Know the Design of Hose and Fittings You’re Using

We recently were contacted by a potential international customer that was hoping that our tool would help with putting hoses together at their facility that they had been really struggling with. They were using Push-Lock fittings but they weren’t sure about the hose, it was whatever their supplier provided. It turned out they were trying to push Push-Lock fittings, because they didn’t want to have clamps on the connections, into a non-Push-Lock hose with a wire mesh.

There were several issues here. We were not able to recommend one of our hose assembly tools that would work for their application as insertion forces were likely very high. A wire mesh hose which is designed to keep a round shape would not work well with our gripping jaws as the hose needs to partially collapse to create adequate grip on the hose. Even if one of our tools could grip well enough to force the fittings into the hose for them, the hose liner would likely be damaged as it is not designed to expand enough to get over the high-profile barbs on Push-Lock fittings. This could end up being a very unsafe situation as they are using the hoses to supply propane gas.

Our recommendation, whether we sell them a tool or not, is to work with their supplier and use hose and fittings that are designed to work together for safety, S.T.A.M.P.E.D.

Without the lead-in, pushing hose onto these fittings by hand can be challenging, time consuming, and can cause injury. Even trying to install hose using a hose assembly tool can be a problem on those fittings as the end of the hose wants to slide off to the side.

Manufacturing the fittings without the lead-in may be a cost saving benefit for the manufacturer but in the end the installer will pay the additional cost of assembly time.