Kinked Garden Hose
By: Roger Cook
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Q: How can I keep kinks out of garden hoses? It's a problem every day, but an even bigger one when I store them. Does it have something to do with the material the hose is made of?
— James, South Amboy, NJ
A: Roger Cook replies: Kinks tend to show up in lower-quality hoses or ones that have lost their flexibility due to too much time in the sun. I prefer a rubber hose because it doesn't get brittle or have a mind of its own when I'm trying to coil it. Most hoses will coil more easily if you drain them completely. This is easy enough — just stretch your hose downhill on a sloping piece of ground after disconnecting it from the faucet. Even a gentle incline will do.
When the hose is empty, loop it around the outside of a trash can. Then use Velcro straps or tie short lengths of rope around the coils in two or three places and remove it from the can.
You can store hoses on top of each other or hang them up. A coiled hose should be hung in a way that supports it at two or more points. Hanging it for long periods on a single support can dent the hose wall.
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