How To Connect Two Hoses Together

Expandable hoses are one of the most recent varieties of garden hoses. In most circumstances, these will cover your entire yard; however, you can either damage one or you have a large yard where you need to connect two garden hoses together.

You can connect any two hoses with standard hose connections on the ends, and what you are looking for is one male connector and one female connector. However, there may be a difference in the makes of hoses or a different sized connector or orientation to join two garden hoses together.

No matter what stops you from knowing how to connect two garden hoses, either you don’t have the right fittings, or you need to visit the local hardware store.

In our guide, you can learn how to take your water hose, connect a second without too much effort. By the end, even if you have a garden hose with two female ends, you’ll know what adapters you need to connect these garden hoses. (Read When To Remove Straw Blanket From New Grass)

Can I Connect Two Hoses Together?

Before making any purchases, try connecting the two hoses. If the specs are the same, you should be able to connect the two expandable hoses or attach expandable hoses to a normal garden hose that isn’t an expandable hose.

If the push-in connectors on your existing hose don’t work, you’ll need a push-in adapter with a threaded female end to correctly connect the two hoses.

All garden hoses typically come with a male and female hose thread connector. Cut it off and add a new one if it is missing or broken.

A connector comes with a barbed rod that slides into the hose, a male or female hose thread connection, and a crimp ring with screws to tighten it.

Making a Longer Hose By Joining Hoses

You’ll need to cut the damaged end of the two halves of your hose.

1. Use a utility knife to cut off the end of the hose and ensure the end of the hose is straight.
2. Check the hose’s end isn’t split, as this will cause connection problems once you turn on the water supply.
3. You’ll have to cut it and swap out both connectors if there is damage.
4. Continue to the following step once you’ve resolved both ends.

Prepare Your Hose

If you are using a vinyl garden hose, you’ll need to soften this before adding your new female or male connector. Immerse the end in hot water for a few minutes to make it pliable and easy to work with. If you have two hoses made of rubber, you can skip this step.

Install Your New Connector

To install the new connector, start by screwing it onto the hose. Make sure that you don’t cross-thread it, as this will leak when you connect two hoses together.

Fittings you can use will be:

• Compression fittings have an inner sleeve compressed over the pipe by hand-tightening a nut. The piping materials most frequently used with this fitting are copper, plastic PVC or chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC), and occasionally PE (polyethylene).
• Barbed fittings are simple to install manually but less reliable than compression fittings. This is because the male ends can easily be pulled from the ring on the female fitting in use. Because of this, tubing rather than hoses is typically used with this kind of connector.
• The threads on the inner surface of threaded fittings match the threads on the hose’s nipple. To attach them, wrap a piece of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) tape around the male end of the nipple threads, then screw the fitting into the female one.

Finish installing the compression fitting by hand-tightening the nut, supposing you are using one. To make it sufficiently tight, you might need to use a wrench.

How To Install a Connector On Your Hose?

If two garden hoses already have standard fittings, connecting them together is simple; just screw the male connector of one hose into the female connector of the other.

Any garden center will have the parts you need to fix both connection issues, and you can quickly adapt your hoses.

A barbed rod designed to fit inside a 3/4-, 5/8-, or 1/2-inch hose, a crimp ring with screws for tightening it, and a 3/4-inch male or female hose thread connection are all included with each connector.

To attach a connector to a hose:

1. Join the crimp ring around the hose’s end and attach the two pieces using the provided screws. A coupler, which comprises a barbed rod that fits inside both hoses and two rings for crimping each hose to the rod, can join them instead.
2. Remove the ring from the female connector to lock the two pieces together.

However, if joining hoses this way won’t work, you may need to cut some off and add new fittings to the end of the hose, or you have water hoses of different sizes.

Here’s more on how you get one end of the hose to connect to the end of another hose. The diameter of the interior of one hose should be measured first using a measuring tape.

