You would think that because water is the only thing that goes through your hose nozzle, it would always stay clean. Well that’s not true, there will come a day when you find something wrong with your nozzle and the best solution would simply be to clean it.
Learn more about the different causes of a dirty hose nozzle and the most effective solution to clean it.
What’s Wrong With Your Hose Nozzle?
You don’t need to schedule a cleaning day for your hose nozzle. You will be able to sense that it’s time when you feel that it’s not working like it’s supposed to. What you need to differentiate is whether your nozzle is simply dirty or actually broken.
Here are a few things that usually lead to a faulty nozzle:
- The constant flow of the water may cause erosion or wear inside your nozzle. It may move some of the components or enlarge chambers within the nozzle. You can tell from the decrease in pressure when you’re watering the garden.
- When you leave out your garden tools, it may be affected by the weather. Heat can cause metal to soften and lead to a damaged nozzle.
- Finally, there may be actual mechanical damage which results in increased or reduced pressure, inconsistent spray pattern, and difficulties maneuvering the valves.
On a separate note, nozzles that require cleaning usually are caused by:
- The effect may be similar which is water pressure and spray pattern, but the cause will be from build up of minerals such as iron.
- The water that flows through may carry large particles which then causes clogging that disturbs the water output.
Picking Your Cleaning Solution Mixtures
Before we get into the cleaning steps, there are different solutions you can add to clean your garden hose nozzle.
Bleach: helps clean out all kinds of germs and prevent future build ups. A quarter cup of bleach should be enough to mix with a bucket of water.
Vinegar: is a safe alternative that kills germs as well as its ability to remove debris. Vinegar also helps remove calcium buildup. You can use as much vinegar as you’d like, it’s safe to do so.
Baking Soda: helps remove extremely tough dirt and is best applied by mixing with vinegar. You only need a tablespoon of baking soda to add to your solution of vinegar and water if you decide to use it. You want to add the baking soda after the nozzle is already placed in the solution.
Decalcifier: is an actual calcium removing solution that you can buy at the store. Follow the instructions on the bottle to know how much you need.
Soap: is a must for your basic mixture. You can use around 2 tablespoon of dishwashing soap with a bucket of water, but this is not mandatory, you can use less or more.
Steps To Clean Out Your Garden Hose Nozzle
- Prepare anything you might need
- Big bucket
- Enough hot water (mildly warm)
- A selection of mixture we mentioned before (just soap is also fine)
- Small scrub brush or toothbrush
- Cloth to dry after
- The nozzle you want to clean
- Prepare the materials
- Take off your nozzle form the hose (gently)
- Heat up your water (don’t let it boil over)
- Mix in your solution appropriately
- Once everything is ready you want to soak in your nozzle, make sure the head is completely covered.
- You can leave it in from around 10 mins up to 1 hour. Ideally, 15 minutes should be enough.
- If you feel like it has not been adequately cleaned, you can go in and scrub. Before you start scrubbing, if you’ve used different ingredients to your mixture, make sure you rinse it out and scrub with only water and soap.
- If you can still see clogs in your sprayer, you can use a pin to push out the debris from each hole.
- Finally, when you’re sure your nozzle is clean you want to give it a final rinse to make sure there’s nothing left behind and dry your nozzle with a clean cloth.
- A cloth will not dry it perfectly so be sure to leave out your nozzle to air dry. You can take this time to clean out all the materials you’ve used.
- Once you’re confident that your nozzle is clean and dry, you can reattach it to your hose and test it out.
Grow Beautiful Flowers
If the cleaning doesn’t work, I’m afraid to say that you might need a new nozzle. But if it did, you’re free to continue watering your garden to your heart’s content.
Can you use your plant watering nozzle for other chores? Learn more about it!