Shut-Off valves for Foam Gun?

N

Neo62381

New member
I've heard a lot about people replacing the trigger nozzle on the gun with a shut-off valve. This in effect creates quite a usable handle, with a lever or button to control the flow of water. I have the gun, and was wandering what kind of shut-off valve do you guys prefer?

I went to my local Lowes and looked around, and I see some metal shut off valves, but all of them had a bulky plastic ring grip around the part that you thread onto the hose. Is there anything better? what are you guys using? Any pics? Discuss brethren! :spot
 
I have a nice gilmour brass shut off valve. It has a big lever on it so even if my hands are soapy, it's really easy to turn off the water, unlike thos small rubber levers that are difficult to turn. I also find it easier to dial in less than full water pressure settings. IIRC I got it at home depot, but that was quite a while ago so...



while hose end attachments are being discussed, my quick connectors are starting to leak pretty bad. What ones are you using?
 
Right now I'm using a lot of Gilmour quick connects, I use about 5 or 6 at a time and I've never had any prob. with them. I removed the rubber grip thingys around them, I thought they looked "tacky". But they have never leaked on me. Maybe you can take a razor or something and split a regular hose washer in half to replace the old one :nixweiss
 
I've always had a brass shutoff valve attached between the hose and the nozzle now the foam gun. The valve is about 2 inches long with a brass lever that turns 90 degrees from full on to full off.

I've added the heavy duty Gilmour quick connect attachments to all my fittings also.

The shutoff valve has always been handy, now for switching from the foam gun when it's done to a conventional multihead nozzle for later.

When I do the wheels, I want a much smaller volume of water so I crank the lever closed enough to make me happy.

I'd recommend the addition of a brass (plastic ones will break soon) shutoff valve with quick connectors.

I'm even thinking about adding a brass Y splitter so the foam gun with a short hose can stay on one end of the Y and a conventional nozzle with a slightly longer hose can stay on the other end of the Y.

Sometimes I think I'm just too lazy to pull the foam bottle off the hand nozzle then I realize I want the flexibility of the multispray nozzle at the same time, I just want it all now!

-John C.
 
JohnZ3MC said:
Sometimes I think I'm just too lazy to pull the foam bottle off the hand nozzle then I realize I want the flexibility of the multispray nozzle at the same time, I just want it all now!
Click to expand...



What I do is have two hoses on each side of the washbay- one dedicated to the foamgun and one for the rinse hose and my other hose attachments.



I've always used a lot of brass quick disconnects and I'm still experimenting with different types of shutoffs.



Each hose has a female brass quick disconnect ("qd" hereafter meaning "quick disconnect" in this post) and all my nozzles/foamguns/whatever get male qds.



Note that the brass qds also function as swivels.



I'm using ones from Gilmour and from Sporty's and a few from unknown sources. All but one (male fitting that only works with certain females) of my brass qd components are compatible.



For shutoffs, I've gradually gotten away from the metal ones. For one thing, I prefer to have as little metal on the end of the hose as possible (plastic seems safer for the car in case I'm careless). Also, I find the plastic ones from Sears/Gilmour are easier to use with one finger and they have built in swivels. Note that these have a large rectangular knob, not the little circular/two-post ones that aren't nearly as comfortable to use. Trouble with the Sears/Gilmour ones is that they leak something awful and eventually break apart. They're still my choice for use with the mitt-balloon technique, where maximum control over the foamgun (i.e., keeping the bottle from hitting the panels) is the primary objective. I too buy them in large quantities and replace them when the leaking gets too irritating.



I'm currently experimenting with THIS SHUTOFF from Griot's. Because it positions the user's hand farther back from the foamgun, and is grasped in a different way compared to the smaller rotary shutoffs, it does *not* offer the sort of control that the smaller shutoffs do. THis means it's not as good for the mitt-balloon technique on the top horizontal surfaces, but it works *great* for vertical surfaces and for most other foamgun techniques. Very handy for use in conjunction with a BHB. The downsides are that it doesn't swivel (use the brass qds for that) and that it doesn't seem to offer as full a flow as other shutoffs when wide open. This isn't a problem for me with my boosted pressure- I still don't get the maximin volume but I do get pretty much- plenty of suds from the foamgun, more than sufficient. But you'd have to try it with *your* pressure to see if it works OK for you. This is one of those things I'd previously dismissed, didn't think I'd like it at all; man was I wrong about that!



With the Griot's shutoff, I'm using one set of brass qds to attach it to the hose and another set to attach the foamgun to it. This allows both the shutoff and the foamgun to swivel freely (and independently), eliminating my primary concerns about it being convenient to use. But it also increases the overall length, compounding the problems of using it with the mitt-balloon technique.
 
Accumulator, I think that mitt-balloon technique only works sufficiently with boosted water pressure like you have. I gave up trying it long ago. The Sear/Gilmour cut offs work great. We're approaching the time of year when the hardware stores will start having a good supply of them again so I'd encourage everyone to buy a batch for the year. The brass QDs seem pretty indestructible and like you, I don't know how I got by without them.
 
Bill D said:
Accumulator, I think that mitt-balloon technique only works sufficiently with boosted water pressure like you have. I gave up trying it long ago....
Click to expand...



