PVC Pool Hose Reel

Cut pipes with saw or PVC cutter to the following sizes:

Class200pe grade ¾” pipe: 18”x1, 10½”x2, 6½”x7, 6”x6, 5¼”x1, 4¼”x1, 4”x1, 3”x1, 3¾”x1, 2½”x6, 2”x8, 1¾”x1, 1½”x2

Sch40 grade ¾” pipe: 6½”x5, 3″x1.

Sch40 grade ½” pipe: 21¼”x1, 6”x1, 2½”x1.

Pex ½” pipe: 4½”x2.

Micro tubing ¼” pipe: ½”x2.

Cut a ¾” coupling into two halves. Remove the lip of the coupling on both halves.

Cut two bushings ½” from bottoms (small ends). Throw away tops. Keep two ¾”x ½” bushing bottoms which are ½” in length.

Mark an inverted U line on middle of a tee. The vertical portions of the line should be ½” long and the horizontal portion should be 1⅛” long.

Drill holes with a 9/64” drill bit on the ends and corners of the line. Cut the inverted U slot with a chisel or knife. The slot’s width should allow the thickness of a 1½” screw to move smoothly in it. We need two ¾” tees with inverted U slots.

Now we will assemble two bolts. One will be the left-side bolt and the other one will be the right-side bolt.

Start with the left-side bolt. Assemble a ¾” x ½” bushing bottom, a half ¾” coupling piece, a 1½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe, a ¾” tee with inverted U slot and a whole ¾”x ½” bushing.

Then put a 4½” length of Pex ½” pipe through the holes of both bushings and align the ends flush with the bushings. Put a 1½” screw through a ½” length of Micro tubing ¼” pipe and drive it into the Pex ½” pipe through the right end of the inverted U slot in the tee.

Assemble the right-side bolt in the same way but as a mirror image of the left-side bolt.

Glue all of the PVC fittings together, making sure that the Pex pipe can slide freely inside the assemblies.

Assemble a ¾”tee, a 2” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe, a ¾” elbow, a 2” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe and a ¾”cap. Glue all of these together.

Assemble a ¾” cap, a 2½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe*, a ¾” tee and the second 2½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe. Put a 6” length of Sch40 grade ½” PVC pipe** inside the assembly, and close with the second ¾” cap.

Glue all of the ¾” PVC.

*The two ¾” pipes have to be Class200pe grade which has a bigger inner diameter so that the ½” pipe can fit inside.

**Don’t glue the 6” length Sch40 grade ½” PVC pipe. It works as a bearing here.

Assemble a 1½” length Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe* with a ¾” elbow. Glue the elbow and pipe. Mark a hole center on a ¾”tee 3/8” from its edge. Assemble the tee on the pipe, close and align tee and elbow. Drill a ¼” hole at the mark. Drill another hole on the other side in the same way.

Separate the tee from the pipe. Put the snap clip into the pipe and snap it into the holes.

Now we have a clip lock consisting of an elbow and a tee. They will be separately assembled to two parts – the reel body and the arm – and the clip lock is used to lock the two parts together.

Chamfer the holes on the tee so that it is easy to release the clip lock by pushing the studs in with your fingers.

*The pipe has to be Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe which has a bigger inner diameter so that the snap clip can fit in it.

Assemble axle: a 3¾” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe*, a ¾” cross, a 2½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe, the second ¾” cross turned 90°, the second 2½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe, the third ¾” cross, a 6½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe and the handle which we made in Step 7. Turn the handle 45° to the crosses.

Assemble spokes with 6 pieces of 6” long Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe in the ¾” crosses.

Assemble the first hub pole: the left-side bolt which we made in Step 5, a 2½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe, a ¾” tee, a 6½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe, the second ¾” tee, the second 6½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe and the clip lock elbow which we made in Step 8.

Assemble the second hub pole: a 2” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe, the hook which we made in Step 6, a 6½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe, a ¾” tee, a 10½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe and a ¾” elbow.

Assemble the third hub pole: the right-side bolt which we made in Step 5, a 2½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe, a ¾” tee, a 6½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe, the second ¾” tee, the second 6½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe and a ¾” elbow.

Assemble the fourth hub pole: a 2” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe, a ¾” tee, a 10½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe and a ¾” elbow.

Assemble all of the hub poles to the spokes in sequence.

Glue all of the PVC. The reel body is ready.

All of the pipes on the axle have to be Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipes, which have a bigger inner diameter so that a ½” Sch40 grade PVC pipe can go through as the shaft of the reel.

Assemble the clip lock tee which we made in Step 8, a 2” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe and a ¾”x ½” tee turned 90 degrees.

