Review: Brass Quik Connector Set + Brass Shut Off Valve

[david b]

I have those same quick disconnects and absolutely love them but I deal with the same issue you've described....gotta run and turn the water off, unscrew the connection, and then proceed with my final rinse. Not a deal breaker for me but I can understand your frustration.
David

[Hammer77]

I use the similar ones I got at Lowe's. Got them on everything, hoses, sprayers, sprinklers, soaker hoses in the flower beds. When I got my Karcher power washer, I put a female-female copper coupler (I guess you would call it, found in the plumbing section) on my PW and put a male disconnect the other end. I can go from my spray nozzle to PW in seconds, and the valve at the end of the hose is really what helps save time IMO.

[LittleKing24]

I just received the same shut off valve yesterday and had a chance to use it this morning. In order to flood rinse you need a wide opening and low flowing water. The shutoff valve cannot do both of those things at the same time by design. However, after reading your review(great job on an honest review), i tried to see if there was a solution while rinsing my truck. What worked for me was keeping my spray nozzle(foam gun nozzle) connected and closing the valve about halfway. The water flowed out with little pressure and I was able to sheet the water off. You're still saving time as you don't have to walk back to the spigot.

Shutoff valve aside, the actual quick connects are great. Plus they should last a long time.


Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline

[oneheadlite]

Hey Eldo, what if you took about 1' long piece of hose and hooked it to a male quick connect.

I'm not sure how well it work, maybe it help.

That's a great idea. You'd think that foot of hose would help calm down any disturbances from going through the shut off and coupler and get you back to just smooth flowing water.

Still no running back to the faucet, quick coupler for fast change-over. Think of it like changing air-tools.

[Eldorado2k]

Eldo,

Nicely done review

Thanks. I appreciate it.

great job on an honest review

Thanks bro.

Hey Eldo, what if you took about 1' long piece of hose and hooked it to a male quick connect.

I'm not sure how well it work, maybe it help.

Dude, thank you for the advice.. It worked!



... Now as soon as I read your post I thought "wait did I throw away that hose that I replaced with Flexzilla not too long ago"? I thought I did, but I finally got a much needed break and it was still in the backyard right next to the trash can so I was happy I hadn't tossed it yet

But since I'm forsaken to do everything in life the hard way even when I do happen to catch a break... And while I do happen to have an extra male quik connect piece which came with my nozzle, it's not the same size so it won't fit it...



So I can't swap between attachments until I buy another piece that fits. Ehh...

You might want to try a combination of throttling the flow with the brass shutoff valve and then using one of your nozzle's settings, between the two of them you may be able to get a sheeting flow you are happy with (or not).

Thanks for the advice, tried it out and here's how it looks going this route.

Soaker setting: Sort of kinda maybe could work, but as you can see it's sort of not exactly the ideal flow.. Kinda like old man flow [not that I know about that but, lol] Too close to the nozzle.



Then there's this setting: It might work? Ehh but it's not an exact match so I'm not too thrilled about having to sheet like this.



Then there's this setting, looks like... Nah I don't think this would work too good.




Thanks for all the replies, I didn't think this thread would get much attention, but I guess it just goes to show how great the people on this forum are because y'all know how to geek out on this stuff and that's what makes it good.

[hoyt66]

Thanks for the review. I've been wanting to get this set up. Ordering it today!

[Mantilgh]

Dude, thank you for the advice.. It worked!

Sweet.

[Mike Phillips]

Hey guys, I bought this set because it looked like a pretty cool way to make things a bit more accommodating while performing a typical hose & bucket wash.. After all, doesn't everyone wish they didn't have to walk all the way back to the spigot when it's time for the final sheet rinse? I know I do...

Yes.

That's why I like them. I can change water tools at the end of the hose (where I'm at), so I don't have to walk back to the water spigot to turn the water off so I can change water tools.

Now here's my review.

This is what you get.
It's $6.99 for the brass shut off valve [left]
$9.99 for the quik connecter set [right]
So basically this "upgrade" costs $17+shipping.

-Now here's where things go south, and I mean way down south....

When it comes time for this thing to do the main thing I bought it to do, which is quikly disconnect and allow me to change from nozzle status into sheet rinse status without having to walk all the way back to the spigot and turn off, unscrew, turn spigot back on and walk back to the vehicle etc... I discover this critical flaw.

While I understand your frustration in that with JUST the Shut OFF Valve you cannot use the sheeting technique to remove the water off of a car, if you look at the store page where this product is described it never says it performs this function.

Here's the link to the page,

Single Brass Connector Shut Off Valve


Here's what the page says...


