How to Fix Garden Hose Kinks

Kinked garden hoses are a bane of all hose-owners. It’s one thing to spend money on an expandable hose that will just kink up again the first time you pull it out of storage, quite another to have your favorite hose go from being a pleasure to use to being quite possibly unusable over the course of just a few months. We’ve found some effective solutions for this frustrating problem.

Here are some ideas for how to fix a kinked or tangled garden hose, starting with the least expensive and simplest option:

Simple Solution

Fill your hose up halfway, then tie it off using a tight knot. Let the water drain until it’s below the knot you tied in the hose, then completely drain any leftover water from inside of the hose. When you’re ready to use your now unkinked and untangled garden hose again simply fill it up halfway and repeat those same steps, this time removing what should be the final kunk and tangle as well as any remaining coiled-up water at its end.

If there are still problems with your kinked or tangled garden hose, despite trying all of the previous methods, you may need to consider replacing it with a new one. If so, don’t bother buying an expensive brand-name hose since most any hose sold in home improvement or gardening stores will serve you well for years to come after being properly treated and cared for.

It is not unusual for hoses, both new and old, to develop problems with kinking or tangling after regular use. These problems can be anything from mildly frustrating at worst, interrupting your gardening routine by causing you stop what you’re doing every five minutes in order to straighten out the hose, to very dangerous at best. A kinked or tangled garden hose is a safety hazard which can cause you serious injury as you try to work with it, and also risk damaging your property as the water pressure increases behind the blockage of the kink or tangle.

Steps to Fix Garden Hose Kinks

All home gardeners know at least one other major chore that comes with having a yard or flowers: hoses. It seems like no matter how much time you spend carefully coiling it up, there’s always kink somewhere, especially if your hose is an older model. These kinks can impede water flow to your plants and make watering take longer than it has to – wasting water in the process.

Here are some tips on how you can fight those frustrating kinks and keep your hose problem-free for years to come.

When winding your hose up after using it, start by winding it loosely; try not to let the coils overlap each other too much at this point because then they will be impossible to separate later (believe me, I’ve tried).
When you have wound it as loosely as possible, begin winding the hose up from its end. If you wind from the middle first, then after a while that part will be too tightly wound to turn and keep winding.
Once you’ve wrapped all of your hose into a coil, pull out about six inches of hose from the center of the bundle and either attach it to your spigot or store it in a bucket nearby so that you can easily reach it when you need to water again.
Make sure not to leave your hose lying on bare ground where dirt could get inside the coils and cause kinks – set yours on top of another object instead such as a rock, trashcan or a piece of lumber.
If you have an older hose that’s showing its age but is still in usable condition, try treating it to a new one with brass fittings instead of the usual plastic ones . Brass ones are far less likely to cause kink problems and not only will they last longer, they’ll prevent kinks from happening even if your hose is old and worn out.

What causes Garden Hose Kinks

Before going further with ideas on how to fix a kinked or tangled garden hose, it’s important to understand exactly what causes these problems in the first place. The following list outlines some of main causes:

Improper storage

Hoses should be stored indoors when not in use, coiled so that they don’t remain bent for long periods of time. If you store your hoses outside, make sure they’re out of the way and not coiled up against a building or other object which can damage them.

Improperly draining

Always drain your hose after use, even if you plan to store it for only a day or two. Some gardeners choose to leave their hoses filled with water so that they don’t form any kinks as they’re stowed away. This is fine as long as the next time you need to use the hose it will be in a different location from where it’s been stored, since standing water can become stagnant and harmful to plants and grass growth. Leaving a hose full of water is also dangerous because there is always a risk that someone else will move the hose without realizing there’s still water flowing through it, possibly causing them electrocution.

Using too much force

If you need to use a hose with a kink or tangle in it, don’t pull on it with great force as this only makes the problem worse by causing more kinks and tangles. When pulling out your hose from storage always be gentle, not jerking it about, and coil up any excess length before tying the end off with a loose knot that’s easy to untie when you’re ready to use it again.

Tying too tightly

Sometimes gardeners will tie their hoses into tight knots which are very difficult to untie. This is never a good idea since over time these knots can damage your hose by splitting open even small cracks in its outer shell. If you’re in a situation where you need to tie off your hose for any reason, use a tight knot that’s easy to undo.

Improper water pressure

High water pressure can cause kinks and tangles with all garden hoses regardless of their material or quality. Use your hose responsibly by not letting the water run when it isn’t needed such as while watering flowers with small droplets so the mist doesn’t carry far. Also keep an eye on nearby objects such as trees when spraying with high-pressure sprays, don’t let anything get hit so hard that they risk damage due to being knocked over by a stream of water.

We hope this list has highlighted some of what causes kinks and tangles in a garden hose and how you can avoid them. Now we’ll move on to