Alright, so let me tell you about this garden hose pump idea I had and actually went through with. It wasn't some grand engineering project, just a practical fix for a nagging problem. You know how it is, sometimes you just need something done and the off-the-shelf stuff is either too expensive or just not quite right.

The Spark

It all started after that massive rainstorm we had last month. My backyard, especially the low spot near the patio, turned into a miniature lake. Draining it with a bucket? Forget it. Took forever and my back was killing me. I thought, there's got to be a simpler way to move water without getting a huge, noisy gas pump or something.

I remembered seeing those little submersible utility pumps, the kind you can just plop into water. And I figured, hey, if I can get the water out of that pump and into my garden hose, I could direct it wherever I want, like down the driveway drain.

Gathering the Bits and Pieces

So, the next weekend, I headed down to the local hardware store. Not one of those fancy big-box places, mind you, but old Henderson's, where they actually know what they're talking about. I explained what I was trying to do.

• Picked up a small, cheap submersible utility pump. Nothing fancy, just a basic one rated for a decent flow.
• Then, the tricky part: connecting it to a standard garden hose. The pump outlet was threaded, but not garden hose thread, obviously.
• Found a couple of brass adapter fittings. One to go from the pump's thread to a more common pipe thread, and then another to go from that pipe thread to a male garden hose connector. It was a bit of trial and error, holding bits up to each other.
• Grabbed a roll of PTFE tape (plumber's tape) and a couple of decent hose clamps, just in case.

Pro tip: Always get more fittings than you think you need. Saves a trip back.

Putting It All Together

Back in my garage, I laid everything out. First, wrapped the threads of the pump outlet with a good amount of that PTFE tape. Screwed on the first adapter. Snugged it up with a wrench, but not too tight – didn't want to crack the plastic housing of the pump.

Then, more tape on the threads of that adapter, and screwed on the garden hose adapter. Made sure that was nice and tight too. The whole thing felt pretty solid. I decided against adding a short piece of leader hose; I figured a direct connection would be simpler and have fewer points of failure for this small setup.

The pump came with a pretty decent length of power cord, which was good. Waterproof, of course. Always check that.

The Moment of Truth: Testing

I hauled a big plastic tub onto the driveway and filled it with water. Dropped the pump in, making sure it was fully submerged. Then, I connected my longest garden hose to the adapter I'd just fitted. Ran the other end of the hose down to the street gutter.

Took a deep breath, plugged in the pump. For a second, nothing. Then, a gentle hum, and whoosh! Water started flowing out the end of the hose. Not a firehose torrent, mind you, but a steady, decent stream. I watched it for a good ten minutes. No leaks at the pump connections, hose stayed put. Success!

I moved the pump around in the tub, made sure it could get the water level pretty low. It did. The intake was on the bottom, which helped.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it. My DIY garden hose pump. It’s not going to drain a swimming pool in five minutes, but for clearing out that annoying patio puddle, or emptying the rain barrel, it’s perfect. Cost me very little, mainly the pump and a few bucks for fittings. Way better than messing with buckets or renting something.

Sometimes the simplest solutions, the ones you rig up yourself, are the most satisfying. It just works. And I know exactly how to fix it if anything goes wrong, because I built it. Well, assembled it, anyway. That’s the way I like it.