stupid tap/hose question

I want to stop my lawn from turning into straw in the hot weather.

There's a threaded water tap in the back wall of my house. I thought it would be pretty straightforward to put a hosepipe on there, so I bought a Hozelock 21mm/26.5mm threaded tap connector. I thought the tap was 21mm, but the connector seems to be slightly too small. The threads look like they're compatible, but try as I might, I can't screw the connector on. I've even tried filing its thread down a bit with a pen-knife, but no joy.

Is there a trick to fitting the connector that I've missed, or do I have some sort of bizarre non-standard 22mm tap? Would a universal Hozelock connector solve this problem, or is there something else I should try?

Any advice much appreciated.

Reply to
Ben H
Loading thread data ...

I'm amazed if these are described in metric dimensions, because they are almost certainly British Standard Pipe thread sizes (see below). The most common size for hosepipe connections is 3/4" BSP - although some are 1/2" BSP, or even 5/8" BSP. [These are the pipe bore sizes, not the external size of the thread. 3/4" BSP is 1.041" (26.44mm) externally, 5/8" BSP is 0.902" (22.91mm) and 1/2" BSP is 0.825" (20.96mm)]

Get a connector marked with the appropriate BSP size, and you'll be ok.

Roger

Reply to
Roger Mills

One word of warning though; those plastic Hozelok fittings can't tolerate the water freezing - they split. I always used to forget to drain the hose at the onset of winter and ended up replacing some/most/all of the fittings the following spring (after getting soaked turning the water on :-) ).

I've just replaced all mine with some brass ones I found at the local Garden Centre - Screwfix also sell them

formatting link
Roger

Reply to
parish

I had a further thought about your tap. Are you sure that it *is* a proper tap intended for hosepipe use, and not just an in-line tap with a compression fitting for connecting a rigid pipe to its outlet?

The threads used by compression fittings are *fairly similar* to BSP - but they ain't the same!

It this is what you've got, you'll need to use a normal compression nut and olive to join a short length of pipe to it - with a male BSP fitting of the appropriate size on the other end of the pipe, to take your hose fitting. Maybe a visit to your local friendly plumbers merchant is called for.

Roger

Reply to
Roger Mills

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.