We bought this useless hose nozzle from Home Depot. It leaked from the first moment we used it. Look carefully and you will see the stream (not a drip or 2, a stream) of water leaking from the on lever (by the hoophouse hoops). It makes me CRAZED that we cannot find a good quality, non leaky hose nozzle.
The brass one seen filling the rain barrel is an excellent solid brass nozzle. We found it buried in the garden. We
replaced the washer and it works great. Far better than the brand-new Home Depot “Signature Series” nozzle. (Signature series? Was there any product testing involved here? Surely not or they wouldn’t have named it signature series. Would they?)
The brass twist nozzle was probably made 20 years ago –it has to be at least 8 years old since we bought the house in 2001 and we didn’t lose it in the garden. Oh, and we found it last year, so it was buried at least 7 years.
I love good tools, but it is getting more and more difficult to find them. Earlier this week I broke my beloved Snow & Neally trowel –the weld holding the blade to the handle failed while I was dividing a hosta. I was crushed. Dan gave me a set of Snow & Neally garden tools several years ago, and I LOVE them. The set included a Cape Cod weeder, a 3 tine weeding fork, and the trowel. I added a narrow bulb trowel a few years later. They were made in Maine, but, apparently they no longer make gardening tools.
If you have suggestions for a good quality hose nozzle, or trowel, please share the details, as I need one of each. And a good garden sprinkler, too. I had a really great solid metal one, but unfortunately, my dad ran over it with the car many years ago. Sigh. It probably would still be working.
April 30, 2008 at 2:41 am
I feel your pain and it seems to be a common theme for anybody gardening. What is the problem with inventing a decent sprayer? I’ve gone through two already this young season. They leak. Or spray too hard. Or too light. Or not at all. Or they just break.
We should all form a group and offer a reward for the person who invents the magical, affordable, durable, sprayable nozzle.
April 30, 2008 at 6:39 am
Ugh! Doesn’t it just drive you nuts! My new nozzles leak too. I had to add a shut off valve between the nozzle and hose on each one. Cheap cheap cheap. I love the old fashioned brass nozzles but they don’t work in the greenhouses so I’m stuck with these.
April 30, 2008 at 6:48 am
I know what the problem is. The problem with making a decent sprayer is that we would all buy one, or three, and no more. End of profitability.
Robin, you can’t even buy the old fashioned brass ones anymore, at least I didn’t see any. And really, how much time shopping (not my favorite pastime in general) do I want to spend looking for a nozzle when I could be in the garden! ARGH! We have shut offs on each hose, and we did buy some good brass quick connect couplers from Gardener’s Supply, but even finding a decent shut off valve is a challenge. Everything is made of plastic, grrr.
I’ll continue my search, and report back if I find something useful.
April 30, 2008 at 8:02 am
Hi Ali! Do I have a fabulous trowel/digging/hoe hand tool for you to get! Out of the half dozen or so trowels I have it’s by far my most favorite. It’s a hand forged design that I was a gift from a friend purchased in a Hudson Valley gift shop. I’ll get more details for you soon.
April 30, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Hi Ali,
Try Smith & Hawkins (http://www.smithandhawken.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=prod114873&categoryId=cat240049p)
or Ace Hardware has a simple brass nozzle for around $8.
You can still buy good tools, they’re just very expensive.
Good Luck.
April 30, 2008 at 6:06 pm
If you have a tame welder, or know anyone who does, you can probably get the trowel fixed. Many vocational schools have welding classes for both adults and teens- that might be one place to look.
April 30, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Make sure you take the crap one back.
May 1, 2008 at 6:46 am
Thanks, all for the suggestions. Amanda, I love the idea of a tame welder — is that like having a tame tiger? Could I keep it in the barn? ;-) Good call, though, I might be able to get it fixed if I ask around. Louise, I’d love to hear more about your trowel. And believe me, I’ll be taking the leaky one back to Home Despot. I hate the big box stores but it was convenient — or so I thought at the time, grr.
Ali
May 1, 2008 at 10:40 am
I’m not psychic but I’m guessing it was made in China! Pay more and buy something better from a smaller shop. Though more and more their stuff is also made in China.
May 1, 2008 at 11:28 am
I would definately email them…I emailed them about a problem, and they sent me a 25.00 gift card for my aggravation. Candace is right…try smith and hawken..GOOD LUCK!
May 9, 2008 at 1:06 am
Ali, I can sympathize totally. I had the same problem with a sledge hammer that I bought at home depot; totally useless crud! By the way I also have an old brass sprayer that I found at my last house and have carefully kept it for years. I don’t know if they acually ever sold them in stores?? I think maybe they just sprinkled them around old homes and hoped we’d find them. LOL
Best of luck.
P~
May 9, 2008 at 10:50 am
Thanks, Catherder for the suggestion to e-mail Home depot. I received a $20 gift card in response to my complaint, which I will use when I return the nozzle.
P~ too bad we can’t propagate those old brass nozzles!
Ali
August 12, 2008 at 11:17 pm
My mom bought this same nozzle and it broke within a week. I’m really glad to find other people blogging about these cruddy nozzles. They really should do some more product testing before they release these things.
September 7, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I have acquired 3 absolutely superb brass hose nozzles (USA mfgd) @ my local antique flea market. Business days are Wed/Sat/Sun. I don’t believe I’ve paid more than $2.00 for any of them. I suspect they will last many more years. All I need do is replace the rubber washer @ the start of each season. By the way, I have discovered that the green plastic washers are a tad undersized & consequently the nozzle leaks. Get the larger red or black rubber ones! They seal quite nicely! You may have to search for them, but not @ Lowe’s or the Homely Depot.
October 23, 2008 at 9:26 pm
It’s amazing how bad nozzles have gotten.
I had a True Value nozzle that I had high hopes for — it was largely stainless steel. Well it failed because inside it they used a normal steel screw! Arggghhh!
November 3, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I found the best hose nozzle I’ve purchased yet. I got mine on Target.com, but you can also get them online here…
http://www.raypadulaonline.com/consumerproducts/onlinestore/nozzles/seriesr/default.html
They are Thumb Control in other words there are no triggers – pretty cool. I also got one called “Jumbo Blast” which is indestructible for around $12.