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Desire

Have an outdoor garden hose which is not in the way/cumbersome and can reach the end of my property; 100 feet from the house.

On one side of the house there is a flower bed and having a hose reel outdoors is an eyesore.

I'm in Upstate NY.

Thought

Install a retractable garden hose in the basement and extend the nozzle to the exterior of my home.

enter image description here

Question

Aside from the hose bursting in the basement are there any other inherent risks or code violations with this idea?

I also welcome ideas about how to seal off the lower penetration which has the hose nozzle.

Assume the hose real mounting will be strong and secure between the floor joists.

MonkeyZeus
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    There's no point to running the water supply outside first then back in then back out. A better solution would be to bury waterline (which could be hose-connected if not bothering to go below frostline) to a point where the hose reel would not offend your sensibilities, such as putting it in an underground vault to hide it away from the house. – Ecnerwal Jun 10 '22 at 17:37
  • @crip659 Any specific recommendations? I don't even know what kind of Google terms would be suitable to find such a product. – MonkeyZeus Jun 10 '22 at 17:43
  • @Ecnerwal Sorry, the spigot is pre-existing. Additionally, it's a hot+cold tap and it would be silly to run both to an underground vault. I plan to just give it a Y-splitter so that the spigot is usable even while the hose is attached. – MonkeyZeus Jun 10 '22 at 17:47
  • I am quite sure they are out there but not what they are called. I am thinking of valves that have their handles two or three feet away from the valve/faucet itself. Valve handle extensions? – crip659 Jun 10 '22 at 17:47
  • @crip659 Sorry, I was asking about the box-type opening with door. See my comment to Ecnerwal as to why I don't want to directly connect the water in the basement. – MonkeyZeus Jun 10 '22 at 17:48
  • For the box was just thinking of making one. Can make as big or small as needed to hold the hose and nozzle. Door just needs a couple of hinges, piece of wood to size, and a door catch/latch. Paint/stain to look good. Imagine they do make cheap looking expensive outdoor cupboards/cabinets. – crip659 Jun 10 '22 at 17:55
  • @crip659 Hmm, good points! To note, my siding is cedar so cutting holes is fortunately not too arduous. I'm wondering if you have any thoughts about someway to protect the hose and house from damage. maybe a plastic flared sleep of some sort? – MonkeyZeus Jun 10 '22 at 18:01
  • Maybe like those little chubby hole thing they have for cloths washer taps, I have seen on here. – crip659 Jun 10 '22 at 18:43
  • Retractable garden hose reel always leak at the rotating connection seal. – Ruskes Jun 10 '22 at 19:26
  • insurance company would not pay for any water damage that could be caused by that setup – jsotola Jun 11 '22 at 17:30
  • @jsotola That seems worthy enough to be an answer. – MonkeyZeus Jun 13 '22 at 12:57

5 Answers5

8

Problems with this plan aside from the possibility of the hose bursting:

  1. Without bursting, the hose reel will routinely drip water in the basement at all its junctions.
  2. The hose will not pull through the wall easily. In fact, it will eventually (probably the first time you use it) kink and get stuck. You'll need two people, one in the garden and one in the basement, to dispense and retract it each time you use it, and they will have to develop a ballet-like technique to finesse the hose through the wall
  3. Insects and rodents will enter the house through the hole in the wall, unless the hole is so well sealed that the hose will not pass through it even with the skilled guidance of two people.

Suggestion

If your only objection to having the hose outside is its appearance, use an irrigation valve box to contain the hose. You don't even need the reel. Just build a "hose pit" out of a $40 valve box. Relocate your bib to inside the pit, and snake up the hose in it.

jay613
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    Or just bury a short section of hose leading to the hose pit, connected to the existing spigot, with all hose remaining outside the house. – Ecnerwal Jun 10 '22 at 22:55
  • I agree with bullet point #1 and it is honestly enough of a deterrent for my plan. But #2 and #3 can be remedied by doing something like a milkman door. My apologies for making you think that a 3/4" hole in the house was my only option. – MonkeyZeus Jun 13 '22 at 13:03
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Frame challenge: This looks to me like an XY problem. Rather than worry about where to place unsightly hose reels, I suggest looking at ways others have successfully solved this issue.

Best suggestion, but possibly costly: sprinkler systems. There exist DIY poly pipe with push-fittings to connect small sprinklers to garden hose spigots. You can leave this in place if you drain and disconnect it during freezing seasons. If the stationary sprinklers are too visible, I'm sure pop-ups are available. This will also save you from having to spend time manually watering. If you already have a lawn sprinkler system, that's a bonus: add a zone for this flowerbed, install some sprinklers there. Example image shamelessly lifted from an Amazon product listing (no endorsement or recommendation implied)

enter image description here

Second, easier suggestion: get a hose that doesn't need a reel and doesn't look bad. Various colors are available that could blend in to your lawn or flowerbed mulch. I have also seen "expandable garden hoses" used successfully for infrequent watering, and they shrink greatly when not in use, which keeps them out of the way. Buyer beware: there are many of very low quality, which are not durable or long-lasting. Example pictured (branding intentionally omitted).

enter image description here

Fredric Shope
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I had a similar setup to your except I put 2" conduit under the hose bib and ran a standard garden hose through the conduit to hose reel which then has a 50' garden hose on it. I mounted the hose reel on the fence in the middle of the yard.

If you didn't need the hot water the other option is the yard hydrant.

yard hydrant

Fresh Codemonger
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CODE

You can not simply run regular garden hose back in the basement (it is considered permanent connection), and defiantly not connect it to retractable garden hose reel, you are asking for trouble.

Check the flexible hoses in you home, for washing machine for toilets and you will know.

Your outside options are: Lay a 1/2 inch sprinkler hose (come in black or brow) around the perimeter of the home. You can cosmetically bury it, or go deeper if you want to protect it from frost. Recommended to use SharkBite connectors.

Ruskes
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  • If you could, please cite the specific code. I think this answer would be the best deterrent for my proposed plan. – MonkeyZeus Jun 13 '22 at 13:00
0

device is on Amazon called Gardena buried hoses

enter image description here

So I found this I drew a little diagram copper pipe buried feeding to a threaded shark bite female adapter to screw on to the device is seem less I think made just for your questenter image description here a is there copper pipe buried feeding onto b the device from the house line which is c and d being the house![![enter preformatted text here][2]][2]

Dr. D
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    As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Jun 11 '22 at 06:29