Getting the Kinks out of the hoses

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chefwong

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I'm pretty abusive or not when it comes to hoses.....of all kinds. PW Hose and Hose off the tap.

I am mindful when they come off the reel. Once I pull them out for use off the reel, I will actually start from the beginning and walk it out 2X to get any residual loops that may exist out of them. However,once I start washing, I'll put a hose down....it might be potentially inside a large circle.....that bypasses it, 5 minutes later as I walk 15 feet away, it might start to pull against my loop and possibly a kink, etc....u know how it goes.

I was thinking about this as I've never experienced a kink with the High Pressure Hose. I'm not sure if it's due to the anti-swivel on the gun and or the fact that the PW hose is pretty stiff in itself..

Fast forward to the Garden Hose. I've had it all. Vinyl, Rubber, Thermo, Poly-PE, etc....they all kink. Just some less than others. Some are more forgiving *aka, no memory effect*. One material tends to kink way less but I attribute it to both the thickness of the hose and the material it's made out of.

Anyhow, I ordered a GHT:GHT Swivel fitting.
Anyone using one on the GHT.
It's going to be interesting to see how Kink Free I am in 2026..
 
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When using a 3/8" pressure washer hose, a gun with a smooth swivel makes life much easier.

There are garden hoses that have a swivel built in from the factory. Flexzilla swivel grip is the most popular option. Which GHT swivel did you end up purchasing?
 
chefwong said:
I'm pretty abusive or not when it comes to hoses.....of all kinds. PW Hose and Hose off the tap.

I am mindful when they come off the reel. Once I pull them out for use off the reel, I will actually start from the beginning and walk it out 2X to get any residual loops that may exist out of them. However,once I start washing, I'll put a hose down....it might be potentially inside a large circle.....that bypasses it, 5 minutes later as I walk 15 feet away, it might start to pull against my loop and possibly a kink, etc....u know how it goes.

I was thinking about this as I've never experienced a kink with the High Pressure Hose. I'm not sure if it's due to the anti-swivel on the gun and or the fact that the PW hose is pretty stiff in itself..

Fast forward to the Garden Hose. I've had it all. Vinyl, Rubber, Thermo, Poly-PE, etc....they all kink. Just some less than others. Some are more forgiving *aka, no memory effect*. One material tends to kink way less but I attribute it to both the thickness of the hose and the material it's made out of.

Anyhow, I ordered a GHT:GHT Swivel fitting.
Anyone using one on the GHT.
It's going to be interesting to see how Kink Free I am in 2026..
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I've used hoses for 25 years as part of my profession, kinking and binding is inevitable. The key is choosing the best hoses you can afford and managing them as you work rather than trying to untangle a mess at the start or end. Always walk your hose all the way out and work back in towards the outlet. Same when packing away. The garden hose swivels help a little, but not much.

For pressure washer hoses, you need a swivel at the gun inlet, and if it's not mounted on a hose reel, another live swivel at the pump outlet. Again, this does not totally prevent hose bind, but it helps the situation. Also, if a pressure washer hose is kinking, I'd have serious worries about how durable the braiding is because it should never kink. If it does, you will have a weak point that will eventually cause it to burst, which would be a safety concern. I see this with those crappy Giraffe pressure washers and the Uberflex stuff.
 
I'm still using the hose that came with my Ryobi PW, it's too short, and too rigid, generally a PITA to use, but the Ryobi uses a non standard fitting at one end. I've been hunting for adaptors, but whenever I find them they're an expensive proposition when combined with a new hose.

When it comes to the garden hose, I was using good quality UV stabilised, which have lasted a long time, but are also a pain to use, especially in winter, quite difficult to uncoil and stretch out, winter temps don't get below freezing here so they stay outside. A while back I saw that Copper Bullet pocket hose advertised, so I looked around for similar options. I found the below one at Bunnings, our Home Depot. It's called a boat and caravan hose, it expands when connected with the water turned on, basically doubling in length, and has a fabric type outer layer for protection. It never kinks, and doesn't really get stuck under the tyres, a quick flick releases it when it does. I do keep this one inside when not in use, but it looks as good as the day I bought it back in November 24. I would guess I've used it at least 60 or 70 times.PSX_20260105_210347.jpg
 
I ordered a Underhill.

