width. You could turn the fitting end-for-end, and the caps would still fit. You could turn the whole thing end-for-end, and hoses would still attach at both ends. Okay? Now look at the first two views of this Expert Brass Car Garden Hose Pipe Connector Joint Repair Joiner -- quite a name, isn't it? -- these two views:

Now we're looking at a fitting that connects a hose (on the left) to a quick-connect male (on the right). This is no mid-hose mender. This is a hose end mender.

This is a hose end mender, but it doesn't end with the GHT fitting we all know and love. It ends with a quick connect. If I was gonna do this with common, ordinary fittings, I would need two fittings to do it: a hose-end mender, to put a male or female GHT on the end of the hose... and an ordinary quick-connect fitting to convert the GHT end to a QC end.

This fitting costs five dollars. Six dollars, I guess: $5.99. Six dollars. And you do it with one fitting.

If you did it with two fittings it would cost more than six bucks, that's for sure. Brass? You'd be lucky to do it for less than ten. What could I get at True Value, my regular haunt, to make that conversion?

What I would have done before I got interested in these screw-on fittings would have been a hose-barb insert and a QC fitting that screws onto it. These are the ones I would have picked:

These two fittings would have cost me about $12.

Alexnld offers one fitting that does the work of two for six bucks. One piece instead of two, and half the cost. Without garden hose threads.

What do I need garden hose threads for, anyway? Only to connect to my other garden hose threads. If everything goes direct to quick-connect, I don't need anything with garden hose threads.

This is a mind blower.


Here's another one from alexnld:

Brass Two-way Quick Joint Hose Connector Fitting For Wash Car Pipe Garden Water Hose
The names they give these things are a nightmare. I'll grant you that!

You can use it to connect two hoses together by their female quick-connects. Because obviously all hoses come with quick connects on the ends -- or they will, soon.

Oh by the way: At the page for this fitting, one of the other views they provide shows this double-male fitting connecting two hoses together. The fittings on the other hoses are the ones we saw above, hose mender to quick connect. And the hose they show connecting to these fittings is the same reinforced blue hose shown in the first picture I show in this post.

I don't see much use for this particular fitting, actually. Have not run across a need for it. But the point is, you would only ever need this fitting if the hoses you wanted to join together had QC connections on the end and to get them off you'd have to cut them off. For example, if you bought hoses that had QC ends rather than the old, threaded GHT ends. See what I'm sayin?

Alexnld.com is making garden hose threads obsolete.


One more to look at. Check out the spray nozzle in this photo:

4pcs Brass Hose Pipe Connector Irrigation Tools Garden Tap Quick Connectors Spray Nozzle

I have a nozzle like that, but mine has garden hose threads and I have a quick-connect screwed into it. Mine was two purchases, theirs is one. Mine is female, with a swivel nut. Theirs doesn't need a swivel nut because after the QC connection is made, the two sides still turn independently.

I tell ya, alexnld.com is making garden hose threads obsolete. It's a mind blower.

Mr. Hardware

Found an interesting youtube while looking for other things: Garden hose connectors explained with tips, repairs, options and tricks by Mr. Hardware. Things I didn't know: Use rubber washers, he says, not vinyl. Things I did know: Use a cup of hot water to make the hose pliable.

Worth watching.

An Oversize Mender Example

As noted in An Oversize Mender Fantasy, half-inch copper pipe measures 1/2" ID and 5/8" OD. You can get a coupling for it, a short copper sleeve that just fits over the pipe. They're normally used to splice two lengths of copper pipe together, soldered in place.

The copper coupling measures 5/8" inside diameter, just like a 5/8" hose. I thought I'd try using one of those couplings to make a splice in 5/8" garden hose. A typical "hose mender" for 5/8" hose has an ID that is smaller than the hose ID, and is said to create a pressure drop:

"avoid the use of hose menders. The longer your hose, the greater the pressure drop is going to be between the faucet and the far end of the hose. The pressure drop is minimized by using large-diameter hose and by avoiding the use of restrictions such as hose menders."

"Couplings of the insert type, attached with bands or clamps are restrictive. Pressure loss resulting from use of these couplings is approximately equal to 5% of the loss through 100’ of hose."

Ah-ha! Maybe instead of fiddling with copper pipe fittings I should be looking for alternatives to "couplings of the insert type" for my garden hoses. From the quote it sounds like there are other types. I never noticed any. But I didn't notice the possibility until just now.

