I recently purchased a watering wand so watering my plants near the base of the plant and not over the leaves is much easier without having the bend down. My outdoor faucet is currently connected to a 100ft long garden hose so that I can reach the raised bed in the far end of my backyard. I connected the watering wand but only have enough water pressure for the spray for a couple seconds when opening the valve on the wand. If I keep the valve open the water just runs out of the spray nozzle instead of forming a spray. Is there a maximum recommended hose length with a watering wand?
Sounds like a poorly designed water breaker on the end of the wand. I run 300 feet of hose and get a good spray with normal 40-60psi pressure switch on my well tank.
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This is the watering wand I purchased.
What’s the diameter of your hose? Also some the wands do not have a full flow valve so cuts the water flow per minute too much.
Sounds like a water pressure issue.
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I am running 100 ft of hose and pretty cheap water wands and have no problems with pressure.
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Same
I think it may be the hose collapsing near the end. When I hold it straight out there is a spray but when I let gravity pull it down the hose partially collapses and the water stops spraying and starts flowing out the end. Might pick up a new garden hose next year. This one lasted me four years.
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Your wand is almost certainly not the issue. Or at least not the root of it. In low pressure situations, those full flow Dramm wands can empty water faster than the pressure can replenish it. Inlow pressure, one of those old school adjustable trigger sprayers works better. It limits the flow a lot, so the water pressure is maintained better. It takes longer to water, but should work unless your pressure is abysmal.
There is a loss in pressure with increasing distance. It’s particularly bad with smaller diameter pipes/hoses, and I believe hoses have more drop in pressure than a ridgid pipe. The pressure drop over 100’ is going to be more than what happens with a less than full diameter valve. That being said, a full diameter ball valve at each end of the hose couldn’t hurt.
Also, is the area you’re watering higher than the spigot? Every five feet you go up in elevation loses about 1 psi. The other question is city or well water? If it’s city water, ask your utility about low pressure. There could be a problem at your service line or meter, which they can fix. Or you might need to install a booster pump.
Some other possibilities:
*Clog in pipe or hose. Try another spigot if available
*Leaky hose or connection. Water spraying out in various places means less pressure to push it to the end. Check over your hose and gaskets.
*If your pressure at the house is fine, it might be worth running a buried 3/4" copper or 1" HDPE (same inner diameter) water line further back into the yard. Can either be seasonal and drained, or you can bury it deep with a frost-free yard hydrant at the end.
*A 3/4" hose will have less friction loss than a 5/8" hose, but more than a 3/4" copper pipe. That would be another thing to try.
1st thought is not enough pressure. Do you have a different hose to compare?
2nd thought is clean the new wand, maybe it has residual shavings from manufacturing or something else clogging something
Good quality hose is important. I use gardena brand.