Conquer Hose Reel Kinking!

How to prevent hoses from kinking where they attach to hose reels.

I've owned many hose reels and they all suffered from the same problem: no matter how I wind the hose on them they always form kinks where they attach to the reel.

Even with kink-preventing connectors I still get kinks (red arrows.)

These kinks not only weaken the hose, they create noisy whistling sounds and reduce the flow through the hose. All this is caused by manufacturers failing to mount the connection inside the reel and tangent to it. My solution was to use a female PVC connector, three 90-degree elbows and a male connector to create a rigid connector that carries the water to the inside of the reel, where it can attach to the hose without kinking.

Not only does it work, it also eliminates the annoying clack when the old hose connectors hit the side of the frame. Flow rate increased significantly and is much quieter.

Another problem common to hose reels is that the pressure of the sides of the hose as it's wound up tends to collapse it. If the hose is mounted where it is in sunlight the heat can soften the hose to the point where it eventually goes completely flat. I avoid this problem by always having a valve on the end of the hose that I close before winding it up. This way the hose is wound onto the reel while it's pressurized, greatly reducing hose collapse. Once the hose is on the reel I shut off the water source but leave the valve on the end of the hose closed. This retains the pressure and helps maintain the hose's round shape. Another technique that helps is not using the reel to drag the hose onto it. This creates tension, which can compact the hose. Instead, I use my free hand to pull the hose in faster than it's being wound so that it goes on the reel loose.

I hope you found this page useful and you'll come back often to visit some of my other pages. I wish you good gardening.
 

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