Emergency Plumbing Tools That You Should Store In Your Home

You never know when something will burst or break, leaving you with a flood, mess, or worse, a foul smell that can fill your home. If you keep the following tools at home for emergencies, you can tackle any mishap with ease.

• Plunger:

  This is probably the most important tool you should keep at home. Did you know that plunger’s are affectionately called “The plumber’s best friend”? Why? It acts as a vacuum that helps removes drain and toilet clogs, which is the most common plumbing problem in homes.

• Fire-resistant cloth:

  These thick cloths are expressly treated to protect combustible surfaces. Although this isn’t always a common thought when dealing with plumbing, but many common household bathroom products are flammable (even hairspray!), so it’s great to have on hand.

• Fire extinguisher:

  Hopefully, you never have to use it, but it’s always good to have one in your house. Not exactly a plumbing tool per say, however, all plumbers believe in safety first and having something around that puts out fire is definitely good to have.

• A family of wrenches:

  A nice collection of wrenches are the perfect tools to attack any plumbing job. Make sure your collection incudes an adjustable wrench, basin wrench and pipe wrench. You will probably need to loosen nuts or tighten threaded pipes at some point during a repair and, unless you have superhuman strength, you will need a wrench to do so.

• Pliers:

  If you can, opt for the tongue-and-groove options. Plumbers love pliers because they offer a firm grip when you need to hold or twist something. Keep two sizes in the house, 10-inch and 12-inch.

• Hand and closet augers:

  You’ve probably seen these devices before and called them by their nickname, a drain snake. Hand augers are crankable drain clearing tools that can remove obstructions from your bathtub, sinks and drains. Closet augers do the same job, but are specially designed for clogged toilets. You can use a hand auger in your toilet if need be, it just may take a little more time to unclog.

• Tubing cutter:

  Keep a mini-cutter for tight spaces and a regular sized cutter for when you have more room to work. These cutters do exactly what their name suggests; they cut. More importantly, they cut copper pipe, which can be very tough to even make a dent in without a tubing cutter.

• Hacksaw:

  This device also cuts, except it cuts through even more materials like metal and plastic pipe, hardware, nut and bolts, and screws.

• Metal file:

  Smooth out the edges of everything you’ve cut by using a metal file. Keep two on hand, a half-round version and the rat-tail type.

If you find yourself with a plumbing emergency and don’t have these tools on hand, contact Green City Plumber!