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Those shrinking hoses I see in all the commercials

B

bczoom

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Anyone have one? Are they any good? I always see them in 25' lengths. Do they still work if you string them out to 100' or more?

I have some decent hose but the hose carts are giving out. Wondering if I should get new carts or switch hoses. Would still want the price to come down a lot before switching hoses as I need several hundred feet.
 
I have a few of them.

I love them.

Mine are 50' lengths.

BUT while I love them they are not really very good hoses for delivering a lot of water to do things like filling a pool. They are SMALL DIAMETER hoses they they can't deliver the amount of water that a 5/8ths or 3/4" hose can deliver.

But they are damned convenient and very light weight and ultra flexible. And for those things I like them. Want to water the flowers around the kitchen porch? These will do that with minimum fuss.

Use them for what they are good for while understanding their limitations and you will like them. Use them for tasks that they are not suited for and you'll end up cussing them or spending extra time at the chore because they simply can't deliver the high volumes of water due to the constrictions at both ends.

FWIW, I have 2 different brands, both were SEEN ON TV, both were purchased locally in stores. One has yellow plastic ends, the other has heavy duty brass ends. Neither has seen enough use/abuse for me to make a quality determination as to which is actually better.
 
bczoom said:
Is that one with the brass ends the DAP XHOSE?

They're marketing the XHOSE PRO as a 3/4" diameter.
https://www.xhose.com/
Click to expand...
YES that is the hose.

Go to the store, look at that hose. The hose may expand to 3/4" but there is a handy shut off valve that constricts the water through a hole that might be 1/2", maybe a bit smaller? So the hose is hobbled by the end. Same applies to the plastic end hoses you see on TV.
 
Can that constrictor be removed or drilled out? If that was done, would that hinder the hoses capability to expand properly?

Sounds like these shouldn't be garden hoses but would work for things like washing cars and such.
 
I've not bothered to really look to see if you can drill it out.

If you have the water pressure the hose will expand, no matter what the hole size is at the end.

I've never formally studied fluid dynamics or hydraulics but I know enough to know that the holes at both ends of the hose are the limiting factor for the flow of the water. Like I said, these are very light, very easy to handle hoses. I like them for what they are good for. We use them to water the veggie garden because they are so easy to move around, but it probably takes us a few extra minutes to water each time because of the small diameter.

Wash a car? I dunno, I use the car wash at the gas station. But I'd bet it would be great for that.

Fill the pool? How about watch grass grow, that would be faster.
 
Here is the end of the plastic hose, I don't feel like walking down the hill to the garden to get a photo of the DAP brass end hose, but its somewhat similar.

They can advertise the hose diameter as whatever they want, but this is the real truth.

Large volumes of water, in a hurry? NOT

Convenience and ease? YUP
 

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If the inside is a rough as the outside the friction loss will slow things too.

Jim
 
Melensdad said:
They get very smooth when they firm up.



I'm sure someone will be along shortly to comment on that statement.
Click to expand...

I'll ignore the second sentence, would be too easy to derail the thread! :w00t2:

It's good that it smooths out. You'll still have the friction loss but it will be similar to a regular hose.

Jim
 
UPDATE:

Both of my DAP X-Hoses sprung a leak! Both of the leaks are near the female connector but in the hose. I can't yet figure out a way to repair these. They may already be trash. But if you have a leak in a hose that needs to expand to flow water through it then you have a real problem delivering water to the other end of the hose!!!
​

These have been VERY LIGHTLY USED.

Literally only a half dozen times each.

Initial impressions were pretty darn good.

But now I'd say the black DAP X-Hose with heavy brass fittings SUCK :hammer:

The green hoses with the yellow plastic ends advertised as "amber tip" hoses are still holding up.

Honestly when I bought these things I hoped to get 1 season out of them before replacing them. That may be optimistic.
 
Yeah, I bought a knock off one (can't remember the brand) at HD last year and it sprung a leak by the end of the summer.

Bob, is right about the low water volume.

They are convenient though.
 
The missus was wanting me to switch over to one of those as seen on tv shrinking hoses. Thanks but no thanks. I've had the same two lengths of heavy duty hoses for the past 15 years. Why change it if it isn't broke?
 
2nd UPDATE:

While it leaks, 1 of the 2 hoses is still useable for light duty stuff like watering the plants in the pots around the kitchen door.

THE OTHER "DAP X-Hose PRO" IS IN THE TRASH CAN! :sad:

Less than 10 uses over 5 or 6 weeks and it is leaking so badly that it is unusable. Its the inner hose that is leaking and I can figure out no way to repair it, patch it, tape it, etc.
 
Melensdad;645938Less than 10 uses over 5 or 6 weeks and it is leaking so badly that it is unusable.[/QUOTE said:
Sorry to hear they suck. Any warranty?
Click to expand...
 
I laughed when my wife bought some of those things. I have a 2 1/2" water line run to my house and 125 psi (yes, I have a gauge and that is indeed correct) of water pressure. Mrs. Dargo's hoses are on their 2nd season!! :eek:

Normally the absolute "best" commercial hoses last, maybe, one year here. I'll have to see if there is any name on hers. She has commented that you NEVER want to just "floor it" when turning on our water though. I've never asked why... :whistling:
 
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