Lots of splitters available, most with little control valves, although some small and hard to work even for young strong fingers. Don't waste your money on anything but brass, or you might come home one night from bowling to find a flood.
I think they would be in the garden department. Washing machine hoses and garden hoses use the same threads.
I have a silver colored metal Y connector, about 2 inches long, with yellow levers to turn each output on and off. Got it at a yard sale, not sure I've ever used it.
I've had to tighten some garden hoses with pliers the last little bit to stop them from leaking, and make sure the rubber washer is in the female end.
Until you're certain it's not leaking, I'd keep the hose going to th outside conneced and the end of it outside, where dripping won't damage anything.
Would't be surprised. Because screwing the hoses on and off can be a pain.
Ther are also quick connects for garden hoses and accessories. The most likely dripping when you switched hoses would be from the one you just disconnected, if you let it fall on the floor. If you tied both hoses with a string coming from a few inches above, so they just dropped an inch or two and moved to the side, maybe that would work, especially if those little levers on the Y connector cause difficulty. like Steve suggests. Still, I've found speed connects a little tricky to use, and are most important if you plan to disconect, like maybe the hose to the patio, once a year, or every time you're not using it???
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I'm 64 and the leversy don't cause me difficulty, and I do seem to have a little bit of pain in my right hand a lot of the time in the last year, but using my hand isn't harder yet. Well actually the little levers in the first two below do cause a trifle of difficulty because they are so little, and so my thumb hits part of the rest of the thing in one direction and my finger in the other. It doesn't hurt, but I like the third one better.
Wow, I just went to check if the levers are really easy to use and I see that I have 3 Y-connectors for garden hoses! I guess I had big plans for one hose to water one part of the yard, another the tree, etc. but still, I think I got the last two at yard sales.
They all use ball-valves which every one here likes. All the levers are plastic.
The green plastic one uses little levers. Green is usually Gilmore iirc, but there is no name on this.
The yellow plastic one uses levers the same length but a trifle thicker. Yellow means some other brand, but again there is no name on this item, perhaps because it's not a flagship product, just a little accessory. It has a matching cap to turn off one outlet in addition to the valve. This one has been glued, which is probably why I got it cheap or free. They, or I, did a really good job.
The silver metal one uses levers the same length but 2.5 times as thick, and they move more easily, except going from 90% open to 100% open. It's by Melnor.
If you really want, when it gets warmer, I'll try these for you and see if any leak. Today it's about 40 degrees, but in a week I think it will be warm.
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is brass with a free-spinning nut. I can't see how thick the levers are.
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the one I have, Chrome-plated. but cheaper at the store.
Even in my metal one, the innner ball and the outside of the valve are plastic. Is brass not the same? Plastic means it makes a good seal adn shouldn't drip, right?
You should probably have a shut-off on the hose connected to it so that you don't have to reach behind the washer every time you need to turn it on or off.
We have one in our laundry room. One side feeds the washing machine and the other feeds a hose going through the wall to my wife's greenhouse.
I'd suggest a sturdy trash can or bucket as a home for the utility hose, so as to not let bugs in through the open door or window. But what I would really suggest is getting a plumber in to add a freeze-proof hose bib on the deck. If the wet wall the washer is on tees into the outside wall by the deck, they should be able to add it pretty painlessly, with only a small area of drywall to patch. Or if that part of wall is behind the washer and a counter or something, just cover the hole with masonite painted the same color and screwed into place, to make any needed future upkeep easier.
I wouldn't think the Strata Council would allow an owner (or renter) to put a hole through the building envelope. I also doubt the washer is on an outside wall as the main feed is most likely run trough the ceiling in the common hallway. Architects tend to put the utility closets along that inside wall in the units.
I would not trust a "Y" connector inside a 2nd floor condo unless it was over a sink! I think the OP should check to see if he could convert the faucet in a kitchen or a bathroom to accept a hose thread. I did this when I lived in a condo and by leaving a small loop in the hose over the sink any drips from the hose connection went into the sink.
Having served on a Strata Council for about 15 years I have seen some very expensive restoration bills caused by water leaking down one or two floors.
WTF is a Strata Council? That like a condo association board? Sounds like something out of a Cold War era Air Force movie.
I know the wet wall wasn't the outside wall- nobody with any sense does that. But from OP's description, it sounded like it was close to the sliding door to second floor deck, so I thought maybe it was a closet setup in the hallway or something, and perhaps the wet wall was a straight shot to an outside wall on one end. Without seeing a floorplan, no way to know. Dunno why, but I assumed this was a 2-story townhouse-style unit. Depends a lot if these are 'real' condos (aka semi-attached or row houses) or the glorified cheap apartments that pass for condos in much of the country. I spent several summers as a kid working on new multi-family buildings going up, so I am quite familiar with all the tricks they use to save a buck. But if each unit is metered separately, they will have their own feed lines. Yes, putting a hole in outside envelope could be an issue, but if done properly, would not put any other unit at risk, and it doesn't change the look of the building, so OP could make a good case that it should be a permitted variance.
It was a private house but we had the laundry room water on an outside wall, just like the kitchen sink water.
Condo has no relationship to the kind of building. It's a legal status for property. Condos are real property, in which usually the condo association owns the outside of the walls and ceiling.
Co-ops are personal property, in which each owner owns a portion of the co-op corporation and the right to live in one apartment or house.
Co-ops are very popular in NYC and condos are rare, last I looked. OTOH, in NJ condos are common. It probably depends on the details of the tax and other laws in each jurisdiction (plus federal tax laws etc. which are the same), or maybe just on imitating what is popular already.
Some boards are full of petty tyrants. If he is going to do this, I wonder if he would be better off putting it in when no one was looking and saying it was there when he bought the place.
Yes it is a condo...yes I own it. And yes we do have tyrants on the board. Our fifth management company in 11 years since I've been here.
After all your suggestions, I've come to the conclusion that I will just hook up to the W/M water outlet whenever I need to water plants and put an adaptor on for pressure washing the deck and surrounding area....
Then there will be no question of leaking when we're not home....you scared me with that flooding the downstairs scenario... I will run a hose from the laundry room to the patio doors, through the living room, do the job and then disconnect hose...
As always, thanks for all your very fine comments... Pat
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