Even with advancements in cordless nailing, air hoses remain a must-have on most job sites. Unfortunately, tangles of hose create a serious trip hazard, and wrapping up 50 or 100 ft. of hose at the end of the day is a tedious process at best. These are the problems that PneuPower’s Recoiler (pneupowerus.com) tries to solve. 

The Recoiler is a briefcase-size hose reel that contains either 100 ft. of 1/4-in. air hose or 50 ft. of 3/8-in. air hose. The high-quality polyurethane hose is designed for temperature extremes from -60 to 175 deg F. 

I tested a 100 ft. Recoiler on a remodel job for about two weeks and found it very useful. First off, saying that the Recoiler speeds cleanup is an understatement. As a fellow carpenter said, “The last thing you want to do at the end of a work day is work.” Trying to wrangle a long air hose that’s twisted up like an old-school telephone cord isn’t something anyone looks forward to at 4:30 pm.

With the Recoiler, reeling back the full 100-ft. length takes less than a minute. Coiling up 10 or 20 ft. takes seconds. Making the day’s end easier is a great thing, but the Recoiler’s true high point is that it offers any length of hose that you need, all in one small unit that weighs less than 10 lb.

When I was working near the compressor, 10 to 15 ft. were reeled out, but when I was around the corner and up a ladder, 40 ft. were reeled out. Being able to dictate the exact amount of hose made for a less cluttered, more professional-looking job site with less chance of someone getting their feet tangled.

I do have two small complaints. When the unit is set up on its 1-in. feet, the reel’s handle is just off the ground. When you’re on an uneven surface like grass or dirt, the handle gets bogged down, making it impossible to pull the hose from the reel. I solved the problem by setting up the Recoiler on a small scrap of plywood.

I also found that it is best if the hose is slightly tensioned as it is being reeled into the unit at the end of the day. If it isn’t, the hose will become bound up on itself, making it difficult to pull out the next day.

Even so, sometimes there was still some binding. When that happened, the case followed me along instead of the hose politely reeling out. A simple 1x lip screwed onto my improvised plywood base was enough to hold the Recolier in place as I pulled out the needed hose.

In the end, the Recoiler proved itself to be a solid tool and worth the $145 price tag. It makes cleanup a breeze and increases safety. I also liked the security of knowing that with 100 ft. of hose in the truck, I’d have enough length to reach any task.

I think the Recoiler would be a useful, time-saving addition to anyone’s on-site arsenal.

-Doug Mahoney is a remodeler in Harvard, Mass.

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