I have not used the orange ones so they might be better.
But I have not found the Hoselock connectors to be very good either.
My Brass one also leaks, most of the Hoselocks I have leak, the cheaper connectors I have found are no better or worse.
I have found its potluck sometimes and about 1 in 4 connectors I have tried will be good enough.
I think Spruce used silicone on his to stop the leaks which is a good idea, there is also a product on the market used by plumbers called "LSX Leak Sealer", I keep meaning to buy a tube and give it a go.
Hi AJM,
We have found the Hozelok plastic fittings OK, although I am not sure about the new ones in the shops now - the ones with the flexible hose protector on the end. I bought 2 of them to try and they were both rubbish, both leaked.
I also bought some B&Q own make fittings in orange once and they seem fine. I think for static couplings the brass ones are the best, but they also do sieze up with a little dirt and lower temperatures.
What we do is seal the Hozelok connectors off with silicone and put them onto the hose reels before putting them into the van. It stops the water dripping out of the hose reel and soaking the van floor so there is less condensation. Obviously we can't use them for anything else once we have done this.
I have used the Hozelok tap connectors on my van ports and also use these sealed Hozelok connectors on them to stop the water dripping and to keep the couplings clean when travelling on dirty roads. I see most of you use a shut off hose connector on your van ports, but I found they were always getting full of dirt and grit, so opted for this arrangement.
Smudger's right. Get a whole lot of O Rings from ebay and replace them regularily, and you won't have many leaks. Silicone grease also stops them wearing so quickly on the end of the hose reel.
We use the brass couplings at the van ports and damage is easily done if you don't push your connectors in and release the clips totally when disconnecting the hose. If you half do this, the pressure in the hose blows the connector off and the plastic locking pegs (or locking balls on the brass connectors) damage the o ring in the process.
Spruce