No one enjoys having to deal with damaged equipment.
It just slows down progress and can create unwanted expenses. There are some tools out there that can be left damaged and beaten up without being repaired with more than duct tape and still get the job done.
Pressure washer hoses are not one of these things.
If you have a damaged hose, you need to stop using it immediately, and repair the damage.
Damaged pressure washer hoses can be expensive to replace, irritating to work with, but most importantly, they are dangerous to use. Though there are many problems that a damaged pressure washer hose can cause, including unwanted expenses, the most important thing to consider before trying to use a damaged hose is the danger it poses.
Hoses that have sprung a leak will likely have low water pressure coming out of the nozzle, but this is only because a dangerous, pressurized stream of water is likely shooting out of the damaged hose spot. This concentrated stream of water can be so strong that it can cause serious injury and send you or someone else to the hospital.
Moral of the story, if you have a damaged hose, fix it!
Luckily, most damage to a hose can easily and pretty inexpensively be fixed and do not need to be replaced.
Here are 8 general steps to help you repair your hose.
- Turn the power off on the pressure washer as soon as you realize there is a leak. Safety first!
- Drain the hose of any water, so you aren’t working with a wet hose. You will get a better seal and be able to work faster with a dry hose.
- Identify the leak and thoroughly dry the area.
- Using a sharp blade or shears, make a square cut and remove the damaged portion of the hose. Make sure the cut is straight and even across the hose tip.
- Purchase the correct sized gates compression fitting or coupling for your hose. Separate the compression fitting into the two parts.
- Insert the hose into the female compression fitting and screw on. This fitting is a reverse threaded gate, so to tighten it you will need to rotate it counterclockwise. Once you hit bottom and can clearly see the hose through the end, loosen the fitting by turning it clockwise a ¼ turn.
- Insert the other fitting part, the male portion of the gate compression fitting, into the counterpart you’ve already secured to the hose. Lightly grease the fitting to make the connection easier and to create a more solid seal. To tighten well enough, secure both parts of the gate fitting and tighten. Note: Thread tape isn’t necessary for any of the earlier steps because the gate compression fitting naturally creates a compression seal on the hose.
- Finally, use Teflon tape on the end of the coupling you’ve already tightened onto the hose and connect the adapter.
Though repairing a hose is a decently inexpensive and simple task, sometimes it is wiser just to go out and invest in a new hose. The location of the leak is a huge determining factor in whether spending the time to repair the hose is worth your time or not.
Say you have a 25’ hose and a hole bursts in the center of the hose. You will have to cut your hose in half to repair it and subsequently loose half of your current hose.
In that case, is the repair worth the loss or should you go out and get a new hose?
Or if you have an inexpensive machine, you may just want to consider buying new one. Shop around, you can find some great deals and they just aren’t that expensive to risk injury 🙂
Go get a new hose! If the leak is near the end and an easy fix, then patch it up and get back to work.