Assemble a 4¼” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe to a ¾”x ½” tee. A 2½” length of Class200pe grade ½” PVC pipe goes through a 1” coupling*, then connects the two ¾”x ½” tees. The clip lock tee and the 4½” pipe are parallel pointing up.

Don’t glue yet.

*Never glue the 1” coupling. It is a rolling element for untangling the hose.

Assemble a ¾” tee to a ¾” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe. Connect the tee to a second ¾”tee with a 2” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe. This assembly is a foot pedal.

Align and glue.

Take a ¾” tee, remove the inner lip and scrape or sand its interior until it will slide and rotate on a ¾” pipe. It will be a ¾” hinge.

Remove the inner lip from another one in the same way and cut it down 1” from the edge. It will be a ¾” pedal connector.

Another choice is to buy slip tees online. I cannot find slip tees in local hardware stores.

Assemble an 18” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe to the ¾” hinge. Put the ¾” pedal connector on the 18” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe and slide it down until the pedal connector’s short side (the side we’ve cut 1” away from) touches the hinge. Glue the pedal connector on here.

Don’t glue the hinge to the 18” pipe yet.

Assemble the 2” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe of the pedal to the pedal connector on the arm pole. Turn pedal to 30 degrees with respect to the arm pole.

Assemble the ¾”x ½” tee on the clip lock tee side of the arm head to the 18” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe of the arm pole and turn the arm head 45 degrees.

Don’t glue yet.

Assemble a 4” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe, a ¾” elbow, a 2” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe and a ¾” tee.

Align and glue.

Assemble a ¾” coupling and a 2” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe.

Glue them.

Assemble a ¾” tee, a 6½” length of Sch40 grade ¾” PVC pipe*, the second ¾” tee, the second 6½” length of Sch40 grade ¾” PVC pipe and the third ¾” tee together, with the second ¾”tee turned 90 degrees to the front. This assembly is the rear side base.

Assemble a ¾” tee, a 6½” length of Sch40 ¾” PVC pipe, the second ¾” tee, the arm stopper which we made in Step 17 and a 5¼” length of Class200pe ¾” PVC pipe together, with the 5¼” pipe on the left and the second ¾” tee turned 90 degrees to rear. The arm stopper pipe goes to front and left parallel with the 5¼” pipe. This is the front side base.

Assemble two 6½” lengths of Sch40 grade ¾” PVC pipe and a 21¼” length of Sch40 grade ½” PVC pipe onto a ¾”x ½” tee. The 21¼” length Sch40 grade ½” PVC pipe is the shaft of the reel. This assembly is the shaft base.

*Sch40 grade PVC pipe is recommended in this step to make a strong base. Class200pe grade PVC is recommended for the other pipes to keep the reel light.

Assemble rear side base, front side base and shaft base together.

Align and glue.

Make sure that the 21¼” shaft is vertical.

Slide the hinge of the reel arm onto the 5½” length of Class200pe grade ¾” PVC pipe of the reel base.

Assemble a ¾” elbow on the end of the 5½” pipe.

Glue the elbow on.

Assemble the bolt catcher which we made in Step 18 to the right ¾” tee of the rear base.

Don’t glue yet.

Slide the reel body axle onto the shaft of the reel base.

Lock the clip lock tee to the clip lock elbow to hold the arm to the reel body. Slide out the pex pipes of left bolt and right bolt.

Use a pencil to mark the pex pipe on the arm.

Use a pencil to mark the pex pipe on the bolt catcher of the rear base.

Drill a hole on the arm as the catch of left bolt of the reel body, and drill a hole on the reel base bolt catcher as catch of right bolt, both with a 5/8” drill bit.

Chamfer the holes’ edges to make the pex pipe easy to slide in.

Since we haven’t glued them, we can take out them to drill the holes.

Reassemble the arm and the bolt catcher. Fitting holes with bolts, adjust as necessary.

Fitting clip lock.

Here you may need do some adjustments. For example, you may need to sand the snap clip ends more round and sand the clip tee’s interior so they are easy to lock together.

Glue arm pole to the hinge.

Glue the bolt catcher on the base.

Adjust the angles of the arm pedal and arm head. Glue them*.

*Never glue the 1” coupling. It is a rolling element for untangling the hose.

Open the arm.

Put pool hose head in the hook.

The hose goes over the roller on the arm.

Rotate the reel to wind hose from pool.

Lock the arm to hold the hose.

Slide both barrel bolts to lock the reel to the base.

Place pool cleaning tools in the reel for storage.

Use gravity to unwind the hose.