Has anyone tried running their 3/8 whip-line through their hose-reel? Sounds like a pain I know, but there are two reasons why I’d like to do it: 1. Performance - I notice a slight performance drop when the water passes through the 1/2" hose reel rather than the consistent 3/8" line. 2. Less wear on the reel - I notice a little rust every morning when I fire up the machine, and I’m hoping that having a whip-line that I can replace every now and then will increase the longevity of my reels. May be this is just a terrible idea but I’m curious if anyone has plumbed their reels to maintain the 3/8".
what? my lines have always been 3/8" from machine to reel to gun
The plumbing inside your hose reel is 3/8"? Which hose reels do you have? I have steel eagle, and GP
well no the plumbing INSIDE isn’t 3/8". I run titan reels. I must’ve misunderstood. you mean you want to cut your reels open and shrink the interior diameter and rethread the openings for 3/8"?
No problem, it would have been easier to understand if I’d posted with pics. No not shrink the inner diameter and rethread, just run a 3/8 whip-line through the 1/2" opening.
like physically take a 3/8" hose and push it through your hose reel so it sticks out the other end?
that sounds like a bad idea if not an impossible one.
You’re probably right there. I’m just trying to see if anyone has either found a hose reel with 3/8” plumbing or has found a way to work around the 1/2” plumbing inside these reels.
No sense in reinventing the wheel. Buy good reels and they’ll last for years.
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Not with my PW reel but I’m working on that with my soft wash reel. If it works ya’ll will be the first to know. nylon swivel too…
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GP makes a really cheap reel that works exactly how you’re describing. It’s junk. And it relies on a really weird, proprietary swivel with 3/4” external and 3/8” internal threads, which is nearly impossible to find replacements for when it inevitably starts leaking.
OTOH, Gorilla Reels makes a “manifold-less” reel for the soft washing industry that’s quite robust. But it’s all low pressure plumbing, so not workable for pressure washing.
Just use a good stainless 1/2” reel. If you’re worried about pressure loss issues, upgrade to all 1/2” plumbing between your pump and reel. But that should only be a concern if you are running 8+ gpm.
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Steel Eagle makes a hose reel with all 3/4" internals. I bought it for my garden hose to supply my tank.
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I have one that I use on my staining trailer that uses 3/8" poly. It’s 10 yrs old and still works great. I just don’t know if I can get the 1/2" Kuritek through the bends. It’s supposed to be raining all next week so I will have some time to play with it.
