Spiral water hose - good idea or not? (1 Viewer)

[maz]

Hi everyone. I have spent a happy hour trawling through old threads about fresh water hoses.

Seems the jury is fairly evenly divided between round/flat and garden/food standard. On balance I think I'm drawn more towards round food standard - but then it turns out they are more difficult to track down! In my surfing I came across a spiral hose: which would seem to be a good idea.

Has anyone tried one of these? What do you think?

 

[maz]

Oops, trouble with the link. :Blush: But it can be seen at outdoorbits.com by searching for 'spiral hose'.

 

[656]

Spiral hoses are a pain in the butt, unless you put them in a bag!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[peter marshall]

Hi Maz
We have the spiral hose, I don't know if its food quality but we don't drink the van water, We use bottled for soft drinks etc, , only use it for cooking, boiling the kettle and stuff like that,We only use water direct from the taps for washing , The hose We usually carry in a bucket so it's easily transported.
Pete :thumb::thumb:
Ps carry the different fitting sizes to clip on the tap connector as they are sometimes different bore on the taps.

 

[old-mo]

This is the type we use. Only problem is it has to be unwound completely when filling the tank.. but does fold/roll up to next to nothing.

As with others buy bottled for drinking... :thumb:

 

[Jim]

Spiral hoses are a pain to use and they take up more room than you might think, they also get tangled with everything else in your lockers. Roll flat are pain to put away, and fill a bit slower than a regular round hose. Most "food grade" hoses suitable for use in a motorhome are roll flat. Loads of people fill up with a common garden hose, I did it once and we had rubber tasting tea for ages, must have just been unlucky as others use them OK. I'd go with the roll flat every time, and would not bother with the coily springy tangly thing. :thumb:

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[lunarman]

I bought a hose at one of the shows. It is basically 3 small bore tubes welded together to make a flat hosepipe. It is made of food grade material. The advantage is that you only have to unroll the amount you need the rest stays on the reel. Unfortunately I can't remember what its called.

I have seen them since at the shows, so must be readily available

Lunarman

Edit:

I think it might be this Link Removed

 

[slobadoberbob]

Flat hose

Forthe RV we have a flat hose and lots of different combination of connectors to hook up to city water.. In France we have our own tap and connect direct to the RV. If we are on a site or at a show ..I use a 20 ltr container that I put on the buggy and use a short round hose with an adapter to connect to a tap then up load with a small submersible pump connected to my external 12v system and transfer the water to the holding tank on the RV.

Works for me...

However what Jim says is correct the round hose is a pain.. I have to carry 60' of a heavy duty high pressure yellow hose for the masticator unit to dump the black tank.. Takes up room, but lucky we do not have to use it that often on site to get rid the black and grey water.

Bob:thumb:

 

[pablomc]

I also use a flat. Rather than have to unwind the whole lot each time I have shortened it to about 5 meters, but added connectors so I can add the other 15M should it be needed.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[MikeandCarolyn]

I also use a flat. Rather than have to unwind the whole lot each time I have shortened it to about 5 meters, but added connectors so I can add the other 15M should it be needed.

I've done the same-works a treat

Mike

 

[DESCO]

Hi

Have always used garden hose, and never had a problem. Never had a taste problem but then all our water is filtered. I have 3 shorter hoses but can connect them all together if required.


Dave .:thumb::thumb:

 

[Toffs-G]

we have both a flat hose that was given to us when we originally bought our Euro MH and also have a coiled garden hose. Prefer the coily thing if tap is nearish then have the long flat one if not and can connect the 2 if really a long way away.

Never had a problem with water using the coily one but then we always filter the water for drinking ect as mentioned on here

As Bob says have anumber of different connectors to hand we have a bundle always handy, also we have cut a 1 foot length of the flat hose witha connector to feed into the tank filler spout and then just connect to that much easier for filling, that was a suggestion that came off this site about a year ago i think

Happy travels:thumb:

Gary and Cathy

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[wasp]

We use a garden hose but we dont drink the water but we do sterilize the system often, we use bottled water for drinking:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:

 

[Stewart J]

As others we use garden hose to fill the tank and a separate regularly sterilised 5 litre container for beverages filled directly from site tap.