Oh, well. So I got the copper pipe fitting and peeled the sticker off it, and scrubbed off the sticker glue with WD40. The fitting was too big to fit into the 8" length of 5/8" garden hose I had handy. So I got myself half a cup of instant coffee-water (without the instant coffee) and stood the hose in it for less than half a minute. Took it out, and it went onto the fitting easily. (They always tell you garden hoses are not meant for hot water. We'll have to see if I did damage to this piece of hose by heating the end of it.)

Actually, I put the fitting on a piece of copper pipe first, so I could better hold the fitting. Then I soaked the hose and slipped it over the fitting. The hose went on the fitting easier than the fitting went on the pipe.

The fitting has a dimple that ordinarily stops the fitting when you get it halfway onto a copper pipe. I used the dimple as a center mark and pushed the hose on, up to the center mark. Then I put a hose clamp on it.

I used a #6 hose clamp. It slipped onto the bare end of the hose and I slid it down to the other end without problem. But when it got near the fitting, the hose OD gets bigger and the fitting got stuck. I turned the hose clamp screw to make the clamp as big as I could. I had to wiggle it then, but I got it on. Coulda used a #8 hose clamp instead, but I try to avoid the long hose clamp tails whenever I can.

//

I didn't do anything with it yet, so there are things I don't know. The copper fitting doesn't have hose barbs: Will the hose stay on when there is water pressure in it? The fitting is only 1¹/₈" long: Can I get longer ones? And the big question: This fitting isn't meant to be used as a garden hose mender: Can I find alternatives to couplings of the insert type?

Hm.

Quick Connect Options

I knew about quick-connect fittings from work. They had em on their air line conduit and their pneumatic tools, back in the '70s. But the first time I saw the QCs for garden hose connection was when I got a Craftsman mower, ten years ago. For washing out the mower deck.

I tried it, back then. But every time I used it I had to unscrew the garden hose sprayer nozzle and screw on the QC attachment. And every time I finished washing the mower deck I had to remove the QC attachment and reattach the sprayer nozzle. It just didn't seem worth the effort. And that was my experience with garden hose quick connects.

I just didn't get it. It wasn't until about seven years later that I realized if all my hoses and fittings had the quick connects, QCs would make my life easier instead of harder. Most people might have figured that out right away. Not me.

Anyway, I went out then and bought some at True Value. Plastic, because the brass ones were more expensive.

The female has a shut-off valve. That turned out to be useful! You can turn the water off before you disconnect the QC, without walking back to the house to do it.

The first thing I learned about QC fittings is that the plastic ones were no good the second year. I couldn't slide the green collar back to connect or disconnect them. Maybe if I lubricated em things would have been different. But I didn't. So after that, I bought brass ones.

The second thing I learned about QC fittings is that the plastic and brass don't fit together. If you're gonna go brass, you've gotta go all brass. At least, that's how I remember it.

I don't remember what the prices were two years ago. These images show current (late October 2018) prices. The brass is more expensive than the plastic, as it was two or three years back. I remember that.

These brass ones I got didn't have a shutoff valve. That's inconvenient. What I ended up doing was keeping the old plastic ones and using them for the shutoff valve, and adding the brass ones on the end for the quick connect feature.

Later I discovered that these brass ones from True Value have a safety feature: You have to shut the water off before you can break the QC connection. So my original purchase of the plastic QC fittings saved me a lot of walking back to the house to turn the water off. These days I keep plastic shutoff valves on hand, to install along with my brass QC fittings.

Recently True Value has been offering another style of quick connect, with the black plastic grip. I don't find a photo of the set (one male and one female); this image shows two male fittings.

I see True Value calls these hose quick connects, rather than brass quick connects. So they are probably not brass; the relatively low price suggests that this is correct.

Looking further, True Value also offers Gilmour quick connects. These also have a black plastic grip. But these are not easily confused with the others, as the Gilmours have the highest prices.

Current prices, for comparison:

True Value	male	female	set
plastic	$1.99	$3.99	$6.99
brass	$3.99	$5.69	$8.49
metal	$2.50	?	?
Gilmour	$5.99	$8.99	?

I'm using the word "set" to mean (1) male fitting and (1) female fitting.

Other Brands

Camco Quick Hose Connect Brass with Auto Shut-Off at Home D:  (1)M, (1)F ... $4.59

Good price.

The "specifications" section of the Home Depot page tells us that the Color Family is brass for these fittings. But the "Product Overview" section says they are of "solid brass construction" and that this item is "CSA low lead content certified and complies with California's AB1953 and Vermont act 193 low lead laws". So I guess these are the good brass.

