Many manual garden hoses are just left in a tangled heap near the outside water tap for their next use, exposed to the weather. If you do roll them up on the manual reel, you need to do it slowly and carefully and ensure that the hose doesn’t tangle. How easy is it to install an automatic hose reel, and what tools are required? The reel box provides a safe and secure home for your garden hose. Many of the boxes give UV-protection as well as shelter to your hose from rain and wind. These weather elements can degrade your hose, causing splits and tears. Are there any additional features or accessories available with automatic hose reels, such as built-in timers or spray nozzles?

That said, you should still position your reel out of direct sunlight. High-quality casing will protect the hose from UV damage, but it will last longer if it is in a position where the temperature is more stable. It comes with both a spray nozzle and spray gun, leaving you with plenty of options. Whether you’re washing the car, watering the plants, or even cleaning your dog, there’s a spray setting for the job. In fact, there are 9 to choose from, including flat, centre, cone, full, fog and jet. The reel has a reliable, and fairly powerful, winding mechanism, making it well suited to use in small spaces and on terraces; it cleanly stores the garden hose away in a neat casing that measures approximately 55 cm in diameter. Automatic hose reels rewind the hose neatly into a reel box. You can install it on a wall out of the way. The box provides protection from UV-rays and from rain and windy weather for the hose. All these elements can cause your hose to degrade.Freestanding hose reels provide exceptional portability and allow you to move them around the garden wherever you want to use the hose. As they do not require any installation, they are an excellent choice for those who only use a hose occasionally and don’t want the hassle of fixing it to the wall. So to test it I pulled it over the garden about 15 metres – there was loads left and had a go with the garden sprinkler as an initial test:

Harry has real-world tested 46 products for DIY Garden, and is one of our more experienced testers. Once the reel is mounted onto the wall, it can pivot through a 180 degree arc. I found this particularly useful as my garden has a less than standard shape and I didn’t feel like I was stressing the hose into unnatural angles. When the hose is retracted, it will disappear inside a neat unit. When not in use, most wall units protrude a maximum of 30 cm from the wall . This is a good size as it stops them from being hazardous or encroaching on your garden space. The latest generation of hose reels make the watering process even easier by using auto-rewind technology. The hose that comes with the automatic hose reel is the one you should use with the product. The auto hose reel is known as a “closed reel” and you can’t take out the hose and replace it with another one. The hoses that come with the auto hose reel are designed and tested to stay tangle- and kink free. How does an automatic hose reel retract the hose, and is there a risk of the hose getting tangled or kinked?Ultimately, an automatic hose reel makes life a lot easier for anyone who uses a hose. It is additionally a practical way to store your hose neatly and away from the sun and frost. The hose is 20 m long, which accounts for the smaller unit, yet still offers sufficient reach for small gardens and medium spaces. Less force is required to pull out the hose than with longer models, and it extends smoothly. It retracts neatly into the drum after use, although you may need to coax the hose slightly as it begins to fill up the casing. Garden hose reels are crafted from either plastic or metal (usually aluminium, steel or brass). Any equipment that spends most of the time outdoors is susceptible to rust and so it’s important to buy a reel that’s made of rust-resistant parts. In addition, the better quality the hose, the easier it will be to use and less likely to kink or fail to rewind. Superior garden hoses also come with better tap fittings meaning they are less likely to leak. Again, the screws that come with the product are not something I would personally trust, so do yourself a favour and go spend 20p on some better ones. They’re readily available from any DIY shop.