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.