Things to Consider When Buying a Garden Hose

A garden hose is the one gardening item that nearly all homeowners purchase at one point or another. Even those who don’t garden often find that they need a garden hose to wash a car, fill a pool, hose down the driveway or let the kids cool off in the summer.

Often, homeowners or apartment dwellers “inherit” a garden hose that was left behind by a former tenant and only consider replacing it when it springs an annoying leak or causes another problem. At that point, they generally head for the nearest home and garden store and poke around, looking for the cheapest hose that’s long enough to reach where they need it to go.

More often than not, they’ll end up back in the same aisle in a few months when the el cheapo garden hose that was such a great bargain busts a seam or comes loose from its fittings. It’s a shame, really, because the price difference between a good quality hose and a cheap, guaranteed-give-you-problems garden hose is not all that great. Even the most expensive residential garden hose won’t set you back much more than $40. If you’re in the market for a new garden hose, here are a few things to consider when making your choice.

Price

As noted, there’s not a lot of difference in price between cheap garden hoses and higher quality garden hoses, but the difference can make an enormous difference in quality. A 50-foot ½ inch garden hose can cost anywhere from $10 to $40. The more expensive garden hose may come with a warranty for anywhere from five years to a lifetime, so that $40 garden hose may be the last one you’ll ever have to buy.

Length

It might be tempting to buy the longest garden hose you can find. After all, that means you can reach anywhere in the yard, right? The problem is that the longer the garden hose is the lower the water flow rate drops – and it can drop dramatically. The best garden hose is one that is almost exactly the right length to reach where you need to reach.

What if you might need a longer hose for another use? It’s almost always better to buy two shorter hoses and couple them together than to buy one long hose. Shorter garden hoses give you greater flexibility and are easier to coil and drain, both of which can increase their life expectancy.

Capacity

The smaller the diameter of the garden hose you choose, the less water it will deliver in the same time period – and the difference can be significant. A ¾ inch garden hose, for example, delivers 3.5 gallons of water in 10 seconds while a ½” garden hose delivers only 1.3 gallons in the same time frame. A 1 inch water hose delivers nearly 5 times as much water as a ½ inch garden hose.

So what’s the best garden hose to buy for general use?  Unless you need a specialty water hose, like a drinking safe garden hose or a heated garden hose, choose a 5/8 inch hose in a 50 foot length, which is the most popular choice for watering lawns and gardens and delivers water at enough pressure to hose the suds off your car.