That automatic shut-off sounds like a good feature, too. I wouldn't have to install shut-off valves with these. Good price to begin with, plus I'd save the price of the shut-off.


SOMMERLAND 3/4" Brass Garden Hose Quick Connector Value Pack (4Male+2Female) at Amazon of course ... (4)M, (2)F ... $9.99

Amazon's blurb says "compatible with standard garden hose", but the same sentence says "3/4 in. NH thread". NH thread? I looked it up. Wikipedia says

The thread standard for garden hose connectors in the United States, its territories, and Canada is known colloquially as "garden hose thread" (GHT), but its official designation is NH ...

Okay, same thing, the garden hose standard. And the link says the females have a "flow stopper": the automatic shut-off, I imagine.

Say one set from Camco is $5. The Sommerland deal is two sets for $10 and you get two extra male connectors. So that's a better price than the Camco. You want the extra males, because they go in all the things you connect to your hose, so you can change them easily with one female on the business end of the hose.

Looks like a good deal.


Greenwood 6 pc Garden Hose Quick Coupler Set at Harbor Freight ... $6.99

Four males and two females, just like the Sommerland set, but for three dollars less.

These fittings look very similar to the brass QCs I've been getting from True Value. Not identical, but very similar. I avoided straying from True Value before, because I don't know if quick-connects from elsewhere will fit the ones I already have. But at this price, I'll gamble.

I tried em: The Harbor Freight male fits the True Value female, and the True Value male fits the Harbor Freight female. For both males, the fit is sloppy in the True Value female and snug in the Harbor Freight, but that's probably just washers. I'm comparing a brand new HF fitting to a two-year-old TV fitting with a used washer in it.

Oh, I have to check that.

Yeah, definitely: With a new washer in the old fitting, the "snug" is about the same no matter which fitting I put with which. The old washer was the source of the sloppy fit. Good to know.

One more thing to check. If using HF with TV QC connectors causes leaks, I can't use em. I have to test for leaks.

I got my new faucet-to-garden-hose adapter for the sink in the garage yesterday, so I think I'm good to go.

1. Install faucet adapter.
2. Put a second washer in a hose end cap.
3. Put the hose end cap on the faucet; check for leaks and stop em.
4. Remove hose cap.
5. Put extra hose washer in Wye fitting, and install the wye.
6. Install the True Value female on one leg and the Harbor Freight female on the other.
7. Put the hose cap on the True Value male & test it on the True Value female. [no leak]
8. Test the TV male on the Harbor Freight female [no leak]
9. Move the hose cap to the Harbor Freight male.
10. Test the HF male on the TV female [no leak]
11. Test the HF male on the HF female [no leak. But...]

When I put Harbor Freight to Harbor Freight and turned the water on, the pressure pushed the male out a sixteenth of an inch or more. It jumped. It jumped once; then it was fine. I turned the pressure off, took the male out, and tested it again. Same thing: it jumped a good sixteenth of an inch.

Also, I couldn't get the male out, the second time. I thought it was the safety feature like the TruVal has, and it may have been; but I am not sure: Turned out I had to push the male back in, reversing the "jump", before I could get it out of the Harbor Freight female.

I could try this again (and again and again) with the other female and the three other males from Harbor Freight. Maybe I will, but not now. Even with a jumping fitting, the thing didn't leak. And I already know I'll have to push it back in before I can disconnect it.

They fit, and they didn't leak. But I don't think I'll buy more of them from Harbor Freight.

The mower deck weighs so much less after you wash it!

In October I put the garden hoses away for the winter. In November I still have to mow the lawn. How do I wash the mower deck when I'm done?

I could drag out the hoses and 'nect em up, but drag hoses are such a drag. I could use my shrinky hoses instead, but I have only one fifty-footer left. The rest of em sprung holes or have torn sleeves. And it's damn hard to get a hose mender into that shrinky tube, even a half-inch mender. And dammit, two of the menders I managed to get into it worked their way out.

I can't bring myself to make those repairs again. So I only have one fifty-footer, and that ain't enough to reach the spot where I wash out the mower deck... Hm, maybe I should try metal menders instead of plastic, as they might have a smaller OD. Or, worst case, 3/8" menders. Not a terrible idea.

And then I saw 75-foot shrinkys on clearance at Walmart, 20 bucks apiece. Good price, I thought, so I bought two of em. Spur of the moment.

