Best hosepipe for car washing and general use?

[TameRacingDriver]

I've figured out that one big reason I don't like washing my car is having to get the pressure washer out, extensions cables etc. Right hassle.

I thought I could just get a good hosepipe for this. My car is parked in a communal car park, so the car itself probably lives 10 or so meters away.

We've a good outdoor tap with good pressure.

Could use it for watering the plants as well.

What would you recommend?

[Black_S3]

I picked up a gardena retractable 30m hose from costco for about £100 a couple of weeks back - its spot on.

theres also a 15m version for about the same at screwfix if you dont have costco and dont need 30m.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/gardena-rollup-wall-mou...

Planning on pairing it up with an 18v pressure washer at some point.

[Russet Grange]

We have the Gardena hose cart (M size) :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076WT5XGD?th=1

and 30m Superflex hose:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HPXV87Y?th=1

The cart I've linked to contains 20m of their more basic hose, so I swapped it for the Superflex and kept the 20m as an extension piece.

Very impressed with the kit, and even the budget hose is fine.

Edit to add: Regarding the first reply above, I looked at that option but wanted the ability to extend.

[trickywoo]

I’ve had a FITT hose from screw fix for getting on for 10 years.

It’s been great. Never kinks and hasn’t had a hole in it despite being dragged on the ground at least once a week for that time.

Decent price too.

[-r-]

I've had a hozelock wall mounted reel for 11 years which leaks and is a pain to both feed out and reel in (tap is on the back wall of the house, driveway requires the hose to go around two corners), bought one of these a month or so ago:

https://www.powertoolmate.co.uk/power-tools/lawn-a...

Having had some of their other stuff, it's frankly brilliant, pivots left to right, doesn't leak, the auto rewind is brilliant (guides the hose side to side so it packs neatly), £150 is quite a lot to spend on a hose but it's absolutely worth it. I think I'm right in saying the reels with longer hoses are a bigger bore than the shorter ones.

[Belle427]

Gardena are good I just hate paying the prices, I try to stay clear of hoselock after many bad experiences.
I was in B&M bargains on the weekend and they had some half decent looking reels with hose included, the brand I didn`t notice though but I have used cheaper hose in the past without issue to be fair.

[8-P]

In my experience the biggest issue with hoses is the connections leaking or even exploding off the hose in full. Water everywhere you don’t want it.

So I would go for a hose with fixed connections something like this
https://t-hose.com/products/t-hose

[TameRacingDriver]

Thanks everyone, I'll have a look through these suggestions, I don't mind paying a bit extra for quality. I'm ok with having it on the wall but not sure the Mrs is quite as keen on the idea. Robust connections are definitely desirable as I've also had bother in the past with the likes of the plastic hozelock stuff, although I've got metal hozelock to connect up the pressure washer and that seems to be ok.

[AB]

I'm yet to find a decent 'expanding' hosepipe. They work to begin with, then end up with tiny holes in, very annoying.

It's 120m to the bottom of the garden and we occasionally have to get the hose down there so a normal one just takes up too much space and is mega bulky for using it closer to the house.

If anyone has any suggestions? I am getting maybe 4 months use before there's tiny holes in it.

[Chumley.mouse]

This the best hose i have had., use the brass hoselock type fittings and job done.

https://www.access-irrigation.co.uk/shop/garden-wa...

[Simpo Two]

8-P said:

In my experience the biggest issue with hoses is the connections leaking or even exploding off the hose in full. Water everywhere you don t want it.

So I would go for a hose with fixed connections something like this
https://t-hose.com/products/t-hose

The problem with expanding hosepipes is that you have to unroll them completely to get best flow, and second, brass connectors can seize up.

[Chumley.mouse]

Simpo Two said:

The problem with expanding hosepipes is that you have to unroll them completely to get best flow, and second, brass connectors can seize up.

They quick release brass ones go i bit stiff after a while but a squirt with wd and they are as good as new.

[Huzzah]

AB said:

I'm yet to find a decent 'expanding' hosepipe. They work to begin with, then end up with tiny holes in, very annoying.

It's 120m to the bottom of the garden and we occasionally have to get the hose down there so a normal one just takes up too much space and is mega bulky for using it closer to the house.

If anyone has any suggestions? I am getting maybe 4 months use before there's tiny holes in it.

We've a hose permanently layer along the fence line. Plug it in at the house and add attachments at the other end (or joiner in the middle) as required.

Because it's down permanently and not flexed it doesnt need to be an expensive jobbie.

[AB]

Huzzah said:

We've a hose permanently layer along the fence line. Plug it in at the house and add attachments at the other end (or joiner in the middle) as required.

Because it's down permanently and not flexed it doesnt need to be an expensive jobbie.

That's not a bad idea, I wonder ho easy it would be to put a tap on a stand the other end. Food for thought this summer.

[wolfracesonic]

Chumley.mouse said:

This the best hose i have had., use the brass hoselock Geka type fittings and job done.

https://www.access-irrigation.co.uk/shop/garden-wa...

Almost right;)

[LooneyTunes]

AB said:

That's not a bad idea, I wonder ho easy it would be to put a tap on a stand the other end. Food for thought this summer.

At some point we’re going to dig round outside the main garden in order to lay MDPE and install a couple of proper taps.

In the meantime, over the sorts of distance you’re talking, 3/4 inch tricoflex with Geka fittings. Go much smaller and flow rates suffer.

Geka are so much better than hozelock because they don’t have male/female fittings. Completely genderless, which is handy if you have several hoses and don’t want to mess around figuring out which way round the hose needs to go. It’s dead easy to make a Geka-hozelock adapter to connect anything that can’t use Geka.

[rossub]

Black_S3 said:

I picked up a gardena retractable 30m hose from costco for about £100 a couple of weeks back - its spot on.

theres also a 15m version for about the same at screwfix if you dont have costco and dont need 30m.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/gardena-rollup-wall-mou...

Planning on pairing it up with an 18v pressure washer at some point.

Seconded.

Once you’ve had a decent quality self retracting one, you’ll wonder why you’ve messed about with manual hoses all your life.

[Huzzah]

AB said:

Huzzah said:

We've a hose permanently layer along the fence line. Plug it in at the house and add attachments at the other end (or joiner in the middle) as required.

Because it's down permanently and not flexed it doesnt need to be an expensive jobbie.

That's not a bad idea, I wonder ho easy it would be to put a tap on a stand the other end. Food for thought this summer.

I don't see why not, attach the tap to the fence or something. Just remember to turn it off at the house end once you've finished.

[fido]

Maybe I got used to the drill now but it takes me a minute
to unreel the hose pipe from back to front (30m). Brass hose gun out and enjoy the smell of hosepipe in the morning. I only use the pressure washer for winter cleaning now.