Flat roll up hose pipe?

[Stephen Jeavons]

Any good? I've seen mixed reports.

I need a new hose pipe for filling water tank. The ones that roll up flat seem to take less space. Any recommendations or should I go conventional?

 

Stephen

[mrsmelly]

19 minutes ago, Stephen Jeavons said:

Any good? I've seen mixed reports.

I need a new hose pipe for filling water tank. The ones that roll up flat seem to take less space. Any recommendations or should I go conventional?

 

Stephen

They are crap, in a nutshell. If water pressure is low they are even worse than crap.

[Johny London]

I've got one - dunno what make but it is orange at 20m long, I believe referred to as a cassette hose. As Smelly says, if here is low water pressure it does exacerbate the situation, but storage is great and at least spiders cant get into it.

[blackrose]

24 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

They are crap, in a nutshell. If water pressure is low they are even worse than crap.

I've been using flat blue ones for over 15 years and never had a problem, even with low water pressures. Why would they be any worse than a conventional hose with low pressures? I put 3 together to get to the mooring filling taps that are about 50m away and they're fine. The only real downside is that being soft they won't last as long as they're easily punctured, but I still get 8-10 years from flat hoses. 

Edited May 16, 2019 by blackrose

[haggis]

Flat hoses only good point is that they don't take up much room. To use them you have to unroll the whole hose and lay it out with no kinks and when you are finished, it all has to be rolled back up again. No mean feat when you have to press the water out as you roll and it is mucky after lying on the muddy towpath. 

We have one on our little Sea Otter and the only benefit is that it doesn't take up much space ? 

 

haggis

[Jennifer McM]

We've got one of those crunched up expanding ones, it's never kinked, and we don't need to roll it up, it just gets shoved into an old plastic shopping bag when not in use. 

 

Plug one end to the tap first, turn on the tap and it will expand to reach your tank.

[blackrose]

They're not that difficult to unroll and roll up again, but yes on a muddy bank it's not much fun. Depends on your mooring I guess or whether you're cc'ing. The flat blue hoses are food grade. Personally I wouldn't use a PVC garden hose. I think unwinding a proper semi-rigid food grade hose would be much more of a pain than a flat one. 

 

Get both and see what you think. It's always worth having a couple of hoses to reach certain water points.

1 minute ago, Jennifer McM said:

We've got one of those crunched up expanding ones, it's never kinked, and we don't need to roll it up, it just gets shoved into an old plastic shopping bag when not in use. 

 

Plug one end to the tap first, turn on the tap and it will expand to reach your tank.

 

I bought one of those at a boat show but when I got home I read the instructions that said not to use it for potable water. 

[Rebotco]

Never used one myself, but I imagine you have to always unwind the whole cassette for it to work - even if you are only 2 metres away from the tap.

Best ones by far I've found are the expanding hoses which automatically expand to 3 times their initial length, and automatically shrink back when disconnected. 

My 20m one is very light to handle and just drops easily into a small bucket when not in use, and can reach over 3 times the length of my boat.

The important thing is not to instantly turn the tap fully on initially, otherwise people report they can burst with sudden pressure.  Easily avoided by opening the tap gradually.  I've been using mine for 3 years without problem, and wouldn't use any other.

[Pie Eater]

1 hour ago, Stephen Jeavons said:

Any good? I've seen mixed reports.

I need a new hose pipe for filling water tank. The ones that roll up flat seem to take less space. Any recommendations or should I go conventional?

 

Stephen

Ours is a roll up flat and is 20 years old.

 

No problems with it and as others say it saves on space.

[mrsmelly]

There ya go then Stephen. Mixed reports ? 

[p6rob]

A former member, Kendal  recommended an alternative type of lay flat hose. It looks pretty good.

 

I was going to buy one as I found my blue lay flat hose a pain the bum if you weren't moored the length of the hose away from the water point. It'd kink and restrict flow and blew the connector off the pipe on more than one occasion.

 

As it happened my ex-wife moved to a flat and gave me my old garden hose reel back and I've been using that ever since.

 

Just checked the link in the old thread and it no longer exists but this looks to be the same thing on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brunner-METRE-ROLL-GRADE-CARRIER/dp/B0013T5X0E

 

Rob

Edited May 16, 2019 by p6rob
Added link to product

[Jennifer McM]

22 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

I bought one of those at a boat show but when I got home I read the instructions that said not to use it for potable water. 

Really  we bought ours from B&Q about 3 years ago, so far without a problem (as far as we know   )

[Flyboy]

59 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

They are crap, in a nutshell. If water pressure is low they are even worse than crap.

Totally agree, work of the devil imo.

[BruceinSanity]

All the roll flat hoses we’ve used have eventually split a side seam. We use one of the kinky ones now, excellent. As long as the valve at the downstream end is open when you turn the water on it’s fine. Let it fill with water then turn the valve off to expand the hose to length you need and away you go. Much easier to deploy and collapse than the roll flats.

 

As for the potable water bit, ISTR last time we discussed that here we had an authoritative debunking of the issue from a professional chemist – can’t remember who it was, might have a quick hunt for the thread after I’ve posted this.

[LadyG]

I've just bought one from Easylife as it is on clearance, plus a discount, so all in all has to  be a good buy at about £20 for 50ft with extras, its is only about 12"x 6 " x 8"  when boxed.

