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onnected

There's more to getting air from your compressor to an air tool than you might think.

PVC Hose

Nylon Recoil Hose

Rubber Hose

Getting your first air compressor and air tool is exciting. But in all the excitement, you might not give much thought to a couple key things that really affect how much you enjoy using your compressor. And that's the air hose and fittings that actually move the air from the compressor to the tool.

An Inexpensive Start. The most visible part of that connection is the air hose. And it's probably the thing you'll wresde with the most — literally. Especially if you buy a compressor kit and the hose they throw in is like the blue hose at left.

This inexpensive hose is made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) — the same kind of material you'll find in inexpensive garden hoses

and other plastics. It's low-cost and tough as nails. You can drag it around the shop and give it quite a bit of abuse without worrying about damaging it.

But there's one drawback. No matter how neatly you fry to roll it out, it has a "memory" that makes it want to coil right back up. And in cold weather, it gets so stiff that using it is a big hassle.

The Recoil Advantage. One hose you should consider adding to your system is the yellow, nylon recoil hose shown at left. This hose relies on its memory to do it's job.

A recoil hose looks like a giant spring. And it's this "spring" memory that makes a recoil hose self-retracting. This keeps it out of

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ShopNotes No. 81