Plumbing Tools

HI,

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I HAVE TO ASK YOU ONE THING I SAW A PLUMER A FEW YEARS BACK AN DDID NOT ASK HI WERE HE GOT HIS FLAME PAD FROM IT WAS ABOUT 1FT / 1FT SQURE AND ABOUT 1/4 IN THICK HE PUT IT BETWEN THE PIPE AND THE STUD SO IT WOULD NOT BURN WHAT IS THE NAME OF THIS AND WERE CAN I GET ONE PLEASE HELP THANKS.

Just a breif expansion, Tim.

Water pump pliers/plumber's pliers/adjustable grips are alot more effective than Stilsons/pipe wrench and far easier to use when it comes to gripping brass fittings, nuts or countering unwanted motion of fittings. They are also usefull on UPVC & ABS plastic fittings. Knipex make excellent pliers of all sorts.

Stilsons are effective on low carbon steel pipework and fittings, which is found in older installations, commonly old gas pipe, although I wouldn't advise working on gas unless you are qualified. Record Stilsons are among the best in my opinion.

An assortment of 2-3 adjustable spanners is advised.

A spud wrench/monkey wrench is also a usefull tool, but more hard to come by these days. The reason for this is the maximum width of the mouth. These can be very usefull for installing and maintaining the large nut assembly of shower mixer valves. Spud wrenches are purely a preference of my own and many plumbers will have there favored tools for different jobs.

Pipe slices or automatic pipe cutters are also usefull and many plumbers old and new like them because they speed up cutting time. Cheap plastic ones are flimsy and don't last long though. Quality brands such as Rothenberger make good pipe slices, along with most other things, but they all come at a price.

Propane is a common gas for soldering. It is important to get a decent self-ignighting blowtorch. Blowing capillary fittings dosn't take long to get the hang of and a good blowtorch, an aggressive flux and decent solder help alot. Make sure the insides of the fittings and the outside of the pipe are nicely polished with steel wool before applying flux. I use a Rothenberger Superfire-2.

Benders/Scissor benders are among the most important basic plumbing kit items, although technique and knowledge is required to get dimensions right, unless your planning on using alot of fittings! It is a good idea to invest a fair amount of money in good benders. Hilmor GLM benders are my personal choice and that of many plumbers I have worked with. The Record benders are also good. You will not be able to bend offsets and passovers with springs.

Hacksaws are good for trimming down small amounts of pipe too small for cutters. A frame hacksaw and a junior hacksaw for cutting pipe over your leg are essential.

Copper pipe de-burrers are important too. The less burrs you have in pipework, the less noise it will make. Decent clip spacings will help with this too.

Make sure you put isolation valves/ball-o-fixes on the hot and cold feeds to appliances. This makes maintenence alot easier.

just what i need! thanks alot! cheers!