Yeah, could be :sadpace: I wish somebody else would try it so we'd know for sure. If the mitt just doesn't inflate with foam then that's that... That could also mean that the Griot's shutoff won't flow well enough for some people. Somebody oughta try that thing and report back (hint/nudge ;) ). I can't really test it properly as my pressure is either boosted to above normal or (unboosted) below-normal with no "normal" in between.





BTW, my last batch of Sears/Gilmour plastic shutoffs leak something *awful* at the swivels. As in, sometimes I'm really getting wet :rolleyes: *Almost* enough to make me switch to something else, but not quite.
 
There are two kinds of shut offs that Gilmour makes and I assume Sears brands both as well. The larger of the two, which is about a $1 more, actually worked horribly for me. Water flow was restricted and there was quite a bit of leaking. The smaller of the two, which I think you and I have, works quite good but gradual leaking is probably in indicator it's ready to go. If it leaks right out of the package, I would assume it's defective.



I haven't seen any other quality alternatives, at least not locally, and I'm just very thankful that I now have easy access to ones I use.
 
DFTowel did some research on quick disconnects and shut off valves and found MANY restrict water flow because of the smaller hole.



He found one company that has the best water flow.



They are brass, made in the USA by DRAMM.



DRAMM 300 shutoff - click link



Simply the best shut-off valve available. Dramm's #300 Brass Shut-Off Valve provides fingertip water control at the end of your greenhouse hose. A quarter turn of the large ergonomic handle and the water is off. Full water flow design. Made in the USA from brass, durable seals and a hard chrome plated ball to provide years of service.



DRAMM 740 quick disconnect - click link



Our 740 Brass Disconnect eliminates the hassle of connecting and disconnecting hoses and hose accessories. No more twisting and turning! Simply pull the collar back to connect or disconnect your garden hose or hose accessory. Unrestricted full water flow design. Made in the U.S.A. from heavy-duty brass. 3/4 male & female hose threads.



I bought both and the tracking says they should arrive today! :woot2:



Hope this helps :2thumbs:



I have been using the disconnect that comes on the trigger of the pistol grip. I unscrewed it and screwed on to the end of my hose. I ditched the pistol grip. I was using a regular brass shutoff valve from Home Depot but will switch it with the Dramm.
 
Bill D- I'm pretty sure we're using the same ones. I bet they *were* defective; they sure never leaked like this right from the git-go before. Might've been a bad production run, but no, I didn't save my receipt and even if I had I doubt I'd take a bunch of them back to Lowe's for a refund. Guess I'll try the ones at Sears next time, even though they appear to be identical.



None of the other ones I've seen swivel. And the levers some (like on the Gardenia brand one) move counter-inuitively (at least IMO)- back towards the user for "on", away for "off". And the standard of protruding 90 degrees out for "off" makes for accidents when you drop it as it sometimes switches itself "on".



Heh heh, gotta watch how you set the Griot's shutoff down too, lest you spray foam all over the place ;)
 
Spilchy- Per our PMs and your post: the qds look to be what I'm using, but there's no manufacturer's mark on them to say for certain.



The shutoff you linked just isn't the type I prefer; I don't like protruding levers for various reasons. Just a personal preference thing though, and that shutoff looks mighty serviceable to say the least.
 
I understand. I was throwing it out there for folks who were complaining of poor water flow. Given the quality of the piece I thought maybe the leaking issue would be solved too. So it looked like a win win situation as I trust DF Towel's research on the subject.



I'll have mine today and will report on them.



But at least its another option for others to consider. I like that lever better ;) than the little nubby lever on my current one. Easy thumb action :p
 
chml17l said:
Which supplier(s) are you ordering the Dramm stuff from?
Click to expand...



Long story made short - I found the shutoff on the Internet for $10.95 HERE but expensive shipping.



I then found it on EBay for $16.95 but cheaper shipping for Priority Mail. So I e-mailed the vendor from EBay (real nice lady) and she matched the $10.95 price. Maybe it is a $1 cheaper some place else, but the shipping from the EBay lady was very good.



So I bought it on EBay with the $10.95 price and cheaper shipping.



I didn't buy the quick connects (sorry if I made it seem like I did) because I already have some and really don't use them. I don't know why I said I bought both :doh oops!



Ah, I did buy THIS as a free rinse tool after a wash instead of a full flow without the nozzle (to save water and to have a gadget!) It was like $8 or so. Maybe that's why I said "both" in my earlier post. That came from the EBay lady too at a cheaper price that I found. She was very accomodating.



The nozzle does this: ...the softest full-flow watering nozzle available. The 1000PL Redhead water breaker has over 1000 micro holes that create an ultra-soft flower shower...



I thought it would be fun to use :chuckle:
 
I'm wondering if that tool in conjunction with a flat hose may save even more water. At present, I use one exclusively for rinsing but I have doubts about any real saving I'm actually having. However,coupled with that gadget, perhaps it would help? :nixweiss
 
The shut-off valve that Spilchy has linked to is more along the lines of what I'm looking for as far as the shut off lever, however, It seems a little narrow and short, and wouldn't create a good makeshift handle. The one that Accumulator is more along the lines of it, except for the fact that it doesn't use a valve, or something that you can leave at the position you want it at. I would be intrested to see a pic of the one Neothin is using.
 
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