How To Repair A Garden Hose

by Trevor Woods | Last Updated: August 14, 2020

Nothing ruins your fun in the sun or puts a stop to your outdoor chores faster than a busted or leaking garden hose.

A pierced or torn garden hose will lower the output pressure at the nozzle and waste precious water through any holes in the hose while it’s turned ON. The good news is even the most badly damaged garden hoses can be repaired and repurposed. Soaker hose anyone?

Quality garden hoses are expensive but repairing a garden hose is cheap and easy. Save money and your hose by fixing it yourself in five minutes flat!

What Causes Leaky Garden Hoses?

Long days watering the lawn, washing your car, and frolicking in the sprinkler can leave your hose a little worse for wear. You literally work a hose hard and put it away wet.

Garden hoses wear out by being pulled across rough surfaces like gravel and concrete driveways or pinched against sharp objects like metal downspouts or around the corners of your home.

All of this stretching, bending, scraping, and sometimes being run over by your car (whoops!) can leave your garden hose in need of some TLC.

Tools And Materials Needed

All that’s required for this outdoor DIY repair is some common hand tools:

• Screwdriver
• Tubing cutter, Sharp utility knife, or a Strong pair of scissors
• Liquid soap

Garden Hose Repair Kit

$9.99

A garden hose that leaks is both an annoyance and a waste of water.

The good news is that repairing it can be done in about five minutes with a garden hose repair kit. Hose repair kits come as male or female threaded hose ends as well as a connector for fixing a leak in the middle of a hose.

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12/18/2023 09:34 am GMT

How To

The first step to fixing a garden hose is to find and identify the type of leak you have. Is your hose leaking at one of the ends? Or is it squirting from somewhere in the middle?

Next, you have to determine the size of your hose. Not length, diameter. Some garden hoses may have the size printed in small letters on the hose itself. This sizing indicates the inside diameter (or ID) of the hose.

The most common size of garden hose is 5/8 inch but you can find hoses with 1/2 or 3/4 inch diameters. You can measure your hose by cutting off the broken end with a sharp knife or tubing cutters and measure across the round exposed end with a tape measure.

Remember to measure the distance inside the hose. Think of it like measuring the hole in a doughnut not the doughnut itself, mmmm doughnuts!

Repair a Garden Hose Leaking From The End

If you are experiencing leaking or spraying from the hose ends you are most likely in need of a new washer. The end of the hose that connects to your hose bib or outdoor water faucet will have a rubber washer inside. These wear out over time getting dry, brittle, or develop cuts in them that prevent a watertight seal.

All you need is a replacement rubber washer and a small screwdriver. The small screwdriver can be used to gently pry the old washer out of the hose end. Then simply slide a new replacement washer in its place, Done!

You can also find these rubber washers inside handheld sprayers, sprinklers, and other hose attachments. So it’s a good idea to change these gaskets periodically to prevent leaks at each end of your hose.

Garden Hose Replacement Washer

$5.99 ($0.15 / Count)

Heavy-duty replacement washers.

Soft, Flexible, Pliable, Donut shape conforms to all Hose connections to ensure a watertight seal.

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12/18/2023 07:02 am GMT

Repair A Garden Hose Leaking From The Hose

Perforated with pinholes or sliced from being run over with a lawnmower, makes it look like you have a child’s sprinkler toy in your hands instead of your trusty garden hose.

You will need to cut out that damaged section and splice your hose back together with a coupling. You can find hose couplings with barbed connections and gear clamps or in a compression style fitting.

We prefer compression style fittings to couple garden hose together to avoid having gear clamps scratch up our hands or rubbing and abrading other loops of the hose when it’s hung up after use.

To install a garden hose coupling you need to cut the leaky section out squarely with a sharp knife, rugged pair of scissors, or tubing cutters. Cut as straight as you can and avoid leaving any burred edges. Then slide the coupling ends over the garden hose and fasten it in place with the supplied hardware. Done!

Pinpoint The Pinhole

If you only have a single pinhole to repair, cut the hose directly at that location and install your coupling. No need to make your garden hose shorter if you don’t need to!

Garden Hose Mender

$64.99

Save the cost of a new hose with Gilmour hose menders and couplings. They are leakproof, rustproof, unbreakable, reusable and easy to use!

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02/17/2024 01:17 pm GMT

Repair A Garden Hose With A Damaged End

Sometimes the end of your garden hose gets crushed, squashed, or deformed. I’m guilty of driving over my garden hose left overnight in the driveway, ugh!

Luckily hose ends are simple to change. The hose end with exposed threads is called the male end and the end with internal threads is called the female end. Makes sense, right?

Barbed Hose Fittings

With the garden hose size in mind, you can pick the matching female or male hose end. The least expensive option is the trusty barbed hose connector with gear clamps.

Trim off the damaged end as close to the brass head as you can. No need to make the garden hose shorter than necessary! Once the old hose end is removed, start by sliding the new gear clamp onto the hose.

Next, slip the barbed hose end into the cut off garden hose end and secure it with the supplied gear clamp. I like to lube the barbed fitting with a few drops of liquid dish soap to help it slide into the tight diameter of the hose.

The one drawback to using gear clamps to replace a damaged garden hose end is the exposed tail from the gear clamp. It can snag on clothes or even cut your hands if you’re not careful. But a few wraps of duct tape will secure the gear clamp tail out of the way. Gorilla tape for the win!

Compression Hose Fittings

A more expensive alternative without the pesky gear clamp is compression style hose ends. These compression fittings are made of brass, zinc, or stainless steel and simply pinch the new hose end in place. These garden hose ends look so good, no one will know you repaired the garden hose in the first place.

These compression garden hose ends install similarly to the barbed fittings we discussed earlier. But instead, have two set screws to tighten as opposed to a gear clamp. Compression fittings will magically transform your old garden hose into a brand new one, presto change-o!

Compression Garden Hose Fittings

$14.99

Save the cost of a new garden hose with hose menders and couplings.

Premium construction for maximum strength and durability. Made from quality Zinc and aluminum alloy. They are leakproof, rustproof, unbreakable, reusable and easy to use.

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12/18/2023 04:37 pm GMT

Conclusion

No more wimpy hose pressure or wasted water. For a few dollars, you fixed that garden hose and got it flowing like new again! It’s a good idea to have a few extra washers or hose ends handy for the next time your hose is having the fits.

Happy Plumbing!

Trevor Woods is the founder of Plumb University® and he started in the plumbing and construction industry in 1997. Since then, his mission is to make plumbing repair and maintenance easy for everyone. And each year, he continues to help more people with their plumbing installation, care, and troubleshooting.