Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Product sources Help with improve flow through garden hose

Hello,
This is a bit off topic, but yet someone here must have some experience and can help me. Currently in my garage I have a frost free water spigot that has a single handle control. It is a round knob that you rotate right and left to balance hot vs cold and you pull the knob out to get variable amount of flow. It is a neat concept and I love how you can set the temp mix and always keep it set there.

The problem is that I seem to have reduced flow volume through the valve. When I need to pump a lot of water through that spigot I'm wondering how to improve things.

Options...
1. The basement leading to this spigot is open so should I run bigger pex lines to the back of a new faucet? My limited research suggests that all faucets are the same, 3/4" feed, 1/2" exit. Or is there a 1" feed and does it make sense to upsize the PEX to the back of this faucet? Reminder, it has to stay frost free. My garage is heated but I don't always run the heater if temps are right around freezing mark.

2. If limiting factor is not the line feeding the spigot, then is there a single handle control that will give more flow? Some have mentioned using a shower control valve to set temp and then another line down to a standard frost free spigot, but will I still have same flow issues?

3. Install a hot and cold separate spigot and connect via Y shaped hose. Will this improve flow as two spigots are feeding at once? I have to disconnect this faucet anyway as the plumbers put unsoftened cold and softened hot to the spigot and I want both to be soft water as I use this spigot to wash things and don't want water spots.

4. I experimented with upsizing my hose to the inudustrial red rubber 3/4" hose, maybe a bit of improvement. Do they make 1" hoses and I can downsize the fittings on the female/hookup end to 1/2"?

Thanks in advance!

I use a frost free for our hot tub that has a 1" main feeding it. Then it drops to 1/2" through the tap. I then go back to 3/4" for the hose. This fills our hot tub after a water change twice as fast as the 1/2" to 1/2" to 1/2".

My guess is that the water being restricted to 1/2" at the tap is speeding up through the tap keeping the volume of flow way up.

I came off our convertible pump at 1 1/4" down to 1" to the frost free tap. I did this so that I had non water softened water going to the tub straight from the well.

Doing this would fill out hot tub 1200L in an hour. First fill after the change I over filled the tub expecting to be able to leave it for two hours easy.

Cheers Don.

Don,
Exactly what I'm thinking I'd like to do. I know when I flood the pond in the winter that I'm using a 1 and 1/2" fire hose and the feed line to the outdoor hydrant is 1 1/2" The restriction is in the adapter from 1/2" on the hydrant back to 1 1/2" but the flow still is awesome.

So can you explain to me again how you got a 1" feed to 1/2" through tap in a frost free? Where can I but a 1" frost free?

Frost free tap. Here is a 3/4" frost free. The standard 1/2" frost free is what I used. I would run the 3/4" if your going to buy a new one. Make sure you have a backwards slope into the house on the frost free when installing it.

Not sure if you can get a 1" frost free but you never know. Not sure if the 3/4" flows more then a 1/2" but the fitting on the inside will be 1" and will eliminate one extra part when hooking up the 1" line.

Cheers Don.

Thanks Don, so the PEX feed line to the backside (inside) of this frost free tap is 1" PEX or 3/4" pex?

The feed goes from 1 1/4" to 1" right at the pump. The 1" black plastic red line, goes right to the back side of the tap where I reduce it down to 1/2". The hose off the tap outside is 3/4". The narrowest restriction is where the water comes out of the tap where you would attach the hose.

I can shoot some pictures.

0353 shows the T placed right off the pump. The other line runs to my pressure tank.

0354 shows the 1" to 1/2" adapter in line from the black pipe to the frost free.

Looking closer now the frost free looks to be 3/4" going in. The galvanize fitting looks to be 1" to 3/4" and the frost free turned right into the fitting. If you look at the outlet of any garden hose tap they are no more then 1/2" where your hose hooks on in the brass casting.

Cheers Don.

EDIT: took pictures with my phone and they seem to be turned sideways.

Here's another option if the basement is unfinished.

Run 3/4" or 1" line. You can use PVC if you want because if done this way it won't freeze.

Before it goes outside, put a full flow shut off valve in the line, like a ball valve. Then on the pond side of the shutoff valve, but still inside the house put a "T" and a hose spigot, and have the one leg of the "T" pointed down. The other leg of the spigot goes out thru the wall to another full flow shutoff.

To make it "frost free", just turn off the water going outside, unhook the hose, leave the outside valve open and drain the pipe going thru the wall outside via the hose spigot inside the house. No water to freeze in the line outside then.

Dad did this to the water running to the garage in the house that I grew up in. He had both hot and cold water out there to wash the salt off of the cars during the winter. The garage was 30' from the house and not attached. He never had a problem with the pipe freezing.

Great advice esshup. I'll look into that. Only downside would be every time you use the hose in the garage you have to go downstairs and shut and drain in the winter months.

If I can get the 3/4" frost free silcock setups, and then do a separate hot and cold (both softened water) then make sure the feed lines are 3/4" we should have awesome flow. The only limiter would be the 'Y' shaped mix hose and the garden hose attached.

I like my current moen mixer as it gives a very easy visual on how hot or cold it is and the setting 'stays' as long as you are careful when you push in and pull out the flow you don't twist the heat adjuster at the same time.

I'm going to ask my plumber about putting a shower mixing valve in somehow above the spigot but all the mixing valves for showers that I see have 1/2" outlet, some have 3/4" inlet so maybe that would still work. Not sure since the mixer is in the wall if it would freeze. I guess i could insulate all around the pipes/mixer valve and try to open up the wall space that comes from basement up to that 'bay' between studs to warm it.

This is how the sink in my garage is plumbed as well.

Bill don't you get sick of going in the basement, turning on the valve, using the sink, going back down in the basement and opening the valve to drain the pipe everytime you use it in cold weather? Or am I missing something? Self draining would help me (also for the times when I forget to drain it manually)

How often do you use the water in the winter in the garage?