A Garden Hose Purge Coupling

If you have a reeled-up hose like this, you need to get the water out of it before it freezes come winter.

The way I used to do that was to unreel the hose (all 100' of it), lay it down the length of our down-sloping backyard and let it drain. Then I'd reel it back up (all 100' of it).

This year, while I was getting ready to repeat that chore, the thought occurred to me, "What do I own an air compressor for, anyway?" I set about making an air/water coupler so I could blow the water out of the hose without unreeling it. Here's what I started with.

That hose barb is for 1/2" hose; the male air fitting is an ARO type with a 1/4" NPT pipe thread on its end. The pipe thread almost fits the bore of the barb.

After a few turns into the hose barb with a 1/4" NPT tap, the air fitting with paste solder flux smeared on it can be screwed in a ways. Apply heat and solder and you end up with this.

And now, the hose can stay right where it is on its reel, and you can connect your air compressor to it like this.

Be mindful of where the free end of the hose is when you make the connection, and you may want to throttle back your compressor's outlet pressure to something within reason (30 - 40 psi, say). My compressor's outlet pressure was way high at 110 psi. Nothing untoward happened, but for safety's sake, less pressure might not be a bad idea.

Needless to say, though, at 110 psi the water in that hose took off right quick for the backyard. All of my ideas should work out so well.

# # #

FEEDBACK

# # #