Fixing Melnor Hose Sprayer
A little over a year ago I purchased two new Melnor 5-pattern watering nozzles to use in my front and back yards. I purchased these based on the recommendation of The New York Times Wirecutter website. A little less than a year later, the little wire trigger lock that is used to hold the nozzle in the open position fell off (it’s probably embedded in the grass of my back lawn, never to be seen again). To deal with this, I just swapped the now broken nozzle with the fully functional one in the front yard. Guess that happened less than a month later? Yes! The little wire triangle fell of that nozzle too! This time I saw it fall off, and was able to retrieve it. But then, I lost it. D’oh!
Talking a look online I found a video about how to replace the trigger lock. The only problem is, I don’t have a the trigger lock anymore. I really don’t want to just throw these mostly functional nozzles away and buy new ones as that would be wasteful.
While at Home Depot I came across a package of rebar ties that are made of stiff wire that I thought could do the trick. They were only about three bucks and change so I bought them. They are 16-guage, so I expect that this 16-gauge wire would also work.
Fast forward to a week later when I finally had the time to attempt to fix my nozzles. If you are unfamilar with rebar ties, here is a picture of one.
| Package of rebar ties | Single rebar tie |
|---|---|
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I then used a wire cutter to cut off both ends of the tie. I then used needle nose pliers to bend one end of the wire 90°.
| Clipped tie | Bent end |
|---|---|
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I then guestimated where to bend the wire over, cut off the excess, then bent over the other end 90°. I then installed it by inserting the bent over ends into the holes on each side on the nozzle, then squeezed the wire together. Success!
I thought about measuring the length of the wire, but got lazy and didn’t do it! If I ever need to make this repair again, maybe I’ll do it then. Hopefully this is enough information to help others make this pretty easy repair to your own spray nozzle.