Brass garden hose nozzles and brass on/off switches (and missing o-rings)

BTW, do you know a good source for BRASS on/off switches?

All mine are plastic - but almost all break within the first year:

That's a WONDERFUL idea!

I had not thought of using standard pipe-threaded valves, which should be sturdier than these things, which always break on me:

Is this sort of what you envision?

This is the only avenue I know (Amazon) as I can't find all-brass valves at the local box stores (and even these are only half brass):

This is the only type garden hose nozzle I own, since I need it for use in my service work. I must have something that doesn't break. ^_^

TDD

I should have mentioned that the version I have is all stainless steel. It's not the brand on Amazon but it's just like it and I've had it for

TDD

Wow. That's a heavy duty garden hose nozzle!

I wonder if your company can pay for a dozen for me! :)

I've had the stainless version for years and the rubber cover protects it and any surface it might fall on. ^_^

TDD

I only get about a year from all the plastic ones; either the sun destroys them outright, or the dropping onto hard services breaks the handles and bodies, or they simply crud up from the inside out:

I've got yellow switches, black switches, and green switches; the green seem to last the longest for some reason (maybe two years at most):

It's always a good idea to read the detractors. In the case of this nozzle, there seems to be quite a few and all for the same reason. I'll be looking elsewhere.

nb

If the stainless is less cost than the aluminum, it might be worth it. Currently, I'm paying about $7 (for the Ace hardware nozzles) plus whatever that lousy plastic switch costs (probably 4 bucks).

I have these on at least a dozen hoses.

The reason for the nozzle is obvious; but the reason for the plastic switch is because the wife likes to regulate the flow better, especially in the low flow way for her plants.

If I went with the $7 Ace nozzles + the $6 Amazon brass switch, that would be roughly $15 per hose (incl tax or shipping) or about $150 for the set.

The one I've had for 10 years must be metal then, I bought it at an industrial supply house. Perhaps the stainless nozzle from Amazon is plastic inside when mine is not. I believe I wrote that I have one of the type. Darn it, the cheap copies just have to show up on the market. o_O

TDD

You'd think that a 100% brass nozzle, whether cheap copy or not, would have to be the same thing.

But, look at this $7 brand new Ace Hardware brass nozzle and my $3 brand new Harbor Freight brass nozzle side by side:

From the outside, they look (essentially) the same.

But, from all other angles (inside, input & output), they are functionally different.

Hi Oren, I do agree, that's the way to go.

The key problem with those brass ball valves is that that little knob is really hard to turn, especially with 80 psi behind it.

I wonder why they don't make the knob just a bit longer?

Thanks for sourcing that brass ball valve.

I'll pick one up and try it out.

At $13 each, I'd hate to get a dozen, to find that the knob is hard to turn.

The last one I had hurt my fingers, IIRC, but it has been a long time (years) since I've been able to find them in the box stores locally.

Interesting observation.

I like knowing what I'm looking for.

Thanks for the advice.

I didn't find them in the plumbing section of Ace Hardware today, but, in anticipation of plumbing pipe threads - I picked up male & female brass NPT to Garden-Hose adapters today:

Speaking of breaking, I just ran a survey of the years' old garden hoses that are in use sprinkled around the yard, and realized there is a commonality around color ...

These 2 red rubber garden hoses seem to be holding up the best:

These 2 black hoses hold up well (except they make your hands black):

These 4 Costco 100' gray hoses hold up well - but kink too easily so I chopped them down to 50' each:

And, these 3 green garden hoses hold up the worst of all:

In summary, the red rubber holds up the best; the black rubber is the most pliable and easy to work in 100' lengths - but they grease up my hands, especially when wet. The Costco gray hoses are a pain to coil up as they're far too stiff; and the green garden variety hoses are used for only the lightest jobs and shortest lengths.

I've got those small lever type valves on a splitter at my front hose bib. Bought it to attach 2 hoses, but never used the second hose. I know the levers moved freely when new, but after a couple years they're basically frozen and useless without using a tool to turn them. Probably doesn't take much scale buildup to provide more resistance to the very small leverage your fingers can overcome. I would avoid them altogether on that basis alone. Their only advantage is small size, but that means little if you need to carry a tool to operate them. Haven't read the entire thread, but just use decent nozzles at the spray end, and full size valves at the source end. I'll probably put full lever ball valves on my when I replace my bonnet-type globe valve bibs, if ever. I repacked and rewashered them about ten years ago, and they still operate fine. They're 55 years old. But it's a minor hassle finding the right size packing, so it's probably a win just screwing on a new ball valve now that they're cost has come down.

Only $3 for an all-brass garden hose nozzle seemed too good to pass up:

I had just bought earlier this week these $7 ACE brass nozzles:

So, given I have a lot of garden hoses, I bought a half dozen at HF:

Turns out, at least the first one I tested leaked when shut off. :(

With my 80 psi of pressure, and hard daily use, I've had bad luck with a variety of the cheap hose nozzles:

When I look inside, I find the single o-ring ones seem to fail the most (I have to source those o-rings):