The thought of someone stealing your garden hose seems unthinkable. It is, actually. Garden hose theft, in most places, is both unusual and uncommon. That hasn’t stopped people from trying.
Watering is a huge chore and no one wants to spend time checking the water pressure on their garden hoses every day to see if anything has been cut off after use.
Many people prefer to fasten the garden hose directly into the spigot on the outside of their houses so they can just turn it on and leave it running all day, which saves them lots of time but can also open them up to theft. How can you avoid this frustrating problem? Keep reading: there are several easy ways to protect yourself from garden hose theft.
Garden hose theft is an unfortunate reality as thieves are looking for the easiest way to make a quick buck. Having your hose stolen normally means you have to replace not only the hose but all the nozzles and fittings as well and you have to take time out of your day to go and purchase everything. The good news is that with a few precautionary measures, you can prevent your hose from being swiped out of your garden.
The most effective way to prevent garden hose theft is to store the hose out of sight in your garage or tool shed. At times when you need your hose to be in the garden, dogs, warning signs, and visible cameras can also deter most garden hose thieves.
Some of the techniques mentioned in this article will not only help safeguard your garden hose, they’ll help keep your yard safer in general.
Store Your Hose In Your Tool Shed Or Garage
Finding a dedicated spot in your tool shed or garage for your hose is essential as it takes the opportunity factor away from the thief. “Out of sight, out of mind.”
Find a spot that’s most convenient for you to quickly find when you need it.
You’ll need to get a quick release coupler set like this one on Amazon that makes the detaching and attaching a whole lot easier when used.
This is the best method of keeping your garden hose safe because the types of people that are stealing hose pipes aren’t the same as the ones who break and enter.
If you can’t store your hose in a garage or shed, make a place for it in the house. The small amount of space that it’ll take up will be well worth the low risk of it being stolen.
Having Dogs In The Yard
Dogs can be a great sense of security as their natural instinct is to bark at strangers that get too close to them.
So dogs are like motion sensors that cover your entire yard, although you’ll have some false alarms now and then.
Besides making a big noise, dogs also bite if they feel threatened and especially if you’re intruding on “their” land. They’ll scare off most thieves and cause them to look for another yard to steal from.
Make sure that your dogs have plenty of water and food especially in the summer. If you plan to keep your dogs in your yard you must make sure they have shelter from the rain and sun.
Make sure to have the food, water, and shelter in the area that you need the dogs to look over.
Set Up A Motion Sensor Alarm
Infrared motion sensors work perfectly in both day and night, one I found to be very effective is the Guardline on Amazon.
It has a wireless detector that can be placed anywhere outside as it’s designed with an industrial-grade PVC and is sealed with weather-resistant rubber.
Set the motion detector up so that it’s directed to the garden hose.
You will be alerted by a chime that you choose on the receiver when something moves in that area.
This is a solution to prevent garden hose theft while you’re at home as you won’t receive alerts to your phone, only on the receiver placed in the house.
Installing more than one detector will place you two steps ahead of the thief as you’ll know exactly where they are as they move across the sensors.
You can add up to 16 of these sensors to monitor very large areas. The sensors can communicate with the receiver at a 500-foot range.
Guardline has worked hard fine-tuning their motion sensors so that false alarms are minimal.
Here are the latest deals for the Guardline Motion Sensor.
Set Up A Smart Camera
The AKASO outdoor security camera is a perfect example of a camera that can be placed outdoors in your yard to monitor your valuables because it’s IP65 weatherproof.
It can also withstand temperatures from -4°F to 122°F for snowy or sunny weather.
The idea here is to be notified when there’s motion (possible intruder) in your yard.
You’ll be notified on your phone and will be able to see exactly what motion was detected as well.
If you’re at home at the time and you see someone in your yard, you can attempt to chase them away and call the police.
If you’re not home at the time you can call the neighbors and police to report the intruder.
There’s two-way audio as well so you might be able to chase an intruder away just by warning them that you have called the police and that they should leave the property.
The AKASO camera has a very high rating on Amazon with many reviews so most people are happy with its performance.
Check it out here on Amazon for the latest deals.
Use The Hose Hideaway
Thieves look for garden hoses that are out in the open, so keeping it in this posh-looking box will keep it out of sight from most petty thieves. It rolls the hose up inside the box as you turn the handle on the right side.
The hideaway itself can easily be hidden amongst ornaments and flower pots in the garden to blend into the scene so that most people won’t even know that it’s there.
This garden hose box is made of durable materials to endure hot sun and heavy snow as well so you don’t have to worry about it perishing over the years.
The bonus about this product is that it makes it easy to safely store your hose away out of the sun making the hose itself last longer.
See the latest deals here on Amazon.
Make Your Hose Easily Identifiable
Uniquely marking the hose will make the thief think twice before stealing it as you can identify the hose very easily if you see them trying to get away down the street with it.
There are a couple of ways you can do this, one being that you can spray the hose multiple different bright colors. The thief might not want to run the risk of you seeing them walking in the street with a hose that is clearly yours.
Secondly, you can have a label made that has some of your details on like your address or “this is the property of Name Surname”
Making the hose more identifiable will also give you the opportunity to at least recover it at a pawn shop if you find it in the area. It will also provide some evidence to the police if necessary to prove your ownership thereof.
If you spray the hose a bright color to make it identifiable, use this outdoor rated orange spray on Amazon as it will last long and won’t rub off easily.
Place Warning Signs On The Perimeter Of Your Property
Having warning signs around the perimeter of the property is a great method to deter thieves especially dog and surveillance warning signs.
What you do with these is put them in places that are clearly visible by anyone that passes, especially close to the hose pipe area.
Beware of the dog signs are still very useful even if you don’t own a dog. The thief will never go have a look to see whether or not the warning sign is true or not.
The same goes for the camera surveillance signs, you don’t need to necessarily pay a company for 24/7 monitoring to have the signs on the property.
If they see a camera anywhere on the property there’s no way of them knowing if it’s being monitored by someone at that moment.
See some of the warning signs I found on Amazon. There is quite a variety of them to choose from. So have a look at all the different options available to see which ones you like best.
Remember, multiples of these signs also work perfectly as the potential risk to the intruder becomes more and more.
Conclusion: How To Prevent Garden Hose Theft
Luckily, garden hose thieves are the types of criminals that are looking for zero risk opportunities. So if they don’t see the hose in the garden when you’re not using it, they’re not going to go searching your whole property for it. That’s why storing it safely out of site is my first recommendation.
Similarly, when these types of robbers see cameras or dogs in your yard, they’ll usually skip your house and move to the next one that doesn’t have these extra risk factors.
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