Garden hose - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A garden hose is a flexible

Flexibility (anatomy)

Flexibility or limberness refers to the absolute range of movement in a joint or series of joints, and length in muscles that cross the joints. Flexibility is variable between individuals, particularly in terms of differences in muscle length of multi-joint muscles...

tube used to carry water

Water

Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...

. There are a number of common attachments available for the end of the hose, such as sprayers

Sprayer

A sprayer is a device used to spray a liquid.In agriculture, a sprayer is a piece of equipment that spray nozzles to apply herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers to agricultural crops...

and sprinklers

Irrigation sprinkler

Irrigation sprinklers are sprinklers used on farms, golf courses, and yards, to provide water to vegetation and plants in the event of drought. They may also be used for recreation, as a cooling system, or to keep down the amount of airborne dust....

(which are used to concentrate water at one point or spread it over a large area). Hoses are usually attached to a hose spigot (tap

Tap (valve)

A tap is a valve controlling release of liquids or gas. In the British Isles and most of the Commonwealth, the word is used for any everyday type of valve, particularly the fittings that control water supply to bathtubs and sinks. In the U.S., the term "tap" is more often used for beer taps,...

).

Garden hoses are commonly green

Green

Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...

and often black

Black

Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...

, but can also be found in a variety of other colors. Garden hoses are typically made of synthetic rubber

Synthetic rubber

Synthetic rubber is is any type of artificial elastomer, invariably a polymer. An elastomer is a material with the mechanical property that it can undergo much more elastic deformation under stress than most materials and still return to its previous size without permanent deformation...

or soft plastic

Plastic

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

, reinforced with an internal web of fiber

Fiber

Fiber is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread.They are very important in the biology of both plants and animals, for holding tissues together....

s. As a result of these materials, garden hoses are flexible

Flexible

Flexible may refer to:* Flexible electrical cable, also known as a power cord* Flexible electronics* Flexible response* Flexible mold* Flextime* Flexible-fuel vehicle* Flexible rake receiver* Flexible spending account, a tax-advantaged savings account...

and their smooth exterior facilitates pulling them past trees, posts and other obstacles. Garden hoses are also generally tough enough to survive scraping on rocks and being stepped on without damage or leaking. Most garden hoses are not rated for use with hot water, and their packaging will generally specify whether or not this is the case.

Typical hoses used for filling of the potable water tanks in recreational vehicle

Recreational vehicle

Recreational vehicle or RV is, in North America, the usual term for a Motor vehicle or trailer equipped with living space and amenities found in a home.-Features:...

s are similar to garden hoses but are made of nonporous materials that are less likely to collect bacteria

Bacteria

Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...

or affect the water's taste. They are colored white as a distinguishing characteristic.

The term hosepipe is chiefly British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, South African and southern U.S.

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

usage; garden hose (more commonly just hose) is the predominant term in other English-speaking countries. The term "hose

Hose (tubing)

A hose is a hollow tube designed to carry fluids from one location to another. Hoses are also sometimes called pipes , or more generally tubing...

" is also used for other types of flexible, water-carrying tubes such as those used by fire departments.

Standards and Connectors

Garden hoses connect using a male/female thread connection Spigots

Tap (valve)

typically have male connectors and the hose has a captive nut which fits the threads. (The technical term for this arrangement is a hose union).

The thread standard for garden hoses in the US and its territories is known as GHT or "garden hose thread" which has an outer diameter of 1.0625 inches (27 mm) and a pitch of 11.5 TPI). Outside the US, the more common BSP

British standard pipe thread

The British Standard Pipe thread is a family of standard screw thread types that has been adopted internationally for interconnecting and sealing pipe ends by mating an external with an internal thread.-Types:...

standard is used, which is 3/4" and 14 TPI. The GHT and BSP standards are not compatible.

Each end of a typical garden hose mate with one another, which allows multiple garden hoses to be linked end-to-end to increase their length. Small rubber

Rubber

Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...

or plastic

Plastic

seals

Gasket

are used in female ends to prevent leakage. Sometimes these seals disintegrate or fall out of older hoses, which results in high-pressure leakage spraying from the hose.

Standards and Connectors

See also