Hoses, hoses and more hoses!

[lane5515]

I bought a hose at Lowes. It was a "professional" "never kink" hose. I hate it. It kinks like crazy. Should have named it "The Always Will Kink" hose. I need a 100 ft hose. I'm going to check out the Flexzilla.

I bought one of the expandable type hoses for my 78 year old Mother. No problems so far. They are fine for light duty. I don't expect it to last very long though. The fittings are very low quality.

I had one of those "Never Kink" hoses as well - hated it. Heavy, stiff and no kink my ass - it was the worst.

[TTQ B4U]

In the summer I use nothing but my trust 100% rubber black garden hose. Not sure of the brand, but it's flexible, rarely kinks and I've had the ones at my house 75ft in the front and 100ft in the backyard for nearly 20 yrs and they are going strong. I leave them outside in the summer. They are shielded by our water powered self retracting reels.

In the late fall however, I pull them inside, drain them and store them. For washing cars I switch over to the self collasping hose you see on TV, etc. I forget the name. They aren't cheap but they are decent. A little overpriced IMO for what they are as I don't see them anywhere near as durable as a regular hose. However, I take very good care of mine and made sure I bough the heavy duty ones that seem stronger than the regular.

The reason I moved to these is that I have hot/cold water in our garage and so long as I don't go above warm temp they are very handy. I love the fact that they are small and self drain when I'm done. I use a 50ft in my garage which is a little big but he 25ft seemed small. Key for me has been not to bend them or insure they don't "kink" near the nozzle area. So far two season of use and going strong.

[fightnews]

One of our basic tools is water hoses. Those of us that take pains to insure our car looks good at all times can not get by without hoses. I know due to water rationing and people that live in complexes that forbid car washing have to use other methods such as rinseless and waterless wash but these are the exceptions. As much as we rely on hoses we don't often talk about them at the forum.

I have found the 50' Sears Craftsman black hose on a wheel cart to be the best hose for washing my car. It is heavy duty but not overly heavy in weight. It also resists kinking although it is not kink free (I have not found a hose truly "kink free" although I tried a couple advertised as such).

Newer technology in hoses is moving towards expandable hoses. These are much lighter in weight, easier to store and are naturally kink free. The draw backs I have read are that they often burst if water pressure is high, wear down quickly when used on concrete or black top drive ways and do not provide sufficient water pressure for use with power washing equipment. I don't know if any of these drawbacks are widespread or even true but that is what some folks have noted at review sites.

I am thinking of trying out this kind of hose for the first time and would like to know if anyone here has had experience with expandable hoses as their primary hose for washing cars. What have been your observations?

i have a fifty foot 3/4 diameter heavy duty hose. it pretty much wastes the largest amount of water possible if you let it run but i use it on my pressure washer to give me extra volume. not sure if it even helps

[fightnews]

Yes, I know! Anyway, I started this thread primarily to avoid the mess shown in the picture below!

thats like four different hoses u dont need a special hose to avoid that just dont let them get tangled up

[oldmodman]

I got the 3/4 inch hose too. I bought two fifty foot hoses at HomeDepot and keep them rolled up on two wheeled rollers.

They are soo much stiffer than smaller hoses that I don't get any kinking. But they are very heavy. Even when being rolled from location to location.

[Eldorado2k]

I found a good deal online for the Flexzilla.. Then I looked it up on Home Dep online and their price was great as well. So I get excited thinking I can walk right in and buy it today only to find out that it, along with every other hose I was interested in is not sold in stores and online ship only.... How irritating is that? Smh.


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[Shortspark]

Well, I finally decided to try one of these and bought this one from Amazon during a daily deal special:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The special was for $40 so I thought I would try it. I washed my car with it the other day and it certainly is much lighter than my Craftsman rubber hose and there is no kinking at all, as is the nature of all these expandable hoses. The ease just can't be beat and the storage is great - I wound it up in an old flower pot.

The problem I see is durability. I only used it once and dragging it across the cement of my driveway made the exterior shell look like a cat had played with it. The hose was frayed in many places along its entire length. This was something I was warned about as I read reviews but I did not expect it to be this badly frayed after just one use. It may have no effect for a while but I can see where eventually this will cause a problem because it will no longer be able to protect the inner core.

So, I have concluded that it is a compromise - durability vs ease of use. If money is not a big deal for you I would buy one and use it until it finally leaks. As long as it lasts a year or two I think the ease of use and convenience is worth it. If I find it lasts less than a full season then it is back to my Craftsman rubber hose.

[Eldorado2k]

Well, I finally decided to try one of these and bought this one from Amazon during a daily deal special:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The special was for $40 so I thought I would try it. I washed my car with it the other day and it certainly is much lighter than my Craftsman rubber hose and there is no kinking at all, as is the nature of all these expandable hoses. The ease just can't be beat and the storage is great - I wound it up in an old flower pot.

The problem I see is durability. I only used it once and dragging it across the cement of my driveway made the exterior shell look like a cat had played with it. The hose was frayed in many places along its entire length. This was something I was warned about as I read reviews but I did not expect it to be this badly frayed after just one use. It may have no effect for a while but I can see where eventually this will cause a problem because it will no longer be able to protect the inner core.

So, I have concluded that it is a compromise - durability vs ease of use. If money is not a big deal for you I would buy one and use it until it finally leaks. As long as it lasts a year or two I think the ease of use and convenience is worth it. If I find it lasts less than a full season then it is back to my Craftsman rubber hose.

For the normL price of $54.99 that hose better have come with some kind of lifetime warranty because that's not cheap for a hose.


Sent from my iPhone

[Shortspark]

For the normL price of $54.99 that hose better have come with some kind of lifetime warranty because that's not cheap for a hose.


Sent from my iPhone

I agree, that is too much money for one of these. My limit would be around $40 for a 75 footer and that is what I paid for it during an Amazon Prime daily deal sale. The warranty is 12 months but only on manufacturer defects. I don't think it would cover all the fraying from dragging it on concrete. The brass connections seem top quality and I have heard that many of the failures in these hoses occur at the connections. Glad to see they at least did a good job at the ends.

[Eldorado2k]

Not bad, I thought you got a 50' foot hose... I saw a deal on the bay for brand new 75' Flexzilla for $42 no tax + free shipping. I almost got it but I don't really need 75'. I'll need it if I ever bring it with me mobile, but not at here at home where it'll be 99% of the time.