You might find yourself in a situation in which you need to transfer water from one place to another. Now that’s easy, just use a garden hose. But what if it’s hot water? Can you still use a garden hose for the transfer?.
Well, the answer is yes, but it depends heavily on the type of garden hose you have. This is because some garden hoses can handle hot water while some will get damaged if you run hot water through them.
If you have a standard hose and you don’t really remember its temperature rating when you bought it, you might need to buy another one to use for the hot water. This is for you to be on the safer side and run the hot water through the garden hose successfully.
So yes, you can run hot water through a garden hose but it depends on the type of hose you own.
You might be wondering how to know if the garden hose you have can support hot water, don’t worry I’ll teach you how to be sure.
How To Know If Your Garden Hose Can Support Hot Water
Okay so you have a garden hose, but can you run hot water through it without any problems? How do you know if it can support hot water?.
Well typically for any hose to support hot water, it must be labeled as one of the following:
- Industrial hose
- Farm grade hose
- Commercial hose
All of the above-named hoses are usually red or gray so you can easily differentiate them from the normal green garden hose.
If your hose is red and feels heavier than the normal garden hoses, then you’ve got yourself a good commercial-grade hose. It is made from rubber and can let you run hot water through it without problems.
Guess what, it is also designed to run water as hot as 160 degrees Fahrenheit, so you can definitely use it.
But if you have a cheap vinyl hose that you got from your local convenience store, don’t use it to run hot water.
Next, we’re going to look at how hot water can affect our garden hoses…
How Hot Water Can Affect Your Garden Hose
Our typical garden hose is made from one or more of these three main materials: rubber, vinyl, or polyurethane. Your garden hose might have been made from a combination of two of these materials.
Among the materials I listed, vinyl is the softest and the worst option for hot water usage. Vast studies have shown that garden hoses that are most likely to contaminate your water by leaching chemicals into it are the hoses made from vinyl (also known as PVC).
If your vinyl hose heats up, either by sunlight, hot water, or any heat source, its chances of leaching chemicals into your water become much higher than usual. This is because heat promotes the deterioration of the vinyl hose and damages it over time.
The cheapest garden hoses in the market are the ones made from vinyl, they’re lighter in weight than rubber so they’re a popular choice among household gardeners.
So let’s say you didn’t really think about the material the last time you bought a hose, but you remember it was cheap, well there’s a good chance that your garden hose is made of vinyl.
Actually, the polyurethane and rubber hoses are also not 100 percent free from leaching chemicals into the eater that’s running through them.
In other words, if you run hot water through a vinyl hose or a not-so-great hose, you’ll get contaminated water coming out from your hose mouth.
That’s why you need to seriously consider what you’re going to use the hot water for (before using any hose). If it is for human contact or consumption, you’ll really want to make sure that your hose will not leach chemicals into the water.
How The Garden Hose Can Affect Your Water Purity After Transfer
Well, most people would want to prevent chemicals from leaching into the hot water that they’re transporting. Let’s say you’re trying to heat your outdoor shower or you’re running the water to a faucet that will later be used for drinking water.
In that scenario, you’ll want to stay away from using a vinyl hose and use a polyurethane or rubber hose that has a good temperature rating.
But if you won’t be using the water for humans, plants, or your animals, the chemicals that can leach into it may not be a problem. For example, if you intend to use hot water to wash your car or any surface, you could use any garden hose because the contamination won’t be harmful.
Can You Run Drinking Water Through A Garden Hose?
Yes, because there are “drinking water safe hoses”. However, you shouldn’t be completely oblivious to the fact that some of those labels may not be entirely true.
A hose may be labeled as drinking water safe and might not be safe at all. The manufacturers who made that claim could be wrong because there is no fixed standard for determining if a hose is safe for drinking water or not.
So this is why you should be careful in running drinking water through your hose and you could try checking for the following:
- The hoses should not only be labeled drinking water safe but they should be made from food-grade materials or materials that are FDA approved.
- Check that the hose fittings are lead-free (to prevent contamination from the fittings).
Final Words
You should take some safety precautions before running hot water through your garden hose to minimize leaching. Make sure you don’t leave your hose out in the sun and don’t consume water from a hose that has been sitting in the sun.
Don’t just believe that your hose can accommodate hot water, use the guide I have given you to be on the safer side. Ensure to be careful and don’t run boiling point hot water through your garden hose.