Tumble dryer hose

I'm building a run that I would like to attach permanently to our hutch. We looked at the runaround kits but they seem rather expensive for what they are so we are looking at making some ourselves instead.

I already have some 5" diameter tumble dryer hose that I could use but this is a bit thinner that the hose that runaround use. Has anyone used this for buns? I'm in two minds as to whether its predator proof enough at the moment.

Definitely not if it's anything like our tumble dryer hose. It's basically just a wire coil covered in thin vinyl plastic. You need thick plastic drainage pipe which you'll get from a builders merchant.

I agree - my tumble drier hose is super flimsy!

We have a runaround system and they are brilliant. The design is quite ingenious, just wished i had thought of it. I would definitely recommend it, granted they are quite expensive as you say. The tube is thick and quite rigid unless you have a really long piece. It also pre-drilled holes in it for drainage (wee etc). The doors and clips to the tube are all really well made and fit together tightly, creating a very tight seal. I guess this is to make it predator/fox proof. We looked at doing our own and I'm quite sure we could have come up with something, we just weren't sure we could make predator proof enough, so we went for the runaround system. We had the connection kit 2 at £55.99. It also makes cleaning the hutch a lot easier now as I can put the girls in the run and put in the perspex door on the run side which keeps them in the run while I can clean out the hutch.

I've been wondering actually, if your runaround is attached through the hutch door, how do you open the hutch door to clean it out??

Ailstar said:

I've been wondering actually, if your runaround is attached through the hutch door, how do you open the hutch door to clean it out??

Click to expand...

The connection kit 2 comes with two perspex circle doors which you slot into the openings with twisty clips (one for each side, depending on which side you need to block off).

To clean the hutch, I put the girls in the run, detach the tube and clip a perspex door in the opening of the run side so they can't get out of the run. Detaching the tube is literally a 10 second job.

I can reverse the process by putting the perspex door in the hutch side when I want to clean the run. This is particular useful if they are having their mad half hour (running around at full speed everywhere) or keep get in the way when I'm cleaning the run.

Ah right, so easy to detach the tube. That's fine then, I wasn't sure if it was really delicate and would break if you kept taking it on and off. I'm desperate to get some for Levi and Daisy!

It really well made, I suppose it must be to make it predator proof. The tube will take my weight, I know this as I fell back by accident and sat full force on to the leftover tube that I cut to size when I was fitting it. Only thing I'll say is that if you're fitting the door into mesh as I have, it's worth putting some more staples to further secure the mesh just above and below the doors as my tube is only around 2.5ft and is pushing against the mesh. Not so much of an issue if the tub is longer and the openings are not directly opposite each other as there would be less force.

It seems to be the pipe that is the stumbling block actually: it's near impossible to get lengths that short of suitable pipe. And all the praise for runaround on this thread and others has convinced me so I've just ordered a connector kit instead. It does look much more elegant than I would be able to do with a home made solution and if it's designed for purpose I'll not need to worry that's it's fit for the job! So much for saving money on the build! :lol:

dominoid said:

It seems to be the pipe that is the stumbling block actually: it's near impossible to get lengths that short of suitable pipe. And all the praise for runaround on this thread and others has convinced me so I've just ordered a connector kit instead. It does look much more elegant than I would be able to do with a home made solution and if it's designed for purpose I'll not need to worry that's it's fit for the job! So much for saving money on the build! :lol:

Click to expand...

We thought it was expensive too when we initially looked at it, but we saved a load of money as we also built our own run, so decided to go for runaround. Seriously, you won't be disappointed. If you need any advice about set ups and what you need, you can speak to Paul and Caroline who own runaround. They are really helpful and nice to deal with. We went to pick ours up directly as we were going to the Trafford Centre shopping and they are only around 15 minutes away from there. They even gave us a load of freebies like a huge hidey tube for the bunnies which was a cut off and a few runaround keyrings for our children.

The Runaround pipe itself isn't that expensive IMO. The mesh products and doors/connectors are though!
I have made a connector myself to join a Runaround pipe to a run - basically plywood cut to fit into the grooves in the pipe on one side, and to sit over the pipe on the other and then screwed together. It works well and is strong and secure. It's a pain to take apart though so the Runaround doors are definitely the way to go if you need to take it on and off regularly.

sueny said:

We thought it was expensive too when we initially looked at it, but we saved a load of money as we also built our own run, so decided to go for runaround. Seriously, you won't be disappointed. If you need any advice about set ups and what you need, you can speak to Paul and Caroline who own runaround. They are really helpful and nice to deal with. We went to pick ours up directly as we were going to the Trafford Centre shopping and they are only around 15 minutes away from there. They even gave us a load of freebies like a huge hidey tube for the bunnies which was a cut off and a few runaround keyrings for our children.

Click to expand...

It all seems like a really nice old fashioned family business and they seem to put a lot of love into it even if they can't compete on price with the big bulk manufacturers.

Funnily enough it was seeing the pics of your run that inspired us to make our own. Once we can keep our buns together again I'm totally stealing your rabbit lawn idea too!

I think there are loads of threads considering runaround alternatives, and to be honest I was reluctant at the beginning to spend that much money and was considering alternatives but I now firmly believe that it is well worth the money. I now have two kits and am planning on buying a mesh tunnel and a binky box to make the bunnies acommodation a bit more interesting.