Low pressure in a garden hose can make your everyday chores a lot tougher. When your garden requires sprinkling, plants want some watering, and ponds and pools need cleaning, having sufficient water pressure is necessary to guarantee the task gets done without delay and effortlessly.
Garden hoses are made to withstand a particular amount of pressure. Standard pressure is 40-60 PSI. Ideal water pressure ranges anywhere between 45 and 55 PSI. Anything around 70 PSI will seemingly impair your gardening appliances. As you raise your pressure, remember that your water flow will gradually reduce, along with your strength to hold it.
In this article, we will address some frequent reasons why you might have low water pressure, and how to increase water pressure in a garden hose.
Garden Hose Basic Knowledge
While watering the lawn, you clearly don’t like wasting your time and energy. As you use a spray or watering can. As another option, a garden hose makes for effective watering and is straightforward. The common garden hose of 5-8 feet delivers nearly 17 GPM. This is how it conserves your energy and time.
Each garden has a varying requirement for the amount of water. It depends on the kind and quantity of your plants. In such a case, you must choose a hose that matches your conditions and desire.
- Select a hose that is manufactured from rubber or vinyl.
- Choose a hose with a wider diameter to raise the water flow rate
- The hose length must correspond to the size of your garden
- Pick one with more plies or layers, as they increase the strength of the hose
How Do You Fix Hose Water Pressure?
Make Sure Your Hose Is Connected To The Water Valve
A trivial problem like the main water valve not being completely turned on could be the major cause of the situation. You’d be shocked that there are many water-related requests that expert plumbers and odd-jobbers receive from homeowners just to detect it was only a matter of a partially turned-on valve. Turning it on fully must correct the issue.
Inspect & Replace Your Spigot
Spigot is liable for releasing all the water and water pressure that you want for an outside task. If your hose is not fully-connected, this can result in a reduction in water pressure. As soon as you notice some water drips, fasten the connection to rectify the problem.
What’s more, when it’s just the garden tap that is experiencing low pressure and the pressure in other parts of your home is adequate, then it is likely that there is a slight blockage in the piping going to the garden tap itself.
Well, replacing a garden tap can be fairly easy and you can generally point out if it’s necessary to buy a new one by examining the quality of your current spigot.
Before replacing the whole unit, experts advise using a water pressure tester to know the pressure rating and see if it’s good for your essentials. Preferably, the water pressure emerging from the spigot must range from 45-55 PSI.
Check Water Quality
The water that you use for your garden can have some contaminants. The concern can be more prevalent if you’re using sullage for your greenery. These small felons can clog a garden hose and lower water pressure. The simplest mode to fix this is to pay attention to water quality. Filtering the water before it reaches the hose is the best way of impeding a clogged hose from sullage pollutants.
Check Your Garden Hose
Inspect & Replace Your Spigot
Before you turn on the valve and let water flow from the hose, you need to double-check that there’s no leakage, or you would just waste more water. A leaking hose is among the general concerns that will decrease water pressure.
It’s often easy to locate leaks in a garden hose. Scan the hose for some zones from which the water might be dripping.
These are extremely easy to repair provided that you don’t have any leaks, or it doesn’t cover the length of the hose, in which case it might be better to buy a new hose. Turn off the outdoor faucet, and disconnect the hose. Unroll the hose and place it on the ground. Wipe it dry and put a marking in the hole. Then, repair it with a rubber patching kit. You may also wrap electrical tape around the marked point, overlapping a couple of times to guarantee a nice grip.
Look For Kinks & Bends In The Hose
You might be familiar with unwanted hose bends that decrease or totally stop water flow due to twisting. When there are kinks and twists in the hose, it will affect water pressure and flow of the water by nearly 50%. This is a substantial drop.
You can avoid kinks by using a kink brace to prevent the section from bending again. You can buy kink braces or splints from your local garden shop. You can even craft these accessories by cutting out small PVC pipes enough to fit into the hose.
To prevent kinks in the long term, you’ll need to ensure that whenever you use it, you’re rolling and unrolling the hose correspondingly. Preferably, when not in use, keep it straight to keep it from getting bent out of shape.
Check For Clogs & Clean The Hose
If there are no drippings at the connections or along with the hose, there is possibly a clog in it. A clog might be due to debris such as accumulated dirt caused by a lengthy period stuck in the storage.
To clean the hose, dip it in a bucket with water and ¼ cup of bleach solution. Soak the hose for 8 hours. Then, soak the hose again in plain water for one hour. Then, reconnect the hose to your outdoor faucet and let the water run through it for a few minutes.