There is only one GHT swivel that is meant to fit inside a hose & terminates and not a M:F adapter but I never looked at it mainly because the ID if I recall is .6 and not full port on a 3/4 hose


I never considered getting one as there was less than a handful of them on the market, so I presume they *don't* work well.

I've never looked at the Flexilla GH. Nor until you brought it up and I looked and it does come with. Swivel fitting.
That's like only the other 2nd brand I've ever seen with a factory swivel end on it.


I've had their air lines 2 decades ago........din't like the mold that grew on the material they use for the outer jackets. It's a common thing with that type of material they use on the Flexilla unless one is pretty good about wiping it down dry before reeling it back. I recall looking at their GH when it was 1st released but it was mainly a quick peek at it's specifications.....it'd a hard pass for me due to that type of materials.

For PW Lines, I prefer Continental or GoodYear (industrial lines from Hydraulic Shops)
For GH, Underhill is 1st or Continental or Goodyear (same thing, industrial lines ). These tend to kink way less mainly as due their softness and also how thick their Hose Walls is.....their 3/4 looks to be a 1" hose if one was just looking at it.
 
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DFB said:
managing them as you work rather than trying to untangle a mess at the start
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I already knew it's my own fault re: managing as you work-workflow or we can call it cleaning- flow wise....... One needs to be mindful as part of workflow like all things in life...I just continue on with the -cleaning- thinking that loop I left on the floor, etc is oversight.

I'm generally managing whatever hose being used is still straight, I might walk in X direction. Then that run might end up as a loop on the floor....or worse, I'll put the gun or hose nozzle down in the middle of the loop and when I pick it up....knowing full well I ignored the loop on the floor and chose to just proceed with task of cleaning......and knowing if I move forward too much with the hose, I might pull that loop into a kink....Heh, that's what I meant with the OP of saying u know how it goes.

I don't have issues with kinking on my HP hoses(HP =PW)

Big Dave.....I'm not sure what the standard is out there....Out here, on the consumer machines , some PW outlets are 1/4 hose. Maybe some are M22.
Generally, what I would advise for anyone running a PW, is to get a good 3/8 PW hose. Depending on the pump, if one is able to remove the 1/4 : M22.....I know we are talking SAE vs Metric and machine:hose sizes, it's always best to just remove it and run with the larger hose that most Commercial PW guys use.....commercial quality hoses are easy to find once you switch to the industry standard.

@ DFB. Do you have a preference of -materials-....do they offer thermoplastic hoses in your part of the world. It's truly a material I've never experienced till recently. it's lighter than rubber, doesn't kink. I just don't have a benchmark on how abusive:abrasion is this material but it's definitely one of those things I've somewhat :p on. Mainly used on golf courses afaik
 
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chefwong said:
@ DFB. Do you have a preference of -materials-....do they offer thermoplastic hoses in your part of the world. It's truly a material I've never experienced till recently. it's lighter than rubber, doesn't kink. I just don't have a benchmark on how abusive:abrasion is this material but it's definitely one of those things I've somewhat :p on. Mainly used on golf courses afaik
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WARNING - DFB is a hose NAZI, so you've just opened a can of worms.....................

In Australia, most garden hoses are 1/4-inch (12 or 13mm). You can also buy 3/4-inch (19mm) hoses, but they are mostly for agriculture or industrial use. You certainly know the flow difference between the two, but for gardens you don't really need 3/4 hoses. If you want something outside of that, you need to shop at a specialty hose supplier, which 98% of the general public won't be doing.

At work, the boss preferred us to use the 3/4 hoses for higher worker efficiency. In some instances that was certainly the case, for example watering large pots and bagged trees. But elsewhere, the higher flow was often restricted by the watering nozzle, so you ended up dragging around a thick, heavy hose for no benefit. As I type, its 109 deg F outside. I remember dragging those hoses around all day trying to keep the water up to our stock, in sun, no breaks, no help, just me and hose for hours on end. So, I hate those 3/4 hoses.







Now, this is how a certain colleague would leave a hose after using it. Guess who is next to use, who then has to untangle that persons laziness, who would then put the hose away neatly, then guess who would use the hose after this and not have to untangle said hose. Would drive me NUTS. But because it was the boss's wife, do you think I could get traction in with this complaint? Especially as its a tripping hazard in full view of the customers. Just sloppy and lazy.



