The full benefits of an intact garden hose can lead to great success in gardening.
A quality and fully-functioning garden hose can hydrate lawns, help gardens flourish, and rinse away scattered debris.
Not only that, you can even use them to plump water from under a kitchen sink or a washing machine.
There is virtually no exterior task requiring water that it can’t do.
A garden hose that’s torn, bent, or leaky is another story.
A hose in any of these conditions wastes water and makes garden chores a lot more complicated.
Add to the fact that you sometimes only notice this problem during the worst times, or when it’s gotten really bad, makes the situation even tougher to deal with.
Luckily for you, leaks don’t necessarily mean you need to get rid of your garden hose, you just need to learn how to fix garden hose leaks.
In fact, they’re quite easy to repair using the effective fixes in our compilation.
How to Fix Garden Hose Leaks
A leaky garden hose can pose all sorts of problems.
Whether it’s a tiny leak from a pesky pinhole or gushing water from a huge tear, you must address the problem immediately, using the right solution.
1. Use Electrical Tape
Pinhole leaks are often the result of nails or other sharp objects puncturing the hose.
These holes are virtually impossible to spot when the water isn’t running and, when you do spot them, it’s because water is already spurting out like mini geysers from the damaged area of the hose.
These leaks may be tiny and aren’t the worst thing to happen to your hose, but they do waste water and, not to mention, also direct water away from the garden you’re supposed to be watering.
Use the electrical tape to rid you of this minor problem.
Electrical tape is a rubber-based adhesive with a PVC backing that offers insulation, elasticity, and weather resistance in one hole-plugging package.
The tape is best to use on small puncture wounds and usually won’t be any good for fixing large tears.
2. Bring in the Hose Mender
When a hose gets exposed to too much heat, gets chewed on by pets, or gets snagged on bushes or trees, it often results in large tears.
Water gushes out of these sections of the hose as soon as the tap is connected.
With a hose mender, you can fix this problem in a cinch.
A hose mender is a short tube made of either metal or plastic that serves as a replacement for the damaged section of the hose.
When fixing a large tear using a hose mender, you need to disconnect the tap and then cut off the damaged section of the hose using a hose cutter; garden shears work fine, too.
Then, fit the hose mender between the hose’s two cut ends via its connectors.
Proceed to turn the collars on the mender clockwise to tighten up the links.
Then, reconnect the tap to verify if the hose is now leak-free.
3. Use a Hose Gasket
You would need a new hose gasket for leak problems that stem from the coupling, which is the metal or plastic fitting found on the ends of the hose that connects to a nozzle, sprinkler, or spigot.
If the coupling happens to be the source of the leak, then a gasket replacement may be required. Also, gaskets, like the rest of the hose’s parts, are subject to wear and tear and will need to be replaced every three years or so.
To begin the replacement, shut the off tap. Then, disconnect the end of the hose where the leak is coming from.
You’ll also want to pull out the remaining gasket on that hose end using needle-nose pliers.
Then, push the new gasket inside the coupling using your fingers.
When you use gaskets with thicker o-rings, you get a tighter and more secure seal.
Flat gaskets may work, but don’t expect them to provide the best results since they don’t mold quite well to the contours.
4. Time for a New Coupling
If even after the gasket replacement, the coupling continues to leak out water, then it may be time to say goodbye to that coupling and say hi to a new one.
The coupling could either have run its course or got bent from being run over by some heavy-duty lawn equipment.
When this happens, it upends the coupling’s watertight seal, causing a leak.
For a permanent solution to this leaking problem, replace the misshapen coupling with a new one.
There’s the male coupling connected to the sprinkler or nozzle, and the female coupling linked to the spigot.
Aside from determining whether you need a male or female fitting, you also have to make sure the diameter of the coupling is just right so that it fits the hose properly.
In any case, you shouldn’t have to worry since the package indicates both details.
How to Prevent Future Damage
The following tips should help delay future damage and keep leaking problems at a minimum:
- Don’t leave your hose outside where it can be exposed to either extreme heat or cold.
- Keep your hose kink-free by storing it on a hose reel.
- After disconnecting the tap, spray out the remaining water in your hose to keep the water inside from expanding (due to the cold) and, therefore, compromising the seal’s integrity.
- As much as possible, choose a rubber hose since it tends to fare better against temperature changes.
A Useful Video on Fixing Garden Hose Leaks
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re a full-time gardener or someone who just dabbles in the activity from time to time, you’ll want to make sure your hose performs at an optimal level.
This means no leaks, no tears, and no issues with any of the hose’s parts to keep you from doing the best job hydrating your lawn or garden or cleaning your deck.
You can address the variety of hose leaking problems properly using effective procedures that involve the use of either the electrical tape, hose mender, hose gasket, or hose coupling.
These items, along with sufficient knowledge on the right ways to use them, can help you come up with a good approach on how to fix garden hose leak.
Plus, with a quality hose and proper maintenance measures in place, garden hose leaks shouldn’t pose too much of a headache for you.