I will test it next week, on normal mains pressure.

Edited May 16, 2019 by LadyG

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Have used them for the space saving aspect. Made my own reel to store it on. The plastic wind on reel they often come with is rubbish and damages the edges when in flat form. This is where they start to leak. Once they start leaking it is time for a new hose. Get around five years out of one. The reel currently has 15m(?) of roll flat, plus 6m of normal potable hose to reach the usual water point. You can see the difference in space required. The 6m hose is good when right beside a water point and saves having to unroll the whole reel. There is a click together joiner between the two hoses, so various combinations are possible.

 

Jen

Edited May 16, 2019 by Jen-in-Wellies

[Stephen Jeavons]

Wow! Thanks for the quick-fire feedback everyone.

 

On balance, it looks like it might be worth the risk to try an expanding one. I assume they're okay for potable.

 

Cheers for all the comments folks

 

Stephen

[Stephen Jeavons]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

I've just bought one from Easylife as it is on clearance, plus a discount, so all in all has to  be a good buy at about £20 for 50ft with extras, its is only about 12"x 6 " x 8"  when boxed.

I will test it next week, on normal mains pressure.

I assume you mean this one?

https://www.easylifegroup.com/product/expanding-hercul-easy-hose-hose-holder-free/78600

[bizzard]

I've used the flat hose for years too, no problem. To block off the ends when putting it away I yooze the hardened tapered silicone plugs poked out of the plastic spouts of the tubes. If draped across towpaths the grit on bike tyres running over them can damage or puncture them as can hob nailed boots trampling on them.  If you have the cyclist or hob nailed boot problem its best to get a solid armoured hose or use a length of steel gas barrel pipe where it crosses the path, which should completely upset and capsize the bicyclists and dislocate the ankles of hob nailed booters.

[dor]

3 hours ago, blackrose said:

They're not that difficult to unroll and roll up again, but yes on a muddy bank it's not much fun. Depends on your mooring I guess or whether you're cc'ing. The flat blue hoses are food grade. Personally I wouldn't use a PVC garden hose. I think unwinding a proper semi-rigid food grade hose would be much more of a pain than a flat one. 

 

Get both and see what you think. It's always worth having a couple of hoses to reach certain water points.

 

I bought one of those at a boat show but when I got home I read the instructions that said not to use it for potable water. 

I wouldn't worry too much about whether it is classed for potable.   Give it a good flush through when new, then try and empty it when finished.

 

After 28-odd years and various hoses I now have a good quality non-kinking hose on a reel.  It's about ten years old now and still fine.  After filling I put the reel on the roof and leave the end just clear of the ground and let it drain, then when filling, flush it through before it goes in the filler.  I doubt I need to bother now as anything that was going to leach out of the plastic is long gone, it's just habit really, and means you don't get water sitting in the pipe for maybe a few weeks.

 

I didn't have much luck with flat hoses, but that was over 20 years ago; maybe they are better now.

[Johny London]

It is annoying when cyclists keep running over the hose - or hob nailed inconsiderates, especially when the ground is gravely but mine hasn't actually punctured yet.

Should have added - I too have a short hose (normal type) for when very close to the water, to save unnecessary unfurling of the flat hose. And it can be all joined together - for when some idiot is moored at the water.

[WotEver]

6 hours ago, p6rob said:

A former member, Kendal  recommended an alternative type of lay flat hose. It looks pretty good.

 

I was going to buy one as I found my blue lay flat hose a pain the bum if you weren't moored the length of the hose away from the water point. It'd kink and restrict flow and blew the connector off the pipe on more than one occasion.

 

As it happened my ex-wife moved to a flat and gave me my old garden hose reel back and I've been using that ever since.

 

Just checked the link in the old thread and it no longer exists but this looks to be the same thing on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brunner-METRE-ROLL-GRADE-CARRIER/dp/B0013T5X0E

 

Rob

That triple bore hose is the same type that I used to use on WotEver. Unroll as little or as much as you need, flush through any stale water, fill the tank. Simple and compact. 

[Sea Dog]

I'm trying to imagine how cack handed you need to be not to be able to work a flat hose.

 

[Dr Bob]

10 hours ago, BruceinSanity said:

 

 

As for the potable water bit, ISTR last time we discussed that here we had an authoritative debunking of the issue from a professional chemist – can’t remember who it was, might have a quick hunt for the thread after I’ve posted this.

 

7 hours ago, dor said:

I wouldn't worry too much about whether it is classed for potable.   Give it a good flush through when new, then try and empty it when finished.

 

That would be me then.

Ex professional chemist here!

Non potable water hoses may contain some nasties but in such small quantities that will not have any effect. I know what goes into these things and what the nasties can do to you but I have no hesitation in using a bog standard garden hose for my water tank filling. Neither Mrs Bob nor the duck is dead yet. When I last looked I was still alive.

dor is right. 

[BruceinSanity]

8 hours ago, Dr Bob said:

 

 

That would be me then.

Ex professional chemist here!

Non potable water hoses may contain some nasties but in such small quantities that will not have any effect. I know what goes into these things and what the nasties can do to you but I have no hesitation in using a bog standard garden hose for my water tank filling. Neither Mrs Bob nor the duck is dead yet. When I last looked I was still alive.

dor is right. 

Thanks, Dr B! 

 

Regards to the duck and Mrs B.