I read a bunch of reviews. The soaker hose itself gets a lot of criticism for leaking (oh, irony) but the system is generally well liked. I like it. I haven't tried it, but I definitely like the idea of optimizing the layout.
Also, a lot of the reviews said it was an easy system to set up. So I got thinking the connectors must be good ones.
Screw-on connectors, as opposed to stainless steel hose clamps or the clam-style plastic clamps.
Interesting. But in the reviews I was reading, people were saying "store bought hose doesn't always fit the connectors" and it "does not work with one from the store" and like that. Granted, one guy said "I still use the connectors, but go to my hardware store for their 'off the shelf' soaker hose" and he didn't seem to have the compatibility problems. So now I don't know if there's a fitup mismatch or not. But I'm wary.
I can get six of those connectors (six, as the picture shows) for ten bucks: Less than $2 each. That's a good price, if I can use em. Maybe I'll risk it.
// EDIT 26 Oct 2018: Ten bucks (actually $9.95) plus shipping. I always forget shipping. Looks like "Economy Shipping and Delivery Charges" would be $8.50 for an order of $20 or less. So... $9.95 for the fittings plus $8.50 shipping... $18.45 for the six fittings... that comes to $3.08 apiece. A little less of a bargain than I first thought.
Meanwhile I went looking for similar screw-on fittings from other suppliers. I found a nice looking brass one at Amazon:
For ten dollars apiece. No no no no. It's only good for half-inch hose. Pretty, though.
I found a plastic one, looks like a female hose end repair fitting
But no male mate.
Speaking of plastic, I wonder how long the white plastic dentures on that brass fitting would last. I've broken way too many plastic connectors. I like the barbed brass insert fittings, with an ss hose clamp. But the eye does wander.
//
Gilmour has one: a Medium Duty Compression Repair fitting. For five and change apiece. "Metal body and collar," it says. And they have em for 3/4" hoses, 5/8 and 3/4. That's a plus.
//
I should get a 3D printer and make my own.
16 comments:
Amazon again: Five plastic fittings that look about like the Snip-and-Drip connectors, for $10. An interesting price.
For 12 mm hose: half-inch ID.
Tool Source Direct offers screw-on hose end fittings, male and female, about $2.50 apiece. "Metal body and collar". For 5/8" hose, 5/8 ID.
Yeah: five fittings for $10 PLUS $12 SHIPPING.
It's Amazon. You gotta watch em every minute!
the screw-on fittings are called "compression" fittings.
Here, a brass one for 1/2" hose, by Yardworks.
//sold by a Canadian company. I didn't check if they use standard US hose threads or the British one...
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/yardworks-hose-repair-female-end-brass-1-2-in-0593272p.html#.VU_pA6P2dNQ
Melnor offers metal hose repair fittings, male end, female end, & hose splice, brass color (they look nice) but Melnor just calls em "metal".
This and the "Yardworks" info via
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=290659&showall=1
Melnor video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CJDvThGcX4
Ace Hardware shows Melnor's brass "hose repair" fittings for 5/8 hose, and plastic ones that fit either 5/8 or 3/4 hose. The plastic ones look like the Snip-n-Drip fittings pictured above.
Melnor says Home Depot carries their stuff too, but I don't see the hose repair fittings today. Too late in the season, maybe.
Dunno now. Melnor says Ace carries their stuff, but the brass hose repair fittings noted above don't look like the ones Melnor shows.
EGADS!
Melnor Metal Male Hose Repair at Amazon
$13.97
(but they do look pretty!)
Now $15 shipping.
PRICE DROP!
Now only $13.88...
for one fitting that looks like brass but isn't, and made in China. What a bargain.
Another hose repair fitting like the Snip-n-Drip, like Snip-n-Drip for 1/2" hoses:
Car Garden Hose Pipe Joiner Joint Repair Connector Expert Plastic
That name is a mouthful. The fittings are $4.99 apiece from alexnld.com, free shipping it says. The Snip-n-Drips at $3.08 apiece (shipped) are a better deal. But I wanted to keep the link where I could find it.
More interesting about this supplier is what else they offer (see the bottom of their page):
• A brass one for $5.99 ... which may be a mid-hose repair fitting but in at least one picture looks like a Quick Connect that attaches to the hose directly. Not sure what it is, really.
• A male-to-male quick connect piece, in brass, which you can use to connect two hoses by their female QC ends. For $5.99. Interestingly, the photos for this one show the same blue-and-white hose as the $10 brass connector in the photo above.
• A male-to-male quick connect piece, in plastic for $4.99.
• A plastic adapter that fits 3/8" hose one end, and a Quick Connect the other. I wonder if they have regular hose mender fittings for 3/8" hose.
Some of these fittings eliminate the need for an ordinary threaded end on your hoses. I have almost all my hoses and attachments fitted with QC ends, but they all screw into the ordinary GHT ends. If I'm cutting a hose to the length I need for a particular use, I put a GHT end on it and then add a QC fitting. With these from alexnld.com, I could skip the GHT fitting and go direct from hose to QC. I like the idea.
Yup. Look at the nozzle in this photo from alexnld.com. There's no swivel end on it. No threaded end at all. Just a quick connect. I like this idea.
They're making the GHT standard obsolete!
Compression style brass hose mender for 3/8" hose, at Amazon. $13.40 for three sets... so $4.47 per set.
Nice lookin.
If I'm seein it right, the mid-hose mender is made by connecting a male-end mender to a female-end mender. Interesting concept. And if you only need hose-end menders, you get three male and three female, six connectors total, for less than two dollars and a quarter apiece. If I'm seein it right.
Hey! 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 (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."
So yeah, I expect the fittings at that Canadian company have threads like the US, not the British, fittings.
PS: The missing link is the Garden hose article at Wikipedia.
//
I'm particularly interested in how they got that "divided by" slash in their fractions: "used with 1⁄2-inch, 5⁄8-inch, and 3⁄4-inch hoses."
...
Well I can get that character by typing SHIFT+7 (an ampersand) followed by SHIFT+3 (crosshatch, lately called "hash") followed by the digits 8260 followed by a semicolon.
Oh, yeah, I'll remember that.
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