This was the other day, after I discovered my utility sink has garden hose threads and before I got the faucet/GHT adapter stuck in the quick-connect fitting. Come to think of it, it was after washing out the mower deck last week that I found the faucet adapter stuck in the quick-connect fitting.

Anyway, I'm ready to have another go at washing the mower deck using my utility sink as a water source. I got the new faucet adapter installed. I got the new shrinky hoses. And I even got a Swan Multi-Purpose Hose Swivel. The faucet points down toward the bottom of the utility sink, so I got the Swan swivel to point the hose out of the sink.

It's almost like playing with Tinker Toys, getting these fittings and assembling them to suit my imagination. And less $$ than car parts or computers.

I turned the fitting far as it would go in one direction, and got a 90 degree elbow. For comparison, the Swan card shows it straight.

If you look closely at the upper photo (or click the photo to see it bigger) you'll notice a circular joint in the top face of the swivel nut. So this is a two-piece nut, like the one noted at the end of Putting away. But you can see the underside of the swivel nut in the photo on the Swan card, and the nut doesn't have the teeth that break off. With luck, my Swan will last.

I'll put a second washer in the female end, in case the faucet adapter comes off the faucet again, so I can get it out of the Swan.

I'll use a quick-connect on the outlet side of the Swan (to match my shrinky hoses) but not one on the inlet side. I don't want to have a QC on the utility sink faucet permanently; it wouldn't look like it belongs there. And to put it on before every use, and take it off after, serves no purpose. I'll just put the Swan on before every use, and take it off after.

The outlet side quick-connects to the hose. I've gotta get the hose out the door, or out the garage door. I'm thinkin, open the garage door, put some 1x4 across the bottom of the opening, two pieces end-to-end with a one-inch gap between em, run the hose thru the one-inch gap, and close the garage door on the 1x4. Should keep most of the cold and wind out. Throw some rags up against it, maybe.

Now the hose is outside.

I think I need a shutoff on the first hose, so I can open the faucet and let the shrinky hose expand. Otherwise even the 75-foot shrinky isn't long enough to get comfortably out of the garage.

Now the hose is outside. I'll connect the other 75, and the 50-footer; that gets me to my deck-wash area. And the 50 already has a shutoff on it... In the future, I think I'll only buy shrinky hoses that have a built in shut-off valve.

Then I've got a short length of hose, 15 inches, with a brass True Value QC on one end (to connect to the 50) and the plastic QC on the other (to connect to the fitting on the mower deck).

The only other thing I need is to get started.

 // [a couple hours pass]

Okay, I washed the mower deck. My plan worked well, except for one thing: I need a wye between the swan and the first hose. So that when I'm ready to drain that hose I can open the spare leg and relieve the pressure in the hose.

There's something in there...

Following up mine of 4 November...

Remember this?

The one on the left has something in it. What is that?

I thought it was metal threads from a cheap hose that was coming apart. So I took all my "put away" hoses out of the 55-gallon barrel. Re-rolled each hose using a hose-rollup fixture I made for rolling the hoses at the max diameter that fits in the barrel: to reduce the risk of kinked hoses, and to make the best use of the barrel-space, hopefully.

And I disconnected the hose ends and checked to see if there was a missing piece that looked like the piece that was stuck in my QC fitting. (I connect the hose ends together to keep dirt and bugs out. Again, hopefully. But I created some kinks by bending the hose to connect the ends. That's why I made the rollup fixture, and why next year I want to use hose caps and hose plugs to close off the ends instead. (Hose caps are easy to find; hose plugs, not so much.))

None of the hoses was missing that piece, the chrome piece inside the QC fitting in the photo.

I slept on it. But I awoke with no great insights, so I decided to do something else instead. I've been wanting to compare my brass QCs from True Value with the new ones I got at Harbor Freight. So, that.

By inspection, they are very similar.

By fit, they are very similar. The True Value male fits the Harbor Freight female, and the HF male fits the TruVal female, no problem. So I have one thing left to try: see if the brand mixing causes leaks.

I grabbed the Harbor Freight fitting and tried to screw it on to the faucet in the garage. No good: the QC fitting is too big.

What? Wait a minute... I tried the old True Value fitting, which fit before. Too big.

Then it hit me: The piece stuck in the fitting in the photo is the garage sink faucet adapter!

So that means it's not stuck because of corrosion. Hasn't been in there long enough. So that means, if I could grab it, I could get it out. It was kinda like inspiration.

