# Hose pipe



## MorrisMotorhome (Mar 4, 2009)

I would like to buy a hose pipe for my motorhome, compact for storage and probably 15 - 25 metres long.

I would be grateful if anyone could recommend a good product.


----------



## Marilyn (Nov 5, 2009)

Hi MorrisMotorhome

We bought this spiral hosepipe from Outdoor Bits

http://www.outdoorbits.com/food-quality-spiral-hose-spiralux-p-814.html

and are very pleased with it.

Quite a few people say they don't like this and prefer the flat type on a reel. We've used one of those on a boat and we prefer the spiral one so I guess it's down to personal preference.

If space is really tight I think the flat type on a reel may occupy just a tad less space but there won't be much in it.

The really important thing, as far as I can gather, is that you must buy a food grade hose.

Hope this helps

Edited to add: the maximum length of the spiralux hose is 15m so, if it's important to have up to 25m this isn't the product for you.


----------



## Hobbyfan (Jul 3, 2010)

You would be better off with two. A short hose for when the tap is right next to the 'van as on many sites there's a motor-home service point where you can drive alongside the tap.

I then have one of those flat, wind up hoses that take up no space at all and it's 25 metres long, used for when I can't get near to a tap, but having the short hose means that I seldom have to go to the trouble of unwinding it.

You will get lots of opinion about whether or not you should use a 'food grade hose' which is special plastic where there's no chance of toxins leaching from the material.

This is definitely a very subjective opinion with some thinking them necessary and others not, and who knows who's right!

Personally, I use normal hoses but, before putting the end in the filler, I make sure that water has run through it for a minute or so to flush out any stale water that may be lurking there.


----------



## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

I would go for the type of flat hose that is made of plastic and has three narrow tubes running through it.

The flat fabric covered polythene inner ones are a real pain to wind up.

Oh, and have a short length (couple of metres) of ordinary hose for use as suggested above.

And a host of different Hozelock type connections and tap adapters.

When I die I will ensure that a post-mortem is carried out to determine whether the cause of death was a build-up of toxins leaching out of the non food grade hose that we use!


----------



## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

Actually, I would have to arrange that before I die!


----------



## grizzlyj (Oct 14, 2008)

We have 5m and 25m of food grade stuff. The 25m is on a normal hosereel so is quite bulky, but you don't have to unroll it all if you only need a bit of it. 

Two spiral wound types seem a good idea, the only experience of these from other manufacturers is they always leak, but maybe not the ones mentioned above!?


----------



## gibbo (May 1, 2005)

Just don't use it when there's a hose pipe ban on :lol: :lol: :lol:


----------



## Mick757 (Nov 16, 2009)

The connectors are the deal breaker. You want enough to cover any eventuality with what the tap end looks like. Also, with the flat hoses, its all or nowt with the length. Envisage carefully winding up the 25 metres in a monsoon, trying to make sure no bits of crap stick to it, or there are no twists or kinks as its winding.


----------



## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

We use an ordinary hose and we carry a long one and a very short one.
Also we carry a watering can and we tend to use this much more than the hose.
Maybe because we wild and use Aire's mainly and we top up where ever we can and never let the tank get empty.
The watering can is indispensable to us.


----------



## LPDrifter (Aug 17, 2005)

I started off with this product:

http://www.outdoorbits.com/20m-flat-food-quality-cassette-hose-p-574.html

It is a good product and takes up very little space in your storage area.
However it does take a long time to uncoil it fully, which you have to
do when you want to fill your tank. It also takes a while to completely
expel all the water out of it so you can rewind it back into its cassette.

I bought a 10 meter garden hose while in Spain for a few euro and
I use this most of the time now.

A few times I have actually joined the two together to reach a tap 
which was more than 20 meters away.

You will also need all kinds of tap connectors as well. I think I must
have about 10 or 12 connector gadgets - stuff like threaded tap 
connectors, adapters, hozel connectors etc. Especially if you are
travelling on continent you find a wide variety of threads on 
taps. The garden centre in a store like Homebase will provide most of these
although I bought a few connectors in France & Spain.