Right, so I have a VERY strong preference for hoses. NEVER, EVER, buy a cheap hose. NEVER. As for materials, I have no idea other than the good hoses are UV treated. I avoid those ultra soft hoses because while they may look like they'd be resistant to kinking, they are actually worse at it. I also don't like the shiny jacked hoses as they snag too easily rather than glide around obstacles.

At our major hardware retailer, 80% of what they sell is junk. Big surprise, not. So, you have to be very selective!





For a long time, the best hoses came from Nylex. However, the quality has dropped off significantly in the last 10 years, the last one I bought was junk.................at it wasn't cheap either. My go to since then has been Gardena, which is a German company. In particular, the HighFlex and SuperFlex. The outer jacket is not highly polished, so it doesn't snag, and the inner materials allow enough flex without kinking over. They are also 13mm not the 12mm offered by the lower priced crap.










And finally, I absolutely HATE brass fittings. They look pretty in the store, but that's where it stops. Brass fittings just don't grab and hold onto the hose properly, so they are always leaking or on the verge of popping off the hose. Then over time, the release tabs age and become sticky, and the material itself discolours and looks shabby. They are also heavier...............and more expensive. Hate them with a passion! The same applies to plated and stainless.

Again, the best ones come from Gardena, and they are plastic. Sounds like a backward step, but trust me, they work the best, and I've tried them all.






So there you go, I told you I was a hose freak.
 
Half of the hose material mentioned in one of my posts is not something you would find in a box store. Either industrial hydraulic supplier and or just speciality shops.

However, re: the soft comment, all hoses will kink at some point . The soft rubber hoses IMO.......is where the difference is. If they do kink, they don't get the memory as much as a stiffer hose...aka, kink memory. The thermoplastic mentioned is just a different animal I've ever experienced. It's lighter than 3/4 rubber hose, yet is thicker. If one did not know its spec, the thermo hose would appear to the untrained eye as a 1" hose.

I suppose it's like WAX. Just obsessing past the 99% threshold of perfection

109F and Fabric Pots - yowsers
Is this how you receive them from your growers - fabric pots vs plastic
Fabric I can see growers use to get a better root system.......generally anything in container for me is composted bark and pumice and way too fast draining mix. At those temps with no drip system, one must be watering at least 3X a day though🥵
 
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chefwong said:
109F and Fabric Pots - yowsers
Is this how you receive them from your growers - fabric pots vs plastic
Fabric I can see growers use to get a better root system.......generally anything in container for me is composted bark:pumice and way too fast draining mix. At those temps with no drip system, one must be watering at least 3X a day though🥵
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Watering 3 to 4 times a day. There was an automatic overhead watering system that would basically start at about 5.30pm and again at 2am. Then throughout the day, hand watering as needed, especially on a windy day. Some plants would need more.

The "fabric" bags are actually woven plastic. Most of the stock was in plastic pots, but for trees, we would pot them into those grow bags. They hold more moisture, and allow the root system to develop better. Tree's that went into those bags were surplus bare-rooted winter stock, that then gave us trees to sell all year round. It also allowed us to keep the price down rather than having to freight in advanced trees.









 
chefwong said:
Big Dave.....I'm not sure what the standard is out there....Out here, on the consumer machines , some PW outlets are 1/4 hose. Maybe some are M22.
Generally, what I would advise for anyone running a PW, is to get a good 3/8 PW hose. Depending on the pump, if one is able to remove the 1/4 : M22.....I know we are talking SAE vs Metric and machine:hose sizes, it's always best to just remove it and run with the larger hose that most Commercial PW guys use.....commercial quality hoses are easy to find once you switch to the industry standard.
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This is the PW hose end that connects to the spray gun, the other end where it connects to the washer appears to be an M20 connection. I think this Ryobi locking consumers in to using there replacement parts. I'm sure adaptors are available, and I've already got one so I have quick connect on the end of the spray gun to go quickly between foam cannon and nozzles, but I don't use the PW every time, only when I want to foam, or if I've had the FJ off-road.PSX_20260107_165345.jpg
 
I see what you're saying Big Dave. This may not not be the right answer......depending on budget. One can probably adapt a longer hose off the M20:22 to the gun with a adapter that's available for the gun inlet...

