Air Hose?

BigPapa

BigPapa

Truckless
Somebody please tell me what air hose to buy. There appear to be three basic materials, rubber, PVC, and “hybrid”. I’m looking for a 50’ 3/8” hose for an upright mobile oil-less compressor we use for airing up tires, nailers, and occasionally an impact and air ratchet. The hose we had was stiff, especially when it’s cold, and hard to get to coil up. I think it’s PVC.

I bought a hybrid that’s really flexible. It rolled up nice and neat on the hooks, but when you connect it to the compressor, it twists up BAD. So, I unrolled it thinking if I rolled it up while it’s pressurized it would lay flat. Nope, same twist.

Do I need to get the rubber? I’d love to get a reel but just can’t swing a good one right now and I refuse to by junk.
 
Flexzilla, looks like shit after they get dirty but stay flexible and hold up good

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk
 
x2 on flexzilla. I have a 1/2" hose exactly like you described, always twisted and about to go in the dumpster. No matter what you try it will not coil up to hang.
 
Goodyear or continental also makes some good hose, but it's not cheap.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk
 
I run flexillas in my shop. The only negative is they have very poor heat resistance. The ID is closer to 7/16” than 3/8” so repairing them sucks. If you don’t have heat (torch or grinder sparks) near or around them they work great, the ends seem to hold up as long as you treat them decent.
 
Allow me to take this opportunity to report that my 100' long 5/8" garden hose is a year old and performing perfectly fine. Stiff as Larry King but damn good flow for the price.
 
I run flexzilla as well. Can't remember if it's the real deal or the harbor freight knockoff but going in 5 years and still going strong. As said earlier they look absolutely terrible because they are dirt magnets but perform well.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
1/4" polyurethane has taken over the construction world... At least when people are using air nailers.

Super tough, light, flexible even when cold.
 
I run rubber good year hoses. 1/4 and 3/8.
Northern tool has 3/8” 50’ hoses on sale for $20 a few times a year. Milton couplers and keep a bag of the rubber washers on hand when couplers start leaking. Though I might try some Dixon couplers.

A customer of mine has a few harbor freight hose reels for general shop use. I’m amazed at the retract strength. Almost like a reel craft in comparison on the retract. Not sure about hose life.
I bought a good year hose reel few years back for dad and it needs assistance the last 10’ or so when coiling up.
 
Red Sleeper said:
I run rubber good year hoses. 1/4 and 3/8.
Northern tool has 3/8” 50’ hoses on sale for $20 a few times a year. Milton couplers and keep a bag of the rubber washers on hand when couplers start leaking. Though I might try some Dixon couplers.

A customer of mine has a few harbor freight hose reels for general shop use. I’m amazed at the retract strength. Almost like a reel craft in comparison on the retract. Not sure about hose life.
I bought a good year hose reel few years back for dad and it needs assistance the last 10’ or so when coiling up.
Click to expand...
You can add wraps of hose to get more tension on the recoil spring so it'll retract the whole way. Hard to explain but if you look it up I'm sure you can find something that'll explain it better.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk
 
In a lot of situations it'll work, but there's plenty of times it won't. A lot of times we get to nail 1 3/4" LVLs together for beams. You can get 2 or 3 nails in before it starts leaving them proud on a 1/4" hose. Same thing running a coil gun with 2 3/8" nails for shear walls.
 
Good point. I'm not nailing LVL's on a regular basis. Sounds like you are doing more production framing. I'm just a after hours on the side framing nailer user.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top