Preservation and Restoration Of Cloth and Woven Hoses

[lux1521]

How do you preserve cloth and woven hoses? I usualy store mine on a rack or shelf in a position with no extreme bends. I also try to avoid sharp edges. Does anyone else have any ideas about how to prevent or possibley reverse to following issues:

Damaged Exteriors
Discolored or Dirty Hoses
Stiff Hoses
Kinked Hoses

I know experiments have been conducted where something is poured into the hose to prevent suction loss. I am not so concerned with the suction issue but am focusing more on the cosmetic aspects. Any ideas?

 

[danemodsandy]

2 Major Things:

The big threats to woven hoses are kinking and UV.

Kinking is when a hose is bent over too short a radius. If the hose is kinked repeatedly in the same place, its cover will fray and its carcass will crack. The biggest kinking problem comes from not putting a vac away properly. Many people just put the canister on the closet floor with the hose and PN still attached to it. They let the PN stand upright. This creates a kink close to the end of the hose, where it attaches to the PN. It is certain death to a hose to do this, especially vintage ones. The best way to eliminate this problem is to detach the hose from both canister and PN after using the vac, and hanging the hose over two hooks or large nails spaced about a foot apart.

On those precious cloth-covered hoses, keep them out of the light when storing. They fade fast if you don't. I also keep vinyl hoses in the dark, and I Armor-All them about twice a year, to help them stay flexible.

Charlie Lester did some interesting experiments with liquid latex, pouring it into hoses with cracked carcasses to get them resealed. But that's about the extent of the repair possible, so far as I know. The better idea by far is to prevent damage in the first place.