A different toilet question - hose clips, hose

I had the same problem when I put in a new pump assy.
It was down to the way I reattached the outlet hose, I first attached the outlet elbow to the hose then connected the elbow (two screws) to the pump. That joint didn't mate square. When I did it the other way round, elbow mated to pump then attached the hose after the pump had been fitted, all was ok.
 
Never been called out to a car with a failed hose clip. But also don't know anyone who has a car where the hoses are in bilges and awkward places, in a salty environment.

I recently had occasion to alter my heads pluming. All the connections i had to deal with were single clipped, although my seacocks are all double clipped. All of the clips were 100% stainless worm drive clips of a good quality and looked to be in good condition. During the course of either undoing them or doing them back up again most of them failed.

I draw two conclusions. 1) The only truly reliable way to check the clips is to slacken them a little and then re-tighten them. 2) I have six seacocks, for the sake of less than a tenner i'll keep mine double clipped.

I agree with Yngmars logic regarding safety kit. For instance, i have a handheld DSC VHF, at a cost of nearly £200, just in case i need to use the VHF in anger and the main set has failed. That's a lot of hose clips. Even dafter, most of us carry a box of assorted hose clips, in case one fails, why not store a few of them on the hoses that could flood the boat ?
 
Yngmar said:
The difference is that if a hoseclip on a car fails, it spills its coolant on the motorway, a warning light flashes and you'll be late for tea with auntie Emma.
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Obviously there is a difference in the level of consequence but that was not the point I am making. The billions of hose clips on cars work to a level of reliability that is almost unattainable in most other equipment. They just don't fail to any measureable level. Whereas most boat owners at least look at their hose clips occasionally and would (might?) notice if they were excessively rusty or leaking, what car owners do the same?
 
vyv_cox said:
Obviously there is a difference in the level of consequence but that was not the point I am making. The billions of hose clips on cars work to a level of reliability that is almost unattainable in most other equipment. They just don't fail to any measureable level. Whereas most boat owners at least look at their hose clips occasionally and would (might?) notice if they were excessively rusty or leaking, what car owners do the same?
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Last week I changed the hose clips on the bypass hose on a 1982 car. These were mild steel and I'm sure were the original clips as the bypass hose (which cannot be removed without a lot of work) was in very poor condition. The other hoses and clips had all clearly been changed during the life of the car. The 35 year old Jubilee clips were extremely rusty but came undone after a bit of easing oil and working back and forth but stripped during removal and could never be used again. I replaced them with a new bypass hose and stainless steel clips. The hose did not leak and getting it off the spigots once the clips were loose was a much bigger struggle than removing the clips.

A stainless steel clip on a boat will last forever whereas a mild steel clip will probably only last a lifetime. Use one stainless clip and sleep easy. :encouragement:

Richard
 
RichardS said:
The question you didn't answer is ..... whether any of those stainless clips had failed i.e. allowing water past, or whether they ever would fail if just left alone and visually inspected?

And I guess you didn't answer that question because we all know the answer. ;)

Richard
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Not sure of the answers, but i have a good idea.

I don't think it's altogether clear whether the clips would have failed or not. I think it risky to assume not, particularly if single clipped. So, it might make more sense to annually check them mechanically, rather than just visually ?

As for leaking, i'd be 99.99% certain they would not have leaked catastrophically, less so that they wouldn't have had a slight leak. Mine are proper sanitation hoses and as i'm sure you know, they are a barsteward to get off, even with a heat gun.
 
RichardS said:
The question you didn't answer is ..... whether any of those stainless clips had failed i.e. allowing water past, or whether they ever would fail if just left alone and visually inspected?

And I guess you didn't answer that question because we all know the answer. ;)

Richard
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In 30 years of boat ownership I have never had a hose clip fail, although on older boats many of them had far from ideal metallurgy. However, I have had three hose failures, one on the inlet to the engine, one on an exhaust hose immediately above the skin fitting, and one on an engine anti-siphon fitting. In every case the hose clips were fine but the hoses failed due to repeated flexure over years. So it is a good idea to inspect everything annually, not just the clips.
 
I only have stainless. I've had Jubilee clips fail where they just snap, or where the worm is corroded to nothing (only galvanised probably). Another bolt style hose clip failed by the bolt snapping. I've also had the perforated type hose clips fail between the perforations due to corrosion. I've had loads of hose failures too, all caught in time or without disaster luckily.

A lot of the above is down to my failure to identify corrosion early and to pre-emptively replace, or to replace on an age basis. I am doing more of this now.

My point is that stainless hose clips do in fact corrode and fail.
 
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Interesting that some have had hose clip failures, although with proper stainless ones it seems improbable. Some have had hose failures, usually because of identifiable causes, but I wonder how many have had properly sized and secured hoses coming off fittings? My experience has been that usually it's very difficult to get them off, and I have often had to resort to hacksaws etc.
 
Well said Vyv - it's a myth!
vyv_cox said:
My personal view is that the need for double clipping is an invention of hose clip manufacturers. There is not a single fitting on my boat that has double clips. When removing hoses after a while the problem is getting them off, clearly indicating that there is no way they are going to fall off on their own.

I find that when replacing fittings but retaining the old hose that the plastic of the hose has hardened and is reluctant to shape itself to the new location. Warming up the end of the hose with a hot air gun restores its plasticity and it will usually conform once the hose clip is tightened.
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