Send your Tool Tips to PM and you could win $200 worth of RIDGID tools.

Send Us Your Tool Tips

If you have an idea that has saved you time and money, Plumbing & Mechanical would like to share your tip with our readers. You can e-mail your idea directly to PM editor Steve Smith at smiths@bnpmedia.com, or mail it to him c/o PM, 1050 IL Route 83, Suite 200, Bensenville, IL 60106.

Our first-place winner will receive the following from Ridge Tool Co. The RIDGID® Prize Package consists of eight professional hand tools and has a $200 total value:

• 14-inch and 18-inch HD RAPIDGRIP™ Self-Adjusting Wrenches for easy, one-hand operation.

• One-Stop™ Wrench, a compound tool for installing compression couplings.

• 10-inch Wide-Mouth Adjustable Wrench featuring tapered jaws for tight areas.

• 10 1/2-inch Plumber's Tongue-and-Groove Pliers with extra-wide opening jaws.

• No. 117 Midget Tubing Cutter for use in confined areas.

• No. 151 Quick-Acting Tubing Cutter for smoother operation.

• 6-in-1 Multi-Purpose Screwdriver with two Phillips heads, two flat heads and two nut drivers.

First Place
Tightfit Tip

For real tight areas to changeout ballcocks in toilets, you can use a 15/32 tub socket. It fits the ballcock nut perfectly and makes for easy work.

Mike Russell
Savalot Plumbing & Drain Cleaning
Macon, Ga.

Storage Solution

Use empty ammo boxes to store like tool: wrenches in one, sockets sets in another, etc. They're inexpensive, durable, waterproof, compact, stackable, have handles, and come in sizes large enough to store pipe wrenches and threading tools.

Craig Stephenson
Bottom Line Mechanical Systems Inc.
Windham, Maine

Go Rotary

I use a Dremel rotary tool to grind off the chrome on P traps so they can be soldered. Works great.

Ray Fontaine
Fontaine Plumbing
Northampton, Mass.