Quick Tip: Repairing a hose

Repairing the female end of a soaker hose

I recently ran over one of my 50 foot soaker hoses with the lawn mower.  If you've gardened for long, I'll bet you've chopped up a hose or two as well.  Don't throw them away.  They are very cheap and easy to repair.  This works for any garden hose, not just soaker hoses.  The lawnmower cut mine near the center and since I needed two short soaker hoses anyway, I made two hoses out of the damaged one.

Repaired soaker hose

 On the section with the female end cut off, I cut a little of the damaged end off to squared it up.  I then pushed a replacement brass female fitting into the hose and clamped it in place with a hose clamp as seen above.  Total repair cost = $3.00.  Total time spent = 2 minutes.

Cheap soaker hose fix

On the section where the male (capped) end was cut off, I simply folded the damaged end over and held it in place with a few zip ties.  Total repair cost = maybe $0.10.  Total time spent = 2 minutes.  Another way to repair it would be to cut it off squarely, insert a bolt that's as big around as the inside of the hose, and then clamp it in place with a hose clamp.  You could also always buy a brass male replacement fitting and cap it off.

A few tips:

• I've found it to be a good practice to spend the money up front and buy quality water hoses.  The cheap ones kink up when they are pulled around (a real pain in the you know where) and are not nearly as durable as high quality hoses.  To me, it's just not worth dealing with a cheap hose.
• On that note, buy brass replacement fittings.  The cheaper plastic ones are prone to leaking and can be easily broken by overtightening or stepping on them.  It's a dollar or two difference for something that will outlast the hose and can be used over and over again.
• It might be more cost effective to buy a 100 foot soaker hose and then make several custom length hoses from it than it is to just use several pre-made 25 foot or 50 foot hoses.
• This is a little early to be talking about it, but drain your hoses and hang them up when winter arrives.  When it gets cold, the material the hoses are made of hardens up.  If water is left in them, it will freeze and expand inside causing cracks to develop.