Lawns - Plastic Garden Hose Quick Connects: inner diameter only 5/16 & 3/8

On the two brands of plastic quick-connects that I have found, the inner diameter bore are restricting the hose flow down from 5/8" to 3/8" or even 5/16". That's a terrible restriction.

Here's the cross sectional areas of these (rounded to 100ths:

5/8" I.D. hose--> 0.31 in²
3/8" I.D. coupling--> 0.11in²
5/16" I.D. coupling--> 0.08 in²

IMO, this represents a pretty bad flow restriction.

I've noticed on the brass more-expensive ones the inner bore seems larger (½" ?). Anyone have any guidance here, or brands they like to use?

Obviously brass will out last plastic and is probably larger as they need less metal for the needed strength.

There are several manufacturers of the plastic items and they are generally very similar.In my business I've heard good and bad about them all.All are imported.

You can save a little money by buying hardware store brands of these.Ace Hardware's are made by Melnor and Gilmour,two of the more well known brands.The other name I know of is Suncast.I don't know who makes True Value's anymore but probably Melnor and/or Gilmour as well.

These companies also make the brass parts.Again they are all imported.I wouldn't do much running around to find a particular brand as it probably doesn't make much difference.

Obviously brass will out last plastic and is probably larger as they need less metal for the needed strength.

There are several manufacturers of the plastic items and they are generally very similar.In my business I've heard good and bad about them all.All are imported.

You can save a little money by buying hardware store brands of these.Ace Hardware's are made by Melnor and Gilmour,two of the more well known brands.The other name I know of is Suncast.I don't know who makes True Value's anymore but probably Melnor and/or Gilmour as well.

These companies also make the brass parts.Again they are all imported.I wouldn't do much running around to find a particular brand as it probably doesn't make much difference.

Hmmmm.....I'd really like to avoid the tighter inner diameters. Further, the Ace brand I have has a full 3/8" bore while the older Nelsen is only 5/16ths. And as near as I can tell from the product line, it really looks like Gilmour purchased Nelson, because all their products look identical, so I just assumed they were 5/16ths as well. It does look tight. And Borg Depot seem to not carry Nelson (and Gilmour now). {shrug}

As far as them "needing" to be thicker because of plastic: in both cases, plastic & metal, they could easily have the thread part of the coupling immediately flange outward to made a slightly more bulgy connector that preserves the 5/8ths of the hose.

---> Point of all this <---, which I should have mentioned before: I am periodically irritated by a lack in presure when connecting multiple items serially and am looking for a larger I.D. for this. But I'm also aware that they are ultimately fed by a 1/2" pipe inside the basement.

I wouldn't be very surprised if various brands come from the same factories in China.the brands all look very similar.It could be that the design involves some aspect of the manufacturing process but I'm not sure....

Yes if you add several items you'll lose pressure and I'm not sure any more diameter would help you since that would add volume but lower pressure.Look at it like a shower head.In order to raise the pressure they add a part with a smaller diameter hole not larger.

I forgot about Nelson.but they are all so alike it probably doesn't matter and I certainly wouldn't be surprised at mergers etc.

You could experiment by taking rubber washers or a peice of rubber and create a washer with a somewhat smaller opening in place of the regular hose washer and see what that does for you.

I wouldn't be very surprised if various brands come from the same factories in China.the brands all look very similar.It could be that the design involves some aspect of the manufacturing process but I'm not sure....

Yes if you add several items you'll lose pressure and I'm not sure any more diameter would help you since that would add volume but lower pressure.Look at it like a shower head.In order to raise the pressure they add a part with a smaller diameter hole not larger.

I forgot about Nelson.but they are all so alike it probably doesn't matter and I certainly wouldn't be surprised at mergers etc.

You could experiment by taking rubber washers or a peice of rubber and create a washer with a somewhat smaller opening in place of the regular hose washer and see what that does for you.

Well either way, a 3/8 drill bit solved the 5/16 problem with no apparent disaster. Now my nelson's femalehose->maleQuckconnect connectors all are the same as the Ace Hardware generics. Bottom line: I think I'll just [over]pay for the brass fittings eventually and just enjoy the psychosomatic huge increase in pressure. :)

Thanks for the discussion!

Just to add...may have been said....I'll gladly spend the extra bucks for a REAL brass fitting, as opposed to the aluminum(?) brass plated ones they seem to sell now. The plastic just won't last in the sun out here, and the cheapo metal ones are too susceptible to damage.

Just to add...may have been said....I'll gladly spend the extra bucks for a REAL brass fitting, as opposed to the aluminum(?) brass plated ones they seem to sell now. The plastic just won't last in the sun out here, and the cheapo metal ones are too susceptible to damage.

What really clobbers the plastic ones (IMO) is keeping them in my unheated garage. Plastic just loves to get all fragile in this New England hooey. Unless global warming comes to our rescue....lol...

The "real brass ones" would have been better written as "any metal" ones.

Nope..won't buy the "any" metal ones either..they gouge, split, dent much easier in my experience. Luckily i don't have much to water out here..gravel doesn't need water...lol

Nope..won't buy the "any" metal ones either..they gouge, split, dent much easier in my experience. Luckily i don't have much to water out here..gravel doesn't need water...lol
I meant IME, compared to plastic. Any [rust-resistive] metal seems more likely to survive without leaking when left in the cold.

Gotcha....I understand......