My stupid 50 dollar mistake with a cheap hose nozzle

Bought this nice looking brass nozzle at a hardware store in Decatur last spring. The first time I turned it on, water shot out the side where the handle connects, not the tip. Took me 20 minutes to figure out it was cross threaded from the factory. By then my whole driveway was soaked and I had to return it. Has anyone else bought something that looked solid but broke on first use?

2 comments

2 Comments

charliew995h ago

...and that's why I only buy the simple plastic shutoff nozzles now. Had the exact same thing happen with a fancy brass one from Ace Hardware a couple years ago. The brass ones look great hanging in the garage but half of them leak at the swivel joint within a month. I switched to the Orbit brass with the rubber grip, that one's held up fine for three seasons now. Just gotta check the threads before you screw it on and tighten it by hand first.

craig.nathan3h ago

Respectfully gotta disagree with you there. I've got a couple of those old school all-brass nozzles that have been kicking around for over a decade without a single leak. The trick is to not crank them down with a wrench or anything, just snug them up by hand like you're saying. The ones that fail are usually the ones people overtighten and crack the threads or mess up the o-ring inside. Is it really the material's fault or just how we treat it? I'll take the metal ones any day over plastic that gets brittle in the sun and snaps off after a year.