I also have a 10 litre plastic water container with spout and have used this to 
fill or top up the tank. Some people use the garden watering can
with long spout. This is useful if you find yourself on a campsite
where the water supply is much longer away than your longest hose
and you don't want to move your motorhome on a very crowded 
campsite.


----------



## aultymer (Jun 20, 2006)

Because space is not a problem we have a standard 25Metre garden hose reel . This has a short connector to the tap and you just unroll as much as you need. For distant taps we also have a flat hose reel (can't remember the length!) which we can join to the garden reel and sometimes saves moving the van just to fill water. The flat hose is no problem to rewind so long as you squeeze the water out of it.
We also carry almost every type of tap connector known to man and have used all of them at least once.
Have never used food grade hose since the water is not in it long enough to cause problems for us. You would always flush it out before use anyway - wouldn't you?


----------



## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Mick757 said:


> The connectors are the deal breaker. You want enough to cover any eventuality with what the tap end looks like. Also, with the flat hoses, its all or nowt with the length. Envisage carefully winding up the 25 metres in a monsoon, trying to make sure no bits of crap stick to it, or there are no twists or kinks as its winding.


Exactly Mick, and that's why we have a watering can and don't use a hose except at home when filling up ready to go. :wink:

Oh no . . . . more controversy on the way!! 8O

"_You don't travel with a full tank do you. We never do_". :roll:

_"You don't use a garden hose to fill up do you. Think of all the poisons that leach into the water."_ :roll: :roll:

Dave :lol:


----------



## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

We have a long hose with different attachments on board which we did use when we first started motorhoming.

Never use it now as we prefer the KISS principle and just use 2 cheapo [email protected] watering cans and fill up every time we visit the shower block. :wink:


----------



## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

wakk44 said:


> Never use it now as we prefer the KISS principle and just use 2 cheapo [email protected] watering cans and fill up every time we visit the shower block. :wink:


Spot on Steve. 

A shower and a pee each every day and the tank is always topped up. :wink:

Much easier than all the bother of moving the van and wrestling with a hose - then cleaning the crud off it to put it away.

Then you have to get the van level again . . . . 8O

Dave


----------



## Hobbyfan (Jul 3, 2010)

Zebedee said:


> Much easier than all the bother of moving the van and wrestling with a hose - then cleaning the crud off it to put it away.
> Dave


Agreed and I too use a watering can when we're not moving but, when we leave the site a hose is very handy for filling up at the MH service point, whilst dumping the grey at the same time of course. My 100 litre tank can take some filling if we've both showered etc.

And of course if you fill up at the service point you just need a short length!

Hoses for courses!


----------



## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Hobbyfan said:


> My 100 litre tank can take some filling if we've both showered etc.


Ours is 120 litres (_so there!_ 8O ) but as long as we remember to take the can to the toilet block (or tap) a couple of times per day that always seems to keep it topped up.

Maybe you are cleaner than us . . . although you did say, "_*If *we've both showered_!" 8O :lol:



Hobbyfan said:


> And of course if you fill up at the service point you just need a short length!


Speak for yourself!! 8O



Hobbyfan said:


> Hoses for courses!


Aaarrrggggghhhhhhhhh - that's even worse than my jokes!!

Dave :lol:


----------



## barryd (May 9, 2008)

I like the look of the sprial hose, cheers for the link. Pity its only 15 metres though. I have a 5 metre plastic food grade hose and I stuffed a sandard tap thread type thing in it an it works fine. I also have a 25 metre roll up flat hose which is a pain in the neck. I recently replaced our old solid roll up hose with the flat one. Its horrid though and despite the old one not effecting the taste of the water this roll up flat one does. Water tastes horrid, dont suppose it will do us any harm though but I want a long food grade replacement thats easy to store.

I find that nearly all the taps here and in most of Europe have the standard thread type so we just carry the one connecter and also a blue rubber thing which fits over the hose and tap in a kind of "one size fits all" way. You usually have to hold it over the tap but it does work on any tap.


----------

