Almost lost my whole patio project to one wrong hose clamp

Last Saturday I was pressure washing the new stained concrete and a cheap clamp blew off at 3000 PSI, water shot straight into my sand pile and turned it into a muddy mess. Had to scrap 200 pounds of sand and wait two days for more to dry out. Has anyone else had a cheap fitting ruin a whole weekend?

4 comments

4 Comments

wyatt_mitchell261mo ago

Totally feel your pain man. I had a $3 brass tee split open on my drip line last summer, flooded the whole side of my house before I noticed. Lost a whole bag of topsoil and it took three days for the ground to dry enough to finish grading. Still find little washout marks in the lawn where the water carved channels. Cheap fittings are just not worth the headache, I learned the hard way too.

lindag331mo ago

That $3 tee story just convinced me to stop cutting corners on fittings.

hall.joel1mo ago

Three days for the ground to dry? That's brutal.

ray3561mo ago

Wait, does nobody here just take the time to install cheap fittings right? I've used plenty of those $3 brass tees over the years and never had one blow out on me. The trick is making sure your threads are clean and you're not over tightening them until they crack. Plus a little pipe dope or that blue thread tape goes a long way. Maybe I've just been lucky but I'd rather spend a few extra minutes getting a cheap fitting on right than pay ten times more for a name brand one that does the same job.