Walter wro0e: All my life I have struggled with garden hoses and long
electric power
cords. No matter what I do, I cannot get them to coil neatly after I
have
used them. They invariable turn into pretzels and then get tangled.


Is there an easy way to solve this problem?


There are different ways to handle this. First, the way you coil the hose
makes all the difference in the world.

Wire rope is tough stuff to work with, as anyone who has worked with it
knows. Yet, I could take 100 feet of it, and coil it on the ground so there
would not be a spiral in it. A spiral is when you pull it out of the coil,
and it makes curleycues or kinks. Then, you have to pull on the ends to get
all the twists out. You have to fold it one coil over, one coil under, but
you get what appears to be a spiral coil. Thing is, it is not a spiral.
One loop goes over, one loop goes behind. If you know what a clove hitch
is, you are making consecutive clove hitches.

Imagine this:

If you take off wire rope off the side of the reel, like line comes off an
open faced reel, you have a spiral. If you take it straight off, like you
pull thread off a spool, it comes off unspiraled.

Such spiraling causes a lot of kinking and tangling. Knowing how to coil it
eliminates that spiraling.

Figure eighting it also keeps it from spiraling, as it keeps the spiral out
of the hose. But spiraling is usually only used when it lays on the ground.
We used to use it for 300 and 600' diving hoses so there wouldn't be a
spiral.

I don't know if there is a site that will show you how to coil to eliminate
spiraling, but you might want to google on wire rope coiling or wire rope
storage. Google clove hitch, and you will see what I mean. Imagine
consecutive clove hitches, and you have an unspiraled coil.

Storage of long cords is best done by doubling the cord, then starting at
the middle, do a series of slip knots. When you need to use it, just pull
on the correct end, and it all comes untied one slipknot at a time. They
also make reels and things that you can buy at Homer's, but any dweeb can
learn to slipknot it, and save $20.

The quality of hose makes a difference, as well as the diameter of the
electrical cord. If you have 200' of 220 wire, you will want to coil it
using the over/under method, or you will definitely end up with 200' of
curleycued pigtail wire. Bigger diameter quality hoses also need to be
coiled correctly, or they just won't coil. And kinking them makes them
useless.


I could show you in a second, but writing a description is difficult. Hang
up a hose on your hose hanger in large loops. Alternate the way you put
them on there, the first just put on there, the second, you run the hose
behind the loop instead of in front of it.

Hell, maybe I could take two pictures and show what I mean.

Steve