When taking care of your garden, lawn, or vehicles, having a hose handy is one of the best ways to save yourself time and labor. If you’re working with a standard hose and need something lightweight, consider investing in an expandable hose.
An expandable hose is a type of garden hose designed to expand when the water source is turned on. They usually consist of a thin inner latex hose with an outer protective cover. When filled, they typically expand up to three times their length meaning 10′ of hose turns into 30′ of the usable hose.
With a little bit of research and some patience, you’ll be watering the lawn and washing your car with ease. Read on for more information about expandable hoses and even how to connect them if you want to stretch them over long distances.
What Is an Expandable Hose?
An expandable hose is a garden hose designed to expand on its own when the water source is connected to turns on. All you have to do is hook it up to a spigot, turn on the water, and the hose expands on its own. They are thought to expand up to three times their length when the water is turned on, which means that ten feet of hose end up turning into thirty feet of usable hose when you turn the water on.
This quality makes expandable hoses much smaller than normal garden hoses, though they are used in similar ways. Expandable hoses are easy to pack up and travel with because of how they change shapes and sizes according to their use. Thus, expandable hoses are often used by people who live in smaller homes like condos or apartments because of their compact style.
Lengths They Come In
Expandable hoses come in a variety of lengths and strengths. There are some varieties of expandable hoses that are shorter, around fifteen feet, which are majorly for use in smaller garden or lawn setups where you don’t need much wiggle room to water your plants by just filling buckets and watering cans. A shorter hose such as this one is just right for people with only a few plants to water or someone who just wants a hose to rinse things off in the summer.
Other expandable hoses can run up to one hundred feet, which helps you to work on a larger property or farm or need to bring the hose further away from the water source it’s connected to.
This length of hose is the right option for you if you’re running a larger gardening operation or if your plants and crops are far away from the spigot you’re connecting your hose to. To determine what length is right for your needs, measure the furthest distance from your spigot to your plants and go by that.
Construction
Expandable hoses are made of two main parts. The first part of the expandable hose that gives it its unique shape and form is the inner hose, made from a stretchy rubber or rubber-like material. This is what expands and stretches when the water source is turned on and water pressure increases. The second element of the expandable hose is the outer fabric portion, which is scrunched up until the entire hose expands.
Along with these two elements are two connectors on each end, which helps you attach the hose to a spigot, another hose, sprayer attachment, or sprinkler. This is what will connect this hose to another expandable hose. Expandable hoses are somewhat fragile compared to standard hoses, so make sure that this connection is tight, so you won’t spring a leak anywhere, and the connection is firm.
Why Choose an Expandable Hose?
Expandable hoses have several perks that standard garden hoses don’t have. The first reason that people choose to purchase and use an expandable hose instead of a regular fixed-length garden hose is that many people have limited room in their homes. This may mean that they don’t have a lot of storage in their home or live in an apartment where they can’t keep household items outside.
Either way, choosing an expandable hose over a standard garden hose is wiser for those who live compactly. It can be easily tucked away into your garage, the back of your car, a large toolbox, or your shed, depending on where you live and what sort of storage you have access to.
Another reason to choose an expandable hose is because of its weight – expandable hoses can be up to five times lighter than standard garden hoses. Because of this, they are far easier to carry than standard hoses. This is advantageous if you have less arm strength or are injured because you don’t have to bear as much weight as you would with a normal hose.
This means that if you connect two expandable hoses, you’ll still be able to carry them far easier than you would a regular hose of the same length. This means less stress and less back pain.
Expandable hoses are great for weaker or older people because it’s less of a burden to carry around. This makes it great for people living in retirement or assisted living communities because it gives them ways to continue working in their yards while still reducing the potential for injury. Gardening and lawn work should be accessible to everyone who wants to partake in it, and lightweight expandable hoses make that happen.
What Options Are Available to Me?
There are plenty of options available on the market for a well-made expandable garden hose. Most hardware stores and other supply stores have expandable hoses for sale, but you may not be able to find the exact length that you’re looking for. There are plenty of options available online.
If you’re a small-time gardener, you will likely only need around twenty to twenty-five feet of hose to work with. In addition to a decent hose, you will also need some sort of sprayer to water your plants or wash your car with. This will make your life much easier as you work outdoors
My recommended expandable garden hose is a great option because of its lightweight design and its strength. It’s built with three layers of latex and comes with a detachable spray nozzle. If you want to connect it to another expandable hose, all you have to do is to screw in the internally-threaded end of the hose to the externally threaded opposite end of the other.
If you are working with a larger operation such as a bigger farm or on a homestead and need a longer reach from your expandable hose, check out this 75ft Flexi Hose Expandable Garden Hose. This hose is designed with two thick layers and will help resist again pesky kinks that usually arise when using a standard hose. According to the reviews on Amazon, this product is virtually leak-free and is easy to carry around and use for tasks around your home and property.
Summary
Expandable hoses make gardening and washing your car convenient and accessible. They are easy to use and are far more lightweight than standard hoses. Even better, they easily connect for projects and properties that require more distance to be covered.
Expandable hoses are made of two or three inner layers that expand and contract according to whether the water flows through them. To make sure your hoses stay connected, you will need to make sure you buy hoses with strong materials as well as stable connectors. With just a few checks and some patience, you’ll be working outside with ease, hassle-free.
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Jim James is a published author and expert on the outdoors and survivalism. Through avid research and hands-on experience, he has gained expertise on a wide variety of topics. His time spent at college taught him to become really good at figuring out answers to common problems. Often through extensive trial and error, Jim has continued to learn and increase his knowledge of a vast array of topics related to firearms, hunting, fishing, medical topics, cooking, games/gaming, and other subjects too numerous to name.
Jim has been teaching people a wide variety of survivalism topics for over five years and has a lifetime of experience fishing, camping, general survivalism, and anything in nature. In fact, while growing up, he often spent more time on the water than on land! He has degrees in History, Anthropology, and Music from the University of Southern Mississippi. He extensively studied Southern History, nutrition, geopolitics, the Cold War, and nuclear policy strategies and safety as well as numerous other topics related to the content on survivalfreedom.com.