If you aren’t well-versed in applying bleach, go for vinegar. Vinegar is a food product, as well as a natural disinfectant, so any debris will be okay for usage, compared to bleach.
Increase The Hose’s Internal Diameter & Reduce the Length
If you’re experiencing low water pressure even if it’s connected properly, it may be because of its length and diameter.
Studies have revealed that a hose’s water pressure can drop notably if the hose length is longer than the recommended measure. As a result, experts suggest that garden owners use a standard-length hose, or much better a shorter one.
The inner diameter is likewise a huge determinant in knowing the water pressure it will produce. Most hoses, especially garden hoses, range anywhere from as large as 3/4 inches, to as small as 7/16. Many would recommend a 7/16 inches hose for better watering purposes. However, opt for a hose with 3/4 inches in diameter if you need the most suitable water pressure output from your garden hose.
The general rule is that if you need better pressure, decrease the length and increase the size of your garden hose.
Check Your Water Pressure Regulator
Inspecting and adjusting the water pressure regulator is another good approach to increase pressure. Your water pressure regulator is normally found after the main water valve, located on the main water supply line. This is usually located outside the house. As soon as you know the location of the main water valve, you’ll see the water pressure gauge.
Look closely at what the pressure rating is based on the regulator. Outstanding home water pressure flows anywhere from 45 to 55 PSI. When a pressure gauge reads 30 PSI, it is extremely low for most backyards and gardens.
Your regulator will have a screw that can be maneuvered to increase water pressure or lower it. As you loosen the screw, it lowers water pressure, and as you tighten it, the water pressure will become greater. Use a wrench and turn the bolt on the regulator clockwise to increase the water pressure. Do it in quarter-turn increments, then take another look at the pressure.
It’s often a good idea to ask for professional help if you need to have a large tweak to your water pressure coming into your hose. When you increase the water pressure, it could place a weight on old pipes or expedite corrosion on woods within your garden. Besides, low water pressure could be an indication of a more serious problem that has to be handled by an expert. A professional plumber’s suggestion may also help you determine other probable errors you may be creating about your water system.
Use A High-powered Nozzle To Increase Water Pressure
If you’re suffering from low water pressure and need a pressure washer. Without spending money, you can turn your garden hose into one by using a high-pressure nozzle of your preference to the other end of the hose.
Attaching a high-powered nozzle can boost the output pressure immensely. It will help you in spraying long distances and make watering and cleaning chores easier. These nozzles come with a fire hose styled with a thin, long tube that concentrates the water into powerful jets.
Use this water pressure booster for appropriate tasks. Remember not to use it on your delicate plants as it could ruin them.
Use A Pump & Other Helpful Appliance
In certain instances, regardless of how you tweak the regulator, it won’t cause any change because the low water pressure in the garden is typically due to the mains’ water supply. You can set a pump to improve the whole water pressure in your property or to increase the pressure for your garden faucet(s).
- A regular water pump can take care of the business for increasing water pressure.
- Purchase a submersible water butt pump. A submersible water butt pump is a pump that can be placed in a water butt and fully submerged in water or simply. Connect it to power and it pumps up approximately 35 litres of water per minute.
- Install a rainwater harvesting system. Rainwater harvesting is a collection and storage of rainwater that runs off from rooftops, gardens, roads, and flooded areas. Then the water is filtered to make it convenient for human consumption or usage. Many rainwater harvesting systems can be equipped for landscape irrigation, and they can even be installed straight into your garden faucet.
Notice The Demand For Water Supply
If you water the garden at periods when the water demand seems to be high, you may have a water pressure problem. Your water system has no bearing with the cause of the water pressure problem.
Peak water demand periods in residential areas are normally reported in the mornings, between 6:00 am and 9:00 am, when homeowners are taking a bath, brushing their teeth, and getting ready for the day. In this case, perhaps it’s better to wait by the end of the day to water your lawn.
To double-check if the low-pressure problem is connected to the number of consumers, you could purchase a water pressure gauge. Just attach the gauge to the main water supply. You can then differentiate the pressure at different periods to determine the peak water consumption periods and the other way around. Apply the readings to draft your watering schedule.
Conclusion
Low garden water pressure can happen at times when you’re not prepared. And no plants and flowers must suffer the consequence of this problem.
If you’re merely planning to correct your home’s low water pressure situation, you can follow the above-mentioned tips. Those simple techniques are basic and fairly safe. Be confident that you won’t encounter the same water pressure problem in the future. However, in severe circumstances, an expert is a must in fixing problems that are affecting the garden hose water pressure.
Just keep maintaining the good shape of your landscape, and obtain the prime outcome of your endeavours by securing an adequate water supply to your garden.
