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.
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.
1 comment:
We had snow since I wrote the above post, and I used the utility sink, Swan swivel, & shrinky hoses to clean up the snow blower when I was done.
NICE!
I picked up a 1x4 yesterday to go across the bottom of the garage door opening. Things are moving along.
Not quickly, but moving.
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