TexasCHLforum.com

Guys, I know nothing about plumbing and pipes. This seems like it should be a simple problem, but I'm stumped.

We have two garden hoses hooked up to spigots in the front and rear of our house. Rather than connect them when needed, the Gardiner in Chief (The Annoyed Woman) leaves the hoses connected to the spigots all the time. So now that we have a freeze warning for tonight, I want to disconnect them and put some anti-freeze spigot covers on, but the metal hose fittings seem to be welded to the spigots and I can't get the hoses off. Using a pair of channel-locks merely threatened to bend the pipes as I tried to twist off the hose fittings. I have suggested to TAW that, going forward, the hoses ought to be left disconnected by default, but that doesn't solve my problem NOW.

Is there some kind of trick to loosening hose fittings from spigots that someone can share with me?

I soak mine with WD-40 (only thing I know it is good for) and let it set. Using channel locks afterwards I have always been able to disconnect them.

I will wait paitiemtly for a real plumber to answer this.

You could borrow TAW's hair dryer and use it to heat up the brass fitting. The brass should expand at a greater rate than the steel spigot.

Then use your pliers to unscrew it. Squeeze just hard enough to make sure the pliers don't slip, but not hard enough to deform the connector. That would be counter productive.

TAM
If you are unable to remove the hoses, be sure to drain the hoses so the water in them does not freeze

Dang it, I had a good long post and it didnt post. Gotta start over. I had same problem and found something in the kitchen that worked like a charm. You know those rubber thingys used to open jars? We have one that has different sizes on it that range from canned jars to coke bottles. If I knew how to post pics I would, but thats still a work in progress. Anyway, I took that rubber thingy, put it over the coupler, and then took channel locks to turn it. No damage. If you dont have one of those thingys, if you can find a piece of rubber, that should work too. Good luck.

I'd agree with applying heat to the couplings. One other tip is to tighten ever so slightly, then to loosen in as fluid of a motion as possible. Lubricant may or may not help in this case, since you'd need to penetrate the threads.

If you go the lubricant route, use a quality silicone-based lubricant.

This may not be the right answer but you might ask the person who attached the hoses to detach them? Absent that: righty tighty, lefty loosey with the channel lock/pliers, etc.

On another subject, we just came back from a delightful 5 night RV stay in Atlanta State Park with FHU. The park is kinda' just up I-30 from y'all.

If you have some penetrating oil, spray it around the coupling and let it soak in for a bit, then try it.

remanifest wrote:I'd agree with applying heat to the couplings. One other tip is to tighten ever so slightly, then to loosen in as fluid of a motion as possible. Lubricant may or may not help in this case, since you'd need to penetrate the threads.

If you go the lubricant route, use a quality silicone-based lubricant.

Blaster or liquid wrench is faster than WD-40. If you can't loosen after the Blaster/Liquid Wrench I agree you may try the ever so slight tightening then loosening. I think someone already posted righty tighty, lefty loosey but you'd be surprised. I've watched experienced pipefitters make the mistake of "wrong way" loosening. BTW you said you were worried the nipple might turn. Are these bib faucets? Turning a hose coupling should be at almost a right angle to the nipple if they are bibs.

Too late for tonight, as it must be ordered, but Kroil will loosen any joint. One of my cars is 63 years old, and it has never failed me in loosening impossible fittings on this one or his brothers before him. For the future... AeroKroil Aerosol is best for all around use. eBay has lots of sellers.

Thanks for posting this topic. Just disconnected mine.

The Annoyed Man wrote:Guys, I know nothing about plumbing and pipes. This seems like it should be a simple problem, but I'm stumped.

We have two garden hoses hooked up to spigots in the front and rear of our house. Rather than connect them when needed, the Gardiner in Chief (The Annoyed Woman) leaves the hoses connected to the spigots all the time. So now that we have a freeze warning for tonight, I want to disconnect them and put some anti-freeze spigot covers on, but the metal hose fittings seem to be welded to the spigots and I can't get the hoses off. Using a pair of channel-locks merely threatened to bend the pipes as I tried to twist off the hose fittings. I have suggested to TAW that, going forward, the hoses ought to be left disconnected by default, but that doesn't solve my problem NOW.

Is there some kind of trick to loosening hose fittings from spigots that someone can share with me?

It won't be a "hard" freeze, so I would not be concerned. I am not disconnecting any of our annoying hoses. You have some time to figure it out, it is supposed to warm up again next week.

Keith B wrote:If you have some penetrating oil, spray it around the coupling and let it soak in for a bit, then try it.

I tried that with some Kroil, but it didn't work. I'll try heating it next.

When heating, remember that there are rubber/plastic washers inside the female hose fitting. Those may need to be replaced after they're heated.