You do this because buying the right size fitting is crucial because garden hoses can range in size. (Read Why Is My Lawn Full Of Flies)

For instance, two garden hoses may appear identical, while other garden hoses can be a size larger and come with a different-sized hose connector. Typically, your connector will include a barbed rod that fits inside a 3/4, 5/8, or 1/2-inch hose and a 3/4′′ male or female hose thread connection.

Here are the steps needed to connect two garden hoses with new fittings.

1. Using a utility knife, cut the fitting of one hose two inches from the old fitting.
2. To ensure that the hose’s end is flush with the connector, push the barbed rod as far into the hose as possible.
3. Tighten the crimp ring around the hose’s end to connect the two pieces.
4. Using a male and female connector is a simple method to connect hoses.
5. Now, your second hose should push it into the connector and lock it in place where the spring-loaded ring locks onto the barb of the connector in the other hose.

Alternative Solution Using Push-In Connectors

This might work better if you need a quick fix to your connection problems because the water flows from one hose. Purchase a pair of push-in female and male connectors from the local garden center, and from here, all you should need to do is screw them onto the existing hose connectors to snap the male connectors and female connectors together quickly.

Even though connecting two different garden hoses, such as a regular garden hose, to the end of two expandable garden hoses seems different. You’ll find even two expandable hoses of the same diameter or a different diameter; the process is the same as connecting a regular rubber hose or two garden hoses together.

The ideal parts will work for your fittings. The simplest method is to buy a pair of push-in connect (quick-connect) adapters of the correct size. If one of your old connectors is broken or chipped, or if your hose leaks, repeat the following instructions to install a new one before connecting the two hoses.

Installing and Using Quick Connectors

Another simple alternative is to purchase a pair of male and female quick-connect adapters and bolt them to the existing hose connectors. Once you’ve installed these connectors, joining the hoses is straightforward:

1. Return the spring-loaded ring on the female connector first.
2. Next, connect it by inserting the male connector into the female one.
3. Lock the two components together, then release the ring on the female connector.
4. To separate the hoses, use the opposite method of attachment.
5. Finally, unscrew and remove the quick-connect adapters to return to the standard hose connections.
6. With conventional fittings for the garden hose thread, screw the male connector of one hose into the female connector of the other hose connector to join two garden hoses.

If either or both hoses lack screw-on connectors, joining them can be challenging. In addition, if they don’t fit properly, the two halves can leak under water pressure.

FAQs

Is my garden hose a 3/4 NPT?

Garden hose fittings, concerning the thread (GHT), are 3/4” diameter straight thread with an 11.5 TPI pitch on one end and tapered NPT on the other (National Pipe Thread).

What is the standard garden hose fittings size?

Most standard garden hoses in the USA are 5/8 inch in diameter.

What is a female hose connector?

Garden hose connections are made using a male/female thread connection, and you’ll need one of each of the requisite screw-on connectors to connect garden hoses together with standard fittings.

The technical term for this arrangement is “hose union.” FHT stands for the female thread, and MHT stands for the male thread. Hoses with diameters of 1/2 inch, 5/8 inch, and 3/4 inch can be used with this fitting.

Note: never measure the outside diameter, as this will cause a connection problem as it isn’t the correct size for your fittings. In addition, you require the requisite screw-on connectors, which should have the same diameter as your typical garden hoses.

Note that two male connectors won’t fit together, like two halves comprising female connectors won’t connect. (Read Difference Between Topsoil And Lawn Soil)

Are garden hose connectors the same size?

The internal dimensions of the hose determine the size of the fittings. Therefore, fittings with a 3/4 internal diameter straight (non-tapered) and 11.5 thread pitch are commonly known as 3/4-11.5NH or 5/8-11.5NH.

GHT and National Pipe Tapered NPT cannot interact. Each new connector set should include a 3/4-inch male or female hose thread connection, a barbed rod designed to fit inside a 3/4-, 5/8- or 1/2-inch hose and crimp ring, and screws provided to hold all this in position.