Tweet
Okay so my schedule hasn't allowed me to run to Home Depot to buy any clamps, and my spools of plastic plumbers strap appear to be playing hide and seek with me, and winning... And that danging hose just bugs the tar out of me... But what to do?
Improvise!
I stumbled upon an old, HUGE nylon zip tie, probably 3/8" wide by 30 or so inches long. I think it may have been from the compressor pallet. Anyway the thought occoured to me that the plastic used here was the same as what was used in the pre made clamps, so why not improvise. And that is exactly what I did!
Photos and a slightly different write up are on my Blogspot Blog...
The install ins't 100% finished, but once the shop light has been taken off of the ceiling directly and chain hung, I can finish it up. Maybe 3 or 4 more clamps depending on how OCD I get about routing...
For those that have the room and have been considering the hose reel addition and are hesitating not sure if the HF unit is worth the $$...
I have been around / used hose reels like these literally for decades, I started out as you may recall in high school as a pump jockey at a full serve gas station and worked my way up to management / mechanic while I was in college... I have been around many different makes / models of these things...
I can not attest to the long term durability of this comparatively, however the build quality at least at first glance is every bit as good, if not better than the "High End Tool Truck" models we used when I was making my living with them. My only areas of concern are...
#1. The durability of the spring winder mechanism. Mind you, HF has been selling these for a LONG time now, and absolutely zero of the reviews I can find anywhere complain about spring / rewind failures. More than I can say for the older Goodyear models we used that failed after 2 years...
#2. The durability of the Central Pnuematic rubber hose. I see a good number of complaints about this. I am wondering however what conditions they were installed in. Rubber hose is NOT, and I repeat NOT stable to UV, and large heat / cold swings. To be blunt. If I get 5 years out of these hoses, I will give it 5 stars. Throw in the complication of exposing the hoses to petrochemicals such as dirty motor oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid etc... and I can see how people are experiencing failures of the hose ends within a year. The Goodyear hoses we used to use at the stations on the pump islands lasted about a year before we had to use the hose end mender kits on them... The ones in the shop lasted about 2 years.
The operation of the reel itself is very smooth, and very predictable. No trying to force the reel to take up or pay out... No unexpected yanks on the hose from the return spring either... No rattle or looseness at all in the operations.
I looked at 50' Hose Reels from the BORG and the Blue Box, as well as from Northern Tool, and even Sears. There seem to be 2 main differences between the 50' metal open reel hose reels with 3/8" hose. They are paint color, most are semi gloss black, while some are yellow, and one was blue. The other difference was the hose itself. Most appear to have the same exact hose, the red one the HF unit comes with.
Prices vary pretty widely, the best price however was a toss up between the Central Pnuematic 50 footer from Harbor Freight, and Amazon occasionally puts the Tekton 50 footer on sale for roughly the same price as the HF... with the same hose, so the only real difference is do you want you reel in black, or red?
Improvise!
I stumbled upon an old, HUGE nylon zip tie, probably 3/8" wide by 30 or so inches long. I think it may have been from the compressor pallet. Anyway the thought occoured to me that the plastic used here was the same as what was used in the pre made clamps, so why not improvise. And that is exactly what I did!
Photos and a slightly different write up are on my Blogspot Blog...
The install ins't 100% finished, but once the shop light has been taken off of the ceiling directly and chain hung, I can finish it up. Maybe 3 or 4 more clamps depending on how OCD I get about routing...
For those that have the room and have been considering the hose reel addition and are hesitating not sure if the HF unit is worth the $$...
I have been around / used hose reels like these literally for decades, I started out as you may recall in high school as a pump jockey at a full serve gas station and worked my way up to management / mechanic while I was in college... I have been around many different makes / models of these things...
I can not attest to the long term durability of this comparatively, however the build quality at least at first glance is every bit as good, if not better than the "High End Tool Truck" models we used when I was making my living with them. My only areas of concern are...
#1. The durability of the spring winder mechanism. Mind you, HF has been selling these for a LONG time now, and absolutely zero of the reviews I can find anywhere complain about spring / rewind failures. More than I can say for the older Goodyear models we used that failed after 2 years...
#2. The durability of the Central Pnuematic rubber hose. I see a good number of complaints about this. I am wondering however what conditions they were installed in. Rubber hose is NOT, and I repeat NOT stable to UV, and large heat / cold swings. To be blunt. If I get 5 years out of these hoses, I will give it 5 stars. Throw in the complication of exposing the hoses to petrochemicals such as dirty motor oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid etc... and I can see how people are experiencing failures of the hose ends within a year. The Goodyear hoses we used to use at the stations on the pump islands lasted about a year before we had to use the hose end mender kits on them... The ones in the shop lasted about 2 years.
The operation of the reel itself is very smooth, and very predictable. No trying to force the reel to take up or pay out... No unexpected yanks on the hose from the return spring either... No rattle or looseness at all in the operations.
I looked at 50' Hose Reels from the BORG and the Blue Box, as well as from Northern Tool, and even Sears. There seem to be 2 main differences between the 50' metal open reel hose reels with 3/8" hose. They are paint color, most are semi gloss black, while some are yellow, and one was blue. The other difference was the hose itself. Most appear to have the same exact hose, the red one the HF unit comes with.
Prices vary pretty widely, the best price however was a toss up between the Central Pnuematic 50 footer from Harbor Freight, and Amazon occasionally puts the Tekton 50 footer on sale for roughly the same price as the HF... with the same hose, so the only real difference is do you want you reel in black, or red?
Comment