In the Spring, Once I start working in the yard, the hose bib stays on with the hose connected for me. The only time I turn it off is if I go away for longer then a day. As for pressure, I'm not worried about it bursting any plumbing in the house since it's under pressure any way. Hose blowing?? Not worried about that either because I've never had a garden hose burst. I've tossed a few because they got limp, but I feel that occures more from the sun beating on it rather then it from the water pressure on the inside. BTW, my current hose is 6 years old... It's getting limp so I'll replace it, either at the end of this year or next. Also I've always used those cheap hoses you find at one of the Mart stores because they're just easier to handle, but this next time, I might switch to one of those nice Goodyear hoses since they don't ever seem to kink from being twisted.

(Just a followup) Thanks for the advice everyone. I was able to get it connected using a Toro 53380 sprinkler valve, which has 3/4" pipe thread on each side (male). If you're doing something similar, note that the PVC adapters you need to connect this to an anti-syphon / pressure regulator / hose threaded faucet on one side and drip irrigation tubing or a manifold on the other side are in three different places in a big-box store like Home Depot. You need hose thread adapters, which are in plumbing (PVC, 3/4"), probably some 1/2" bushings or nipples from the irrigation section, and PVC pipe thread adapters (3/4") from the regular plumbing section. It can be a pain to find the ones you need with threads instead of smooth. When finished, my single-manifold gate setup was about 8 inches long, but it works! Remember to teflon-tape the threads and don't over tighten.

Did you overlook turning the cold faucet back on? No water flows into the machine on a cold setting? Hot does work? Warm comes through as hot? If so on all three points, then the machine is the problem -- either the cold valve is not working, something wrong with the temperature switch (or timer depending on how it all interacts), or a debris screen in the hose or valve is clogged.

We bought an older house that had the galvanized pipe from the meter and all through the house. When hubby replaced the water heater he noticed the interior of the pipe was badly corroded. We had always had low water pressure. Any way he decided to replace all the pipes from the meter and the pipes in the house. He did all the work himself. Used 1 inch PVC from the meter into the basement, into whole house filter. The rest of the house he did in 3/4 inch and 1/2 copper. We have had good water pressure ever since. The galvanized pipe he removed was almost totatly rusted/corrored closed. By the way he dug the trench from the meter to the house with posthole diggers and a trenching shovel. 24 inches deep and about 90 feet long. Not bad for a 67 year old man .lol