Using a garden hose as an air compressor hose

Begle1

Begle1

Active member
I'm considering using a high-quality garden hose instead of an air compressor hose because it's cheap per foot for the diameter.

Am I missing something? Why won't that work?
 
I used 3/4 pex to run from my house to the shop that way I can have more room in the shop/breaker panel and then I don't have to listen to it. It's rated at 160+ psi, which is more than I need. Garden hose, no. Even at water pressure which is 60 psi for me, I have a hard time keeping them together for more than a couple years. I couldn't imagine 120psi in one. What's the purpose of this hose?
 
I need like 150 feet to get from my air compressor to anywhere I might need it. I can get a 100' "5/8 inch 600 PSI heavy duty garden hose" for less than half of what I can get a 1/2" 300 PSI air hose for. So, like, why the hell don't I use the garden hose? Good garden hose has a higher psi rating than good air hose.

Cheap garden hoses fall apart after a couple years in the sun, I'm not sure if cheap air hose wouldn't as well but it's not usually in the sun. I've had good garden hoses laying in the side of the yard for years though that still look good.

They make "garden hose to NPT fittings".

I feel like I'm missing something.
 
I've never had a garden hose fitting seal water, let alone air. If it's a standard hose size I'd cut the ends off and put a good fitting on.

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chevota84 said:
I've never had a garden hose fitting seal water, let alone air. If it's a standard hose size I'd cut the ends off and put a good fitting on.

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Yeah, my plan is to buy a brand new hose and stick a brand new fitting on it and hope for the best.

Granted garden hoses usually get banged around in the mud for the majority of their life.
 
Northern tool has 50’ of 3/8 GoodYear air line that goes on sale for $20 around this time of year. You could buy three of those and two 1/8” NPT couplings to couple the hoses together. ~$70 seems reasonable to me for 150’.
 
I don't know why they sell garden hoses with 600 psi ratings but they're not that rare. I guess it's so you can shut it off with water in it and then drive it over with a pickup truck.

The cheapest ones I've seen say they're good for 200 psi and then the middle-grade ones hover around 300-450 psi. I wonder if garden hose psi is really that different from air hose psi.

TheBac said:
IMO, its just a bad idea all around.
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It seems like it'd be a bad idea to me too but I can't put my finger on why exactly. On paper it seems like it'd work. I don't see anything scaring me away from doing it yet.

Maybe the failure mode for a garden hose is different. Maybe they're oil sensitive. (No problem with a oil remover or oil free compressor.) Maybe it's just that the fittings they use suck. Whatever it is I'll probably find out the hard way.
 
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I've used high end garden hose with a 90# air Jack hammer and a pull behind compressor at 120 psi with no issues other than is gets cut easily.

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06 DIESEL said:
Fluid pressure and air pressure are two different things. Water is nearly incompressible and air is compressible.

What is the difference between atmospheric pressure and fluid pressure? - Quora

This is the same thing using PVC for air lines.

https://www.oshatraining.com/compressed-air-hose-water-hose-clamp-pvc-pipe-OSHA-violations.php
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I understand PVC's tendency to explode as more due to its rigidity. Do you think any sort of rubber hose would ever suddenly, catastrophically explode in a "blow out large chunks of shrapnel" type of way? (Without an extreme pressure spike, and as opposed to just splitting at its side when it's been bent one too many times.) Would a garden hose be constructed in a way to fail differently then an air hose?

I also don't see how a crimp-on connector with a water hose would be any different from a crimp-on connector from an air hose. As far as the connector is concerned, isn't pressure going to be pressure?


I wonder if there's a difference in desirability of "balloonability" between water and air hoses. A water hose you want to bulge when you drive over it, to absorb pressure spikes. But an air hose has no reason to bulge, if anything you want the pressure spikes to be transmitted through it. Bulk modulus and whatnot. So a non-bulging air hose would be more likely to fail if filled full of water and ran over with a car... But the water hose still shouldn't balloon too much if it's operating pressure isn't exceeded...

I really can't even find an OSHA statute that says it's against the rules, as long as the connectors are right. There's a lot of "general purpose" rubber hoses out there after all...
 
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I would think that a garden hose would eventually be compromised by trace amounts of oil in compressed air. I know you mentioned that earlier.
The higher temperature at the compressor outlet may be an issue also,so I'd look into something oil resistant at least.
 
ironmax said:
I've used high end garden hose with a 90# air Jack hammer and a pull behind compressor at 120 psi with no issues other than is gets cut easily.
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Great, first person I've met who as done it before. You the man.

How long did you use it for? Is that a common thing to do with jack hammers?
 
Begle1 said:
Great, first person I've met who as done it before. You the man.



How long did you use it for? Is that a common thing to do with jack hammers?
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We used it for 45 days straight and at least 12-14 hour days turning a 2 story bank vault into gravel. Had 3 hammers going. The compressor was my buddies, and he does irrigation. He had the garden hose on there for system winterizations. It's the basic ware and tear that kills them before the pressure does.

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In our current environment of air quality due to Global Warming and legalization of marijuana, the air would probably deteriorate the water hose prematurely. Our water isn't nearly as corrosive.
 
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