Sanitary hoses

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Anywhere you can use PVC pipe, you will be better off than hose. If you have straight runs, make it PVC. You can get PVC pipe to hose barbs for transitions. Don't use 90* elbows, but if you can make turns with 30-45* elbows, or a couple of them in series, then use those. If you have runs that you can't get pipe into, then use couplers on shorter sections.

You need to "soft couple" pvc pipe to anything rigid (toilet, tank, thru-hull etc) using about a foot of hose to have a connection that won't leak. Hard pipe couplers will.

And while I have the floor...None of y'all know how to do the rag test on hoses correctly. You need to use hot wet rags and they' only need to remain on the hoses till the rags cool.

Use a separate clean rag for every section of hose. Wet each rag in HOT water--as hot as you can handle...wring it out and wrap it around a section of hose. Repeat, repeat till all sections of hose have been wrapped.When all rags have cooled, remove one at a time and smell it. If you can't smell ANY thing on that rag, that section hasn't permeated...if you can, it has. No odor doesn't guarantee tjat any section of hose is worth keeping, though...age matters too. Because rubber and plastics dry out over time, becoming hard, brittle and prone to cracking and splitting...making 10 years the average working life of any hose. So even if they don't stink, it's a good idea to start thinking about replacing any hoses that are over 8 years old.

--Peggie

--Peggie