Drinking water hose size - 1/2 or 5/8

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bigtexan99

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Oct 15, 2006
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I need a new hose for my fresh water intake and noticed they have 2 sizes.

Any pro/con?

The parks that I have been in have had high pressure, if that makes a difference.
 
The flow rate would be more with a 5/8" hose, but unless you're planning on running a mobile car wash or watering the desert, you probably won't notice much, if any, difference. Chances are good the the internal plumbing on your rig is only 1/2" too. A 5/8" hose might be less prone to kinking, but get the one you like best. You've already mentioned high pressure, so I would also suggest a pressure regulator so you don't damage your plumbing.
 
Distance makes a difference too.  The longer the hose, the slower will be the flow at the end.  So for a short hose, I would go 1/2 since your internal plumbing is likely 1/2.  But for long hoses, I would go with 5/8.
 
Unless you have high end RV or a very recent model, chances are your internal plumbing is even less than 1/2" - many were built with 3/8 tubing. Certainly no greater than 1/2".  On the other hand,  is there a downside to buying the 5/8" hose? Is it much more expensive or harder to coil up for storage? Probably a bit heavier in weight, but noticeably so?
 
Maybe I'm just wierd, but I prefer a  1/2" hose.  They coil up into a smaller package than the 5/8" hoses I've tried and almost never kink.  Whenever I've tried to roll up 5/8" hoses they would kink in at least a couple of places.  It seems that the 1/2" hose sidewalls are thicker in proportion to their diameter than the 5/8 inch hoses, which makes the smaller hose much more resistant to kinking.

I've run up to 50 ft. of 1/2" hose and never noticed any lack of  pressure.
 
At home, I only noticed reduce pressure when using 100 feet and up.  At 50 feet it's not noticeable although it's probably measurable.
 
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