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2 Outdoor Taps to 1 Garden Hose

mflorance1mflorance1 Posts: 4
in Problem solving
Hi. I have recently installed an outdoor hot water tap directly next to my existing cold water tap. So I now have 2 outdoor taps (hot and cold). The idea behind this was that my toddler will not get in his paddling pool if it's freezing cold, so I thought installing a hot tap for easy access would help me out. However, I'd now like to create a mixer with some sort of connector into both taps, giving me one outlet that I can connect to my hosepipe. Like the old, retro push-on-taps shower kind of thing. I can't find anything like this for outdoor use with the connector for one outlet. Everything seems to go the other way: i.e. connecting one tap into 2 outlets. To reiterate, I need to connect 2 taps to one hose outlet. Does anything like this exist?
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  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 33,718
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hozelock-2293-Hose-Y-Connector/dp/B000TAP4OS/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526455955&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=hozelock+fittings+2+into+one
    something like this would do the job.
    Devon.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 82,740
    I've a feeling there's a problem with doing this as there's a possibility of water from the hot pipe getting into the mains water system. I'm not sure of the technicalities and I may be wrong but  it's something I would check on. 
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 9,974
    You could use a splitter in reverse (something like this), but as Dove says there could be a pressure difference that may cause a problem.
    Cold water at mains pressure could force the hot water to go in reverse as it were. I think if you have a combi boiler it may not be the case, but def check it out first.
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • ZenjeffZenjeff Posts: 643
    Water regs outdoor taps should have double check valves
  • Bright starBright star Posts: 1,129
    I just to used to add a few buckets of warmer water to the paddling pool when my boys were toddlers. Didn’t cost a thing. 
    Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

  • FireFire Posts: 17,116
    Well, yes
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 28,821
    If the paddling pool is in the sun it will warm up by itself and toddlers, in my experience, are impervious to cold paddling pools.   Install a sink and use the hot water for something useful like washing your plant pots!
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 Posts: 5,150
    Wouldn't the simplest solution be to buy a second hosepipe?  Or part fill the pool with cold, then switch over and top up with hot.

    I did the same as Brightstar when mine were little, chucked in a couple of buckets of hot to take the chill off 😁.
  • mflorance1mflorance1 Posts: 4
    Thanks for the advice, folks.

    I have just had the hot tap fitted and so would assume it meets all regs - is there a foolproof way of assessing whether it has double check valves to prevent reverse flow?

    The Y connector and 2-way splitter in reverse are things I looked at, but the taps both aim vertically down and so wouldn't clip straight on. I guess I'd need a short section of hose with appropriate connections and either end - does that exist as well?

    On the note re toddlers being impervious to cold paddling pools...I can assure mine is not. Hence why I've installed a hot water tap!  :D
    Up to this point we have just done the same re chucking in a couple of buckets of hot water. But I had the bright idea of installing this second tap, so I could in effect "mix" it to a temperature that I could just fill it with immediately - thinking I was saving myself some effort in the long term, but it appears I have just made my life harder. The really annoying this is that I could have had an outdoor mixer tap installed instead of the 2 individual taps - I went for the latter because it was cheaper, thinking that something would exist to allow me to mix it. I am now regretting it...
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 33,718
    edited May 2018
    put a connector on each tap, add about 0.5m of hose onto each one, add another connector ( "male" end )on the end of those 0.5m lengths , then connect the hose ( going to the pool ) via a "female" end to one tap, then swap to the other.
    No need for Y connectors, no chance of water mixing.
    Devon.
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