Carry 2 hose lengths, 10 and a 20 metre with a joiner if required, as already mentioned take a selection of tap connector's.

 

[Mixter]

Weve got a length of food hose, which can be a tad short at some places, so i was thinking of getting a longer length. But, ive been on two sites now - one CC, where the warden has just rolled out a regular garden hose, as the point wasnt very accessible for vehicles.
Given we dont drink the van water (un boiled at least), im thinking theres no point in chasing up 'food hose'. Ill likely just replace mine with a new bit of garden hose, given theres a high tank replenish rate, and its sterilised every year as well.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[aba]

i got 30 metres of food grade clear hose from the local builders merchants i keep it on a reel in the rear locker just roll out what you need.
i put 2 female hose connectors on the reel and clip them together with a joiner so it doesn't leak when stored.

 

[maz]

Thank you to everyone for your replies. Think I'm now veering towards food quality flat hose, rather than spiral.

I bought a hose at one of the shows. It is basically 3 small bore tubes welded together to make a flat hosepipe. It is made of food grade material. The advantage is that you only have to unroll the amount you need the rest stays on the reel.

Now this I like the sound of - flat hose that doesn't need to be fully unwound. I remember reading a mention of this in one of the old threads - downside seemed to be that it took a long time to fill the tank. How do you find it compares to ordinary flat hose? Does the fact that it is 3-tube construction make it more robust and less liable to splitting?

i put 2 female hose connectors on the reel and clip them together with a joiner so it doesn't leak when stored.

That seems a neat idea.

 

[Jim]

Thank you to everyone for your replies. Think I'm now veering towards food quality flat hose, rather than spiral.



Now this I like the sound of - flat hose that doesn't need to be fully unwound. I remember reading a mention of this in one of the old threads - downside seemed to be that it took a long time to fill the tank. How do you find it compares to ordinary flat hose? Does the fact that it is 3-tube construction make it more robust and less liable to splitting?



That seems a neat idea.

Mine does not leak, because you have to milk every last drop of water out (pain) to get it back on to the reel

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Terry]

Well I suppose I will give my views We have a flat triple type hose @ 20 mtrs (you can run as much or little as you like out ) :thumb: If I need more than that I simply move the van nearer to the tap oh::thumb: Tried coil type and normal hoses but this is a lot easier to store etc,
terry

 

[lunarman]

Thank you to everyone for your replies. Think I'm now veering towards food quality flat hose, rather than spiral.



Now this I like the sound of - flat hose that doesn't need to be fully unwound. I remember reading a mention of this in one of the old threads - downside seemed to be that it took a long time to fill the tank. How do you find it compares to ordinary flat hose? Does the fact that it is 3-tube construction make it more robust and less liable to splitting?



That seems a neat idea.

I have had 3 flat hoses 2 the conventional ones which I found were more trouble than they were worth. You had to fully unwind them and they were difficult to rewind if you didn't get all of the water out. Both developed pin hole leaks along the length of the hose after a short time and only lasted about 18 months.

I am impressed with the latest one. It is definitely more robust and I am sure will last longer. I have not noticed any appreciable difference in the water flow and hence filling time. It is easier to rewind. The only problem I have found is that if you don't have to unwind it fully it can retain a small amount of water within the reeled portion. This can leak out into wherever it is stored. I found this the first time I used it, now I join the 2 ends together problem solved.

Hope this helps making your decision

Lunarman

 

[Terry]

I have had 3 flat hoses 2 the conventional ones which I found were more trouble than they were worth. You had to fully unwind them and they were difficult to rewind if you didn't get all of the water out. Both developed pin hole leaks along the length of the hose after a short time and only lasted about 18 months.

I am impressed with the latest one. It is definitely more robust and I am sure will last longer. I have not noticed any appreciable difference in the water flow and hence filling time. It is easier to rewind. The only problem I have found is that if you don't have to unwind it fully it can retain a small amount of water within the reeled portion. This can leak out into wherever it is stored. I found this the first time I used it, now I join the 2 ends together problem solved.

