Just like human bodies, machines and all sorts of devices and designs are made up of a number of different bits and pieces, and they all make the whole. Some of the bits and pieces of my interest in this article are the hose clamps. Now these are hardware pieces whose design is made to help connect other pieces, more specifically tubes and hoses to all sorts of fixtures. While they allow for connections to happen, they also allow for fluids to go from one place to another, and this is what makes them suitable for various applications.

Along with finding their place in household repairs (e.g. sinks, radiators, garden hoses), particularly plumbing, they’re also useful in automotive fixes. Since there are various applications, you can expect there to be a wide range of clamps for hoses to choose from. The design of hoses is simple, as is that of hose clamps, and you can’t have one without the other. If you want to secure hoses to fixtures, you have to use hose clamps. The simpler forms of clamps are the spring and the banded screw type (also known as worm drives).

While there are slight differences in their designs, the spring clamp being made of more flexible yet strong metal (spring steel band), and the screw of galvanised steel band, with slightly different tightening, they’re both used in the automotive systems though the spring ones are the preferred ones in these situations; the screw type are preferred for domestic wastewater piping for more flexible joining of pipes.

There are two other clamps for hoses used for similar (automotive radiator hoses) applications: the wire, and the ear clamps. While wire clamps are made of heavy steel band, ear ones are made of stainless steel in a design with two ears – hence the name. The ear clamps are preferred in cases that have to do with hoses and tubes meant to prevent gas or liquid leaking. Other than this basic classification, clamps also go under the names of plastic clamps, large clamps, heavy duty, stainless hose, and quick release – all related to the applications they’re used for.

What you have to be wary of, however, is overturning which could possibly lead to leakages, especially with the screw clamps. If you require very tight connection, then don’t think twice about getting heavy duty clamps, suitable for suction and pressure hoses, made to endure more force.