Why Garden Hoses Burst And How To Prevent It

My wife grabbed our hose to start watering her outdoor raised beds and was surprised to find that the water pressure was significantly worse than she remembers. I get called out back and shown that instead of watering just the plants she was also inadvertently watering the side of the house as well from a burst side of our hose. Looks like another trip to Lowes, but lets get a hose that won’t burst this time.

Why do hoses burst? Hoses burst from an increase in pressure that causes weak points in the hose to develop and burst. This pressure can build up due to frozen water in the hose or a degradation of the material the hose is made of due to adverse conditions(ie heat, animals, weathering, etc).

There are several reasons a garden hose bursts and several ways to stop it from bursting. Below we will talk about those reasons, a few options to stop this from happening and options for the different hoses out there.

Reasons Garden Hoses Burst

Water Pressure

Every hose has a rated pressure generally ranging from about 200 to 500 psi(pounds per square inch). This effectively means that one square inch of material has the strength to hold a fully grown man…or several. These large numbers, however, cannot always compensate for the pressure fluctuations that occur in a hose. Normally your home water pressure can vary between 40 and 60psi but, with modifications, some homes see as high as 75-100psi. People don’t always think of the repercussions of doing this, but a burst garden hose would be the worst of your problems.

You may ask how a garden hose can burst when its rated pressure is 200psi on the lower end of hoses. Pressure fluctuations can occur do to home modifications or changes in flow from city water that can cause spikes. At times expanding developments will experience lower water pressure from an increased demand due to new homes. The contractors will compensate for this by not replacing all of the pluming(very costly) but by simply turning up the water pressure. When all of a sudden too many people stop using water your little hose will receive the brunt of the pressure.

This is not necessarily the main cause of this happening as the hose can also be weakened causing the wall to not be able to withstand normal water pressure. We will talk about reasons this happens below.

Heat

Hoses are made up generally of two major materials(not the only ones): Vinyl or Rubber. Both of these can degrade when left out in the weather, particularly the heat and sun. Lets talk about them separately.

This article by the Journal of Taibah University for Science describes how vinyl chloride can undergo photooxidative degradation that can lead to deterioration of the mechanical properties of the material. Whuuuuuut? That basically means that the stuff that your garden hose is made up of(if you have a vinyl garden hose) will begin to break down when exposed to UV rays of the sun. The polymers that hold the material together can also begin to break down when exposed to these types of environment. Weaker material = lower strength.

Rubber can actually undergo a similar type of weakening called oxidative degradation as you can see in this article written from the combination of several peer reviewed papers. Normally this causes the rubber to become more brittle or softer depending on the type of rubber(polybutadiene vs polyisoprene if you must know). This again leads to the same equation we saw above. Weaker material = lower strength. Although rubber hoses are normally of a higher quality and longer lasting.

Animals

Depending on the animal they may be testing out your hose as new food or just to sharpen their teeth on, but some common offenders are chipmunks, ground hogs, rabbits and others depending on your area. If you think that this might be your problem then you likely have some other symptoms that indicate the presence of a particular type of animal.

If you can see them then that is easy enough, but often times these animals are scarce of humans but leave small holes in your yard. If this is the case than check out this article I wrote about how to identify the animals that are burrowing in your backyard.

Freezing

If you leave your hose charged with water in the dead of winter, or even in the fall or spring depending on where you live, than you run the risk of bursting your hose due to water freezing and either building up back pressure or due to the expansion of ice(the later is significantly more likely).

Water expands approximately 9% when it is fully frozen, as described in this article by the International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam. Your hose is absolutely full when your faucet is opened. The water rushes in and occupies every void and there is no stopping it when it starts to expand.

Protect Your Hoses

Home Pressure and Pressure Regulators

When it comes to regulating pressure from RVers have been dealing with this problem for a hot second. The pressure at various campsites differ so much and sometimes the materials used in campers is not quite up to snuff. It is terrible to have to use a pressure reducer. Your water will go half the distance and will flow at less than half the rate. Instead use a pressure regulator (like this one on Amazon) that will allow you to more precisely control the psi of the water coming out of your faucet.

Hose Care

This comes more into account when you are using cheaper hoses. A cheaper hose is not bad, but only for specific purposes as you can expect it to last significantly less time. There are exceptions however, my expandable hose has lasted going on three years(definitely an anomaly as they normally last a few months). Below is an easy 3 step list of things to do to make sure that your hose does not burst on your.

Always depressurize your hose…even if only for a matter of minutes
Turn off your spicket or use a shut off valve or a 2 way Y split valve if you still need flow to other areas.
Role up your hose when your done using it, or at least minimize the time it is sitting in the sun.

Those three things will save your 80% of the heart ache, but the other 20% comes from the use of additional measure such as the regulating valves. Another very important thing to remember is that when it cold enough to freeze the water in your hose(32 Fahrenheit, 0 Celsius, or 273.15 Kelvin for those that desire to know) you have to let all the water out of your hose and allow your outdoor faucet to drip. Thats a waste of water you say…I guess you haven’t lived in the north for long.

More Durable Hoses

Yes, some applications call for a cheap vinyl hose, but some call for heavy duty rubber contractor hoses. Yes there are still some downsides to purchasing these strong hoses, mainly the price tag. They can, however, provide some of the longest lasting use of all the options out there. This generally comes with a price tag closer to $40 to north of $100, but it will last you 10x as long as some of them definitely do, it is well worth it.

Choosing Your Hose

The questions you need to ask yourself when your deciding which hoses or hoses to buy have to do with what you will be using them for. Here is a good way to think about it.

Light Use – Periodically watering bushes, washing off patio, filling kids pool, light yard use – cheaper vinyl hose or retractable hose is fine. Just maker sure that when you are done you follow the steps above and it will last you a good while.

Medium Use – Garden watering, semi permanent irrigation for garden or raised bed, daily watering of yard or plants, out for extended periods of time in the weather and sun – strong rubber hoses. It will absolutely pay you back putting out good money to get a good hose so you are not purchasing a new one every month or two.

Heavy Use – Permanent landscaping use or installation in the weather, use for contractor or professional applications – industrial grade rubber hoses. Do many use every day rubber hoses, yes. Will it serve you in the long run to go with the best of the best? Only you know your business that well and if you not following the math to find what is most profitable and easiest for you, then you need too.