Unstick a garden hose

July 11, 2005 4:48 PM

How to unstick a garden hose?

Squeeze nozzle is screwed onto the end of the hose. Won't come off, in fact, won't budge at all. The garden hose has a "swivel" end on it, so if you turn it, it doesn't turn the bit of the hose that's screwed inside the end of the nozzle. What can I do to get the two pieces apart? This is a monster long hose that's wound in a hose caddy, so it would make me crabby to have to unwind it all and replace it. WD-40, the usual cure-all, does not help.

posted by gimonca to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Best answer: Try heating the female (outer) half of the coupling. Hot water, and if that doesn't work, use a heat gun. The idea is to get the outside to expand in relation to the inner, male part.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:00 PM on July 11, 2005

If all else fails you can cut the end off and and put a new termination on it.

http://www.ehow.com/how_16199_replace-end-fitting.html
posted by friezer at 5:01 PM on July 11, 2005

Forget all else fails, do friezer's method first.
posted by pmbuko at 5:19 PM on July 11, 2005

Just cut it off and replace the end. Buy the high quality brass kind.
posted by recurve at 6:07 PM on July 11, 2005

To salvage the hose end: cut a series of slots into the nozzle parrarel to the hose. I find five is the right number. Use a hacksaw or a dremel if you've got it. If you're careful you can cut mostly thru the nozzle without knicking the hose end. Sometimes this is enough to loosen things, otherwise you can now pry each of the five fingers you have created away from the hose end. At some point the nozzle will fall right off. I've done this lots with hydrolic fittings.

At worst you cut into the hose end and have to revert to friezer's method. My way doesn't cost anything but the nozzle and I find the factory crimped ends to be superior to any replacement.
posted by Mitheral at 7:00 PM on July 11, 2005

Uh... 2 pairs of pliers? One on the screw part, one on the part stuck to the hose on the other end.

If the thing's *really* corroded, then even if you get it apart it probably won't be good for much else, so, replacing the thing ala friezer will save you the muching with the pliers. It'll depend on which end is experiencing the problem.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 8:39 PM on July 11, 2005

You don't need pliers, you need 2 pipe wrenches. It'll get it off lickety-split, no problem.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 8:23 AM on July 12, 2005

Response by poster: Hot water worked, and saved me a trip to Home Depot to buy another big, long hose, not to mention the time I'd have had to spend winding it in the caddy.

By the way, the pliers/wrenches were non-starters. The (male) end of the hose could rotate around the end of the hose, and was completely inside the nozzle. You could twist the exposed part of the hose 360 degrees--that accomplished nothing.
posted by gimonca at 5:13 PM on July 12, 2005