This single hose connector can be used to connect two standard hoses, or as a quick on-off switch to your hose.

The swivel connector gives you maximum maneuverability with the hose by allowing the hose to turn where it connects to the spigot.

This valve can also be used as an inline shut-off valve.

A quick turn of the valve shuts off the water flow so you can turn the water on and off as needed for jobs that don’t require constant water flow.

Constructed from brass, the shut off valve can withstand hot water and high water pressure.

• Single shut-off valve controls water flow
• Heavy-duty brass construction
• Extra large handles for easy grip and turn
• Easy-on swivel connector prevents hose kinks by allowing hose to turn
• Withstands hot water temperatures

Keeping this cool looking brass connector on my hose will render it impossible for me to perform a final sheeting rinse, [unless I walk back to the spigot] which just so happens to be the #1 reason I bought it to not have to do.

No where does it say this tool is for sheeting water off of a car. That may have been your hope but it's not a listed feature of the product.

What the product is for and what it does is it enables you to turn the water off at the end of the hose so you can switch to a different water tool without having to walk back to the hose spigot and turn the water off in order to reduce the water pressure so you can then change to a different water tool.

The tool does exactly what it's suppose to do but it doesn't do what you hoped it would do but these are two very different things.

Well there's my honest review. I hope it helps someone out there make an informed decision before spending $17 on downgrading their hose setup. [sorry I'm just a bit frustrated while typing this right now]

Completely understand your frustration in that the product didn't do what you hoped it would do and your review does share your frustration but the tool actually performed as stated. The good news is your review will share with everyone what this product is for and what it's not for and that will help to set everyone's expectations accordingly.


Thank you for your purchase and your review.

Wow!

All our hoses and all our water tools here at Autogeek are set up with quick disconnects.

I love these things!

I'm off till Monday so I'm typing on my phone which I abhor. When I get back on Monday I explain why these connectors are so cool and I can pull up multiple articles where I show these tools and how I use them.

As promised, here's three articles I've written where I show how I use the brass disconnects and shut off valve.


How to use a foam gun by Mike Phillips


Part of the article above includes the brass connectors and the shut-off valve, here's the pictures from the above article,






Mike's Tip...

So to be clear - the above works great. You can use the foam gun to foam and rinse your car exactly the way it comes in the box. That said, I prefer to accessories my foam gun and my washing process with a couple of cool tools to give me more control.


Note the brass connectors and the extra water sprayer in the Griot's cart below?






Brass Connector Shut Off Valve

First - This is a water shut-off valve. This allows me to turn the water off at the end of the hose where I'm working instead of walking all the way back to the water spigot. This water shut-off valve lets me change tools using brass quick release connectors.

Pictured below is a Brass Connector Shut Off Valve with a Female Brass Quick Connector attached to it. The Brass Quick Connector comes as a set that includes one Female connector and one Male connector.

If you have more tools you actually don't need more of the Female connectors since that's the part that connects to the hose but you do need more Male connectors, the part that connects to your tools and extras can be purchased separately.





Here you can see a Male Connector attached to the Foam Gun Sprayer




Here's the Foam Gun Sprayer attached to the water hose using the Brass Quick Connectors






For rinsing I prefer to use a sprayer with a shower setting. Here you can see I've attached a Male Connector to my water sprayer





Here's the water sprayer attached to the water hose using the Brass Quick Connectors







How to wash a coated car - The Gentle Approach for Washing a Car by Mike Phillips

In this article the focus is on not putting scratches back into the paint on the car after having already repaired the finish. A part of showing the tools I use are a dedicated water sprayer as the one that comes with the foam gun is horrible as a sprayer and then part of showing the sprayer I like to use is the brass connector on the sprayer and the foam gun sprayer to make SWITCHING BETWEEN WATER TOOLS FAST AND EASY.

Here's the pictures from the above article,





Water sprayer with a great shower setting

I get these at the local hardware store. I really appreciate a GREAT shower setting for all kinds of car washing procedures like flushing wheels clean, flushing body panels clean and also for engine detailing when doing a traditional engine detail.

Note you can see the brass quick connectors on all my water tools. You can use the sprayer that comes with the Foam Gun but it doesn't work anywhere near as good as this $5.00 sprayer and with the quick connectors it makes the rinsing a lot more effective and in the big picture saves me time.







Here's the foam gun, also with a brass connector








If you're lazy like me, then get a set of brass connectors for all your water tools and a brass shut-off valve. It will save you step, (walking back and forth to the water spigot to turn off and turn on the water), and it makes it fast and easy to change water tools.



Here's a video from October 29th, 2009