In the picture below, can someone identify the silver grooved items with rounded ends between the hose connections. If they are shut-off valves, they do not move with normal force (or really at all).
What are the levers on the washing machine hose connection fittings
hose
Related Solutions
It is proper to put a hose clamp on a connection like that as often the barbs aren't sufficient especially after it's come off a few times. If you're worried about damaging the fitting from the furnace just add another fitting after it and secure it the the furnace or floor, etc. Then your standalone fitting will be the one that gets damaged if somebody kicks it hard.
There are garden hose splice devices that you can purchase at home centers and big box stores that can be used to fix these. You may lose a short bit of total length as you cut off the damaged part to accomodate the splicer.
If you need more added length you could use two of these splicers to stitch in a new length of hose.
They also sell devices that will attach new hose ends as well.
In your situation the hose ends that are broken may be broken from having laid out in the sun for years at a time. The sun treatment can make the hose hard and brittle. On the other hand the part of the hose in the soil may still be in decent shape. You could cut off the old hose all the way back to where it is in the soil and splice on a piece cut from a new hose that already has the faucet tap fitting on the end.
Be aware that the direct attachment of your lawn sprinklers to the the potable water supply is not the recommended guideline. Sprinklers are generally connected through anti siphon valves (whether those be manually operated or solenoid controlled). You may want to look into replacing the temporary hose connect hack with a more permanent arrangement with some anti siphon valves. Note that the anti siphon valve should be installed at an elevation that is 8 to 12 inches above the highest sprinkler outlet on that water circuit.
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Best Answer
Those knobs are indeed quarter turn shut off valves. They have probably not been turned in years and have buildup of mineral deposits inside or some other type of corrosion.
The shutoff valves are there to allow it to be easy to attach / replace the washer water hoses.
Before trying to see if you can free them up you will have to figure out how to turn off the water supply up stream from where these are located. You may be having to replace the whole water hammer arrester assemblies to get valves that will work.
Note that it is quite common that those in wall laundry hose hookup boxe units having crappy shutoff valves. The ones in my house are similar but have a simple round turn knob on the top and are very difficult to turn after sitting for a long time.