I put a rag thru the hole in the chrome fitting, grabbed my triangular shaped file, stuck the file in there, and unscrewed the stuck fitting. EASY!... but only after two or three days of zero progress.

//

For a good part of the day then, I was looking for a replacement adapter to go from faucet threads to garden hose threads.

Next day, today, I had the chance to stop at Home D. So I decided that for five bucks I could risk guessing which adapter would fit my faucet. I guessed this one: Female 55/64"-27 x male 3/4" hose. It helped a lot that the review by AscendedMind said

This faucet adapter works perfect on my kitchen sink for connecting a standard garden hose to. Perfect for when the weather is freezing, but you still need access to a garden hose w/o worrying about your outside faucets or hoses freezing.

Because that's exactly what I want to do. Yeah, it's not freezing yet. But it will be.

Oh by the way, when I got the new fitting home I found a rubber washer in it. On the female side, just like hose washers in garden hose fittings. But this one is smaller: 55/64, whatever that is.^* The once-folded 3.25"x3.75" paper that serves as documentation for this adapter tells me "For manufacturer warranty information visit www.faucetaerator.com. I'm thinking that's my best first place to look for replacement washers or at least what size they have to be.

Yeah, no. Their home page offers three product categories: bathroom products, kitchen products, and garden & laundry products. None of them showed a fitting like the one I got from Home Depot.

Next: Their home page offers a Product Selection link. I clicked that and it offered a Housing Size link. Yeah, good, okay. The picture on that page shows that some of their fittings are about as big around as a quarter, and others as big as a nickel. Mine's the nickel. The text on that page is about something entirely unrelated:

Need to repair the entire faucet aerator or just the insert?
If your metal faucet aerator housing is in good condition, you can decide to replace the insert only. A damaged metal housing requires replacement of the entire unit.

Thanks.

Next step: Housing Gender.

Well, I am "unique and have a faucet with a male outlet (threads on the outside)", so I need a fitting with the threads inside. But I knew that before I went to Home D.

This site seems to be all about faucet aerators, not faucet adapters. And they don't identify their products by part number or even by the same description they give on the tiny page of documentation that comes with the adapter.

Well, I got tired of dickin around with this, so I went to see if the thing I bought fits my faucet.

Yep.

But I still don't know the size of the washer. I better find out.

It's just a hair bigger than a nickel, OD. I get 7/8" OD, 9/16 ID, 1/16" thick. Pretty soft rubber. Actually no: It does not seem to compress much when I pinch it, but it is pretty damn flexible because it's so small.

The same washer fits my old fitting, the chrome thing that got stuck in my QC fitting the other day. Good to know. But I don't think I'll be using the old fitting because it's only about 5/16" high. You can lose it down inside a garden hose fitting and spend three damn days trying to fish it out.

I''m not very comfortable with the new one, either, because it's only about half an inch high. A lot of garden hose females could easily swallow it whole. I'll want to remember to use two garden hose washers in whatever fitting I connect to this squat little adapter.

Anyway, the thing fits my faucet. I didn't waste the five bucks. And that's a good thing.

// Note
* :  55/64 turns out to be about the size of a nickel, a tad over 13/16. A quarter measures about 15/16" and fits easily in the female end of a hose fitting.

An Oversize Mender Fantasy

Following up mine of 3 November...

Okay. We know that for half inch, five eighth inch, and three quarter inch hose, the name describes the inside diameter of the hose. We know that "hose mender" fittings have a smaller ID than the hoses they fit. And we know that using hose menders reduces the pressure of the water exiting the hose. What we don't know is if we can fit an oversize mender into the hose to reduce the pressure loss.

Technically, we also don't know if using such a mender will actually reduce pressure loss and maintain flow. But that should be a pretty easy thing to check, once we have hoses with oversize menders in them.

//

Let's say our hose mender needs the same ID as the hose. So, 5/8" ID for a 5/8" hose. What to use for an oversize mender? I rummaged the internet for a while, found an interesting page on copper pipe:

Copper pipe ... is sold in nominal sizes which are 1/8 inch less than the actual outside diameter.

Okay, so the copper pipe we call "half inch" is 5/8" OD.

And then I found copper pipe couplings that just fit over the pipe -- 5/8" ID for half inch copper pipe. Exactly what I'm looking for, for 5/8" hose. For half a buck apiece, I'll try them.

They're thin, too, so the hose should have little trouble fitting over the coupling. I'll get some of those copper couplings and see what I can do with them. And I'll let you know how it goes. But today's not the day for that.