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Desire

Have an outdoor garden hose which is not in the way/cumbersome and can reach the end of my property; 100 feet from the house.

On one side of the house there is a flower bed and having a hose reel outdoors is an eyesore.

I'm in Upstate NY.

Thought

Install a retractable garden hose in the basement and extend the nozzle to the exterior of my home.

enter image description here

Question

Aside from the hose bursting in the basement are there any other inherent risks or code violations with this idea?

I also welcome ideas about how to seal off the lower penetration which has the hose nozzle.

Assume the hose real mounting will be strong and secure between the floor joists.

MonkeyZeus
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5 Answers5

8

Problems with this plan aside from the possibility of the hose bursting:

  1. Without bursting, the hose reel will routinely drip water in the basement at all its junctions.
  2. The hose will not pull through the wall easily. In fact, it will eventually (probably the first time you use it) kink and get stuck. You'll need two people, one in the garden and one in the basement, to dispense and retract it each time you use it, and they will have to develop a ballet-like technique to finesse the hose through the wall
  3. Insects and rodents will enter the house through the hole in the wall, unless the hole is so well sealed that the hose will not pass through it even with the skilled guidance of two people.

Suggestion

If your only objection to having the hose outside is its appearance, use an irrigation valve box to contain the hose. You don't even need the reel. Just build a "hose pit" out of a $40 valve box. Relocate your bib to inside the pit, and snake up the hose in it.

jay613
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4

Frame challenge: This looks to me like an XY problem. Rather than worry about where to place unsightly hose reels, I suggest looking at ways others have successfully solved this issue.

Best suggestion, but possibly costly: sprinkler systems. There exist DIY poly pipe with push-fittings to connect small sprinklers to garden hose spigots. You can leave this in place if you drain and disconnect it during freezing seasons. If the stationary sprinklers are too visible, I'm sure pop-ups are available. This will also save you from having to spend time manually watering. If you already have a lawn sprinkler system, that's a bonus: add a zone for this flowerbed, install some sprinklers there. Example image shamelessly lifted from an Amazon product listing (no endorsement or recommendation implied)

enter image description here

Second, easier suggestion: get a hose that doesn't need a reel and doesn't look bad. Various colors are available that could blend in to your lawn or flowerbed mulch. I have also seen "expandable garden hoses" used successfully for infrequent watering, and they shrink greatly when not in use, which keeps them out of the way. Buyer beware: there are many of very low quality, which are not durable or long-lasting. Example pictured (branding intentionally omitted).

enter image description here

Fredric Shope
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2

I had a similar setup to your except I put 2" conduit under the hose bib and ran a standard garden hose through the conduit to hose reel which then has a 50' garden hose on it. I mounted the hose reel on the fence in the middle of the yard.

If you didn't need the hot water the other option is the yard hydrant.

yard hydrant

Fresh Codemonger
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CODE

You can not simply run regular garden hose back in the basement (it is considered permanent connection), and defiantly not connect it to retractable garden hose reel, you are asking for trouble.

Check the flexible hoses in you home, for washing machine for toilets and you will know.

Your outside options are: Lay a 1/2 inch sprinkler hose (come in black or brow) around the perimeter of the home. You can cosmetically bury it, or go deeper if you want to protect it from frost. Recommended to use SharkBite connectors.

DIY75
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0

device is on Amazon called Gardena buried hoses

enter image description here

So I found this I drew a little diagram copper pipe buried feeding to a threaded shark bite female adapter to screw on to the device is seem less I think made just for your questenter image description here a is there copper pipe buried feeding onto b the device from the house line which is c and d being the house![![enter preformatted text here][2]][2]

Dr. D
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