Hope this helps making your decision

Lunarman

Yes L/M that is the type but the link you give shows a normal flat hose I think the name of where we got ours from was something like Bargains uk or something like that :thumb:The web site also sold small vacs and stuff :thumb: Both were uber a tenner each
terry

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Welsh girl]

We use a blue food grade 15 mtr hose and thanks for the tip about joining them to stop them leaking, it is a pain having to get every last drop out.
DOH simples when you think about it!!!

We have also bought a normal garden hose to join up for when we are too far from a tap but find when we use that there is a taste to the water so try not to use that any more and just use our containers to fill when we get the hose close enough to the tap

 

[Dodgey]

We have two lengths, don't ask, I just cut it so one length reached the filler from the house tap, ie not specific, double ended for ease on one and open on the other, so it goes in the tank.

It's all the food grade stuff used in Euro vans for the plumbing typically, well it was don't know about now, can't remember why I bought it now, or why so much so it was a bit of a well I've got it so I use it.

We store them in two of those round soft bags so it keeps them under control and clean (ish) and they don't take up much room, then we do have an RV therefore good storage.

We do drink the water on board, mainly boiled but some not though we also use bottled manly because we prefer the taste, and no 'flavour' from the hose, did notice it on the last van as there was a small section of garden hose in the plumbing 'fixing' a problem when we got the van. It was fairly obvious previuos owners of said last van hadn't drained the water system in winter as there were numerous 'fixes' in the systemoh:

On the current, Winne, I steralised the tank two years back when we got here but that's it, then we do use her regularly:thumb:

 

[steles]

Flat hose every time
As you reel in flat hose all water is removed. Assuming most people only fill up no more than every week hoses that are not drained completely especially in hot weather will grow all sorts of bacteria, best not to take a chance even if you dont drink water from inboard tank.
Steles

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[chatter]

We have both ordinary garden round hose and the coiled hose and have no problems, with the coiled hose i used the box it came in for storage origionally but now i have tied a short length of rope at one end and run it through the coils, that way i can hang it straight to drain and when stored i just put the two loops at end of rope over a bracket and hang it in our front locker

 

[maz]

I have not noticed any appreciable difference in the water flow and hence filling time. It is easier to rewind. The only problem I have found is that if you don't have to unwind it fully it can retain a small amount of water within the reeled portion. This can leak out into wherever it is stored. I found this the first time I used it, now I join the 2 ends together problem solved.

This 3-tube hose is sounding good to me. Do you reckon it might be this Brunner one that you've got: Link Removed

It says no need to unroll but doesn't mention 3 tubes. £32.39 inc delivery is considerably more than your tenner tho'.

 

[eddie]

I have three flat hoses, one can be used whilst still rolled up. And I have the excellent outdoorbits spiral hose RollEyes

I have a conventional water filler on the side of the RV and a clip on water connection in the wet locker, so I leave the spiral one connected in the wet locker when travelling, which gives me the ability to simply open the water locker, pull out the hose and plug onto a tap when getting fuel for example.

Once fuelled up being able to simply let it recoil itself back into the locker when done with no fuss.

This saves buggering around with flat hoses in areas which are often dirty and smelly. But when on a site, without moving the RV I can fill from pretty much anywhere snapping all the hoses together.

Afterall only having a 39 US gallons of water is never enough for any woman!oh: to shower and wash her hair

Eddie

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[niggle]

flat hose all the time ,beats the rest,but on a cassette :thumb::thumb:

 

[Terry]

This 3-tube hose is sounding good to me. Do you reckon it might be this Brunner one that you've got: Link Removed

It says no need to unroll but doesn't mention 3 tubes. £32.39 inc delivery is considerably more than your tenner tho'.

Hi Maz no that does not look like it (looks to be a normal flat hose ) They are quite big at about 15 ins by 18 /20 ins :thumb: As soon as you see one they are easy to recognise and usually show a close up of the three flattish pipes joined together to make a flat hose about a quarter of an inch by one inch- I will go a search ebay to see if I can find one and post a link - Try a search for uk bargains or some variation on that
terry

 

[Terry]

This is like the one we have
http://www.shrubs.co.uk/greenkey-triple-core-flat-hose-330-gy-16151-p.asp
Mate tells me they had them in at Towsure @ £15
terry
edit this also looks like one
Link Removed