How To Fix Kink In Garden Hose

Do you need a new water hose or do you need to try these simple directions to get the kinks and leaks out of your life? Watering plants and meditation go well together unless you have to constantly stop and unkink the hose. This is a simple concept and I don't want to insult anyone, but I have noticed that a lot of people just never thought about it. Read on.

kink 1 — Watering plants can be a good meditation experience. A kink in the hose will ruin it.

I find it annoying to have to stop and pull the kinks out of the hose but there is a reason for the kinks and there is an easy way to rectify the problem. So, I'm watering the plants, I have my mind out of gear enjoying solitude and quiet and the freaking water stops coming out of the hose. I turn and look.

kink 2 — someone has left the hose in a dreadful state. I can't get any watering done

The reason that the hose kinks up is that the hose is twisted. It gets twisted when we turn and move about while using it. This is natural. Some hoses have a stripe down one side. I used to wonder what that stripe was and then one day I slapped my forehead—"It's got that line to help me get the twists out. Duh."

So, now when I start getting kinks in hoses, I gently pull the hose out in a straight line, twisting against the kinks as I go. As the hose is untwisted the kinks disappear by themselves. And that's all there is to it. Here's the same hose after I untwisted it:

kink 3 — Don't try to take the kinks out one at a time but instead pull the hose straight and un-twist it against the direction of the twists. It will heal itself.

With that problem solved, I find that I need to tell the others who use this particular hose that if they are going to bend it to stop the flow of water, to do it somewhere besides the same place close to the user end. This habit will quickly break down the cording in the hose and cause the bend to become chronic and aggravating. This is a good and expensive hose which has been compromised by "hose abuse." Oh, Well.

Don't take part in "hosal abuse." This hose has been compromised by being bent at the end to stop the water flow. It begins to start doing it automatically and that will ruin good meditation time

The next thing is leakage. If the hose is leaking at the faucet (hose bib), don't over-tighten it with pliers, but check the washer instead. A worn washer is the cause of a hose/faucet connection 99% of the time. Washers are cheap and easy to replace; just use a screwdriver or something like that to pry out the old one and then stuff in a new one. It will last for a year or two. I have seen lots of good hoses discarded for this reason and I have seen many instances where there was no washer at all in the fitting. The same thing applies if your hose nozzle is squirting more water on you than on your plants. Check it out.

kink 5 — worn hose washers leak. Don't keep tightening the hose, change the washer. This is the cause of most leaks.

One other tip—When you get a new hose, unroll it carefully instead of just pulling it out of the roll that it comes in. This will keep the hose from being twisted from the start.

I wrote a related article some time back about how to use your hose to fertilize your plants with a syphonex. If you have a lot of ornamentals to care for, this will be a tremendous help.

Happy Gardening

I lost my vocal cords a while back due to throat cancer. The laryngectomy sent me on a quest to find and learn to use my new, altered voice. I am able to talk now with a really small and neat new prosthesis. My writing reflects what I have learned in my search for a voice. My site johnschulzauthor.com publishes a daily motivational quote and a personal comment. I write an article a week for my blog, johntheplantman.com which deals with a lot of the things that I do in the garden. I am also the author of Requiem for a Redneck and the new Redemption for a Redneck--novels portraying the lives and doings of folks around the north Georgia hills. I have an English Education degree from the University of Georgia and very happily married to the lovely Dekie Hicks. You may enjoy my daily Quotes and Notes at http://johnschulzauthor.com/ View more posts