However, if this was me, I'd skip putting money towards the adapter and switch out the gun. This way you have a universal gun that works with any common hose as well.
 
Fabric pots is just the terminology we call that style out here. Or root pouches, etc.

Interesting that you state it holds more moisture. Out here, growers for the most part use plastic pots for that reason....as it holds more moisture than a fabric pot that tends to evaporate more easily due to the the porosity

For root developement, I would not mind getting all my stuff grown in fabric pots. One of the growers I buy them actually field grows them in fabric pots so when sold, they are sold complete with the root bag with a complete root system vs *your typical dug and cut root system*. I like stuff grown in fabric pots more than something grown in plastic containers but it's only 1 grower:supplier for me that does this.

Everything else is just pot grown or field grown and balls/burlapped.

Here's a pic of a tree I got this year. Probably grown in a liner for way too long, then put into a #1 and root bound already.....and upsized again in a #3 but it started with poor root developement. More than a few circulars, 2 areas where they hit each other and fused together and created that gnarly knob.

If I buy a smaller plant, it's easy to get the roots growing correctly since it's a younger plant. For all plant media I get, I will bare root wash and do a massive root correction before planting. Depending on how much I lop off, I may put them back into a very large planter to hold for a season to recover, and actually do another a second round of root correction after it has *recovered* from the prior year and then plant it.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com

Pic #2. It's a HTG cultivar
I actually killed a large one I had so this pic was its replacement. I did not want to touch anything since I killed the 1st one
I left it alone for 2 seasons, dug it out, with the goal to do a root correction. Planted too deep from the grower those secondary roots just grew too advantageously . I ended doing a 1st pass correction and cutting those off, going to let it recover for a season, then cut the dieback back to the leader. Still haven't done any root correction below the flare since I lopped off 4-5 large roots as such

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com
 
@ SNP. Curious since I believe you have the Flexilla. I believe it's hose length dependent if its' 5/8 or a 3/4 hose you have.
If it's 3/4......be curious. What is the ID port of your swivel end....for the Wiki
 
chefwong said:
@ SNP. Curious since I believe you have the Flexilla. I believe it's hose length dependent if its' 5/8 or a 3/4 hose you have.
If it's 3/4......be curious. What is the ID port of your swivel end....for the Wiki
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I actually don't have the flexzilla. I have a 3/4 hose from blubird under their ag lite brand.

I tried a swivel from eden but the bearings froze rather quickly so I cannot recommend that product. Was hoping you found a solution with the product you mentioned earlier but it appears the search continues.
 
I didn't have much hope as a quick search of it doesn't yield much.....in the realm of GHT swivels.

For the price paid , was slightly surprised it was not full port. Bearings seems to be the issue with all the swivels I've looked at including Dramm
 
For those wanting a garden hose swivel, check out Dramm's version, these are proper commercial grade items. You can also occasionally puts some water displacement fluid on the swivel fitting to keep them moving nicely.

www.dramm.com

DRAMM - Brass Hose Swivel

www.dramm.com www.dramm.com

 
If it matters.....the Dramm is not full port.
 
SNP209 said:
I tried a swivel from eden but the bearings froze rather quickly so I cannot recommend that product. Was hoping you found a solution with the product you mentioned earlier but it appears the search continues.
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New One on its way but I would probably have to use it for a full season to give feedback. It's almost full bore.....and a brand I'm familiar with. It did not dawn on me to check there but they do make a swivel. It's made by Eley

I have their hose reels and nozzle and QC. Well Built stuff. It's all they do.....GH reelcarts and accessories for GH
I would say slightly over engineered, over built , but that's mainly because that's all the make:manufacture so alot of thought and design goes into each product.
 
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As far as Flexzilla hoses getting dirty/moldy over time.. They clean up like new by taking a Magic Eraser and just wiping across the entire hose length just like you would if you were using a towel in your hand exept the melamine sponge actually cleans it all off.

I’m a big fan of the Flexzilla hoses, just be mindful if you get the one with the swivel it might not fit into a hose reel. [Iirc I’ve seen a video where that presented a problem and the non swivel hose would’ve been a better choice]
 
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