The Top 10 Essential Plumbing Tools for Professionals

Professional plumbing requires a lot of quality tools, but seasoned pros know there are some you’ll rely on much more often than others. Organizing your toolkit into something that works for you, instead of against you, takes balancing what you need to complete 90% of your jobs against those few outliers that require specific tools.

To help you find that balance, Ferguson has selected the top 10 essential plumbing tools, along with a few honorable mentions, to carry on every job so you can get more done every day.

Top 10 must-have plumbing tools for professionals

This plumbing tools list covers not just the basics but also the tools that can stand in for many others to save space and weight in your toolbox.

1. Impact drills

Pros use impact drills and drivers throughout the day. For heavy-duty jobs like rough-ins that need more power, the MILWAUKEE® M18 Fuel™ 2-Tool Combo Kit delivers a hammer drill/driver and hex hydraulic driver in one kit.

The hammer drill/driver can penetrate heavy, dense materials for anchors and much more, replacing the need for a separate hammer. You can also easily change settings to switch to the impact drill.

The SURGE™ ¼" hex hydraulic driver handles heavy screws with precision and faster driving speeds, less vibration and quieter operation compared to others. While it feels a bit heavier, the driver can meet any task you’ll come across in residential plumbing.

These cordless tools are powerful, with 2,000 in-lbs. of torque to make demanding tasks less demanding. They offer 4-mode drive control for greater control with a range of materials, and they fit smoothly into small spaces for tight jobs.

2. Reciprocating saw

One of the most-used tools in a plumber’s kit, a quality reciprocating saw cuts through pipe, drywall and other materials for every part of a professional job. The MILWAUKEE® Hackzall® Cordless 18V 5A Lithium-ion Reciprocating Bare Tool vibrates up to four times less than standard reciprocating saws, reducing muscle fatigue, and the 7/8" stroke length enables faster cuts.

The Hackzall is ergonomically designed so you get superior control using it one-handed, making cuts overhead or in tight spaces a snap. Tuck this into your toolkit so you can power through any tough job you face.

3. Toilet auger

Fixing toilets may be the first thing your customers think of when it comes to plumbing, although your career is so much more. As complex as your day-to-day projects may be, resolving tough clogs appears on the to-do list pretty frequently. The best tools will help you clear these fast so you can get to your next job.

With the General Pipe Cleaners Flexicore® 6' Toilet Auger, you can extend an extra three feet of Teletube® once you’ve worked the auger into the first three feet of the bowl so you don’t have to lift the bowl to clear the stoppage beyond.

The Flexicore wire rope center cables fight kinking and wrapping, and the auger also features a vinyl bowl guard to protect your customers’ porcelain from scratches and scrapes. Because it’s manual, you don’t have to worry about making sure batteries are always charged and ready to go, so you can get to the task at hand quickly.

4. Pipe cutter

For clean, fast cuts with less need to deburr, a quality pipe cutter can sometimes be the better option for a task than a reciprocating saw.

The RAPTOR® 1 1/4 in. PVC, PEX, CPVC Pipe Cutter ratchet mechanism requires less force for you to make the cut, and you can operate it one-handed for pipe in hard-to-reach places.

This cutter can handle most types of PVC, CPVC, PEX, polyethylene and, of course, rubber hose. The blades have a corrosion-free finish and are easy to swap out when needed.

5. Inside pipe cutter

A standard pipe cutter can’t reach all pipe—for underground pipe or pipe for toilet flanges, shower drains and more, you’ll need to combine a power drill with an inside or internal pipe cutter.

The RAPTOR® Inside Pipe Cutter secures into the drill chuck to keep you from losing it down the drain, and the steel blade is heat treated for better durability.

6. Tubing cutter set

In addition to thicker pipe in different materials, residential plumbing has thinner tubes throughout in a range of sizes, so a set of cutters in different sizes saves busy pros time and energy throughout the day. And with most of that work in tight spaces, compact design and easy directional grip allows you to get in and out quickly.

The MILWAUKEE® 3-piece Close Quarters Tubing Cutter Set is the most compact choice for use in tight spaces and features easy-to-see sizing: ½", ¾" and 1" copper tubing cutters. Weep holes are integrated to keep water from pooling during use, and chrome rollers help protect against rust damage.

Your cutters stay secure and organized in the storage case, which also has space for any extra blades and your reaming pen to easily deburr tubing.

7. Adjustable wrench

Also known as the crescent wrench, a trustworthy adjustable wrench can save a lot of space in your plumber’s toolkit.

The RAPTOR® 8 in. Adjustable Wrench has a lighter weight, and the 18-25% wider jaw opening increases the range for the fastener sizes you come across every day. It’s also uniquely designed to avoid wearing down the corners of fasteners.

Because the moveable jaw end doesn’t protrude, you can access fasteners in tight spaces much easier, and the wrench head has laser-etched SAE and metric rule so you can identify the right size fast.

8. Offset hex wrench

A hex wrench allows you to zero in more precisely on nuts and screws than an adjustable wrench can. The RIDGID® 1 1/8 in. – 2 5/8 in. Offset Hex Wrench E110 is constructed of cast iron to handle heavy-duty fastening on both residential and commercial plumbing jobs.

With the better grip of offset plus thin jaws to work in close quarters, you’ll be able to secure drain nuts, hex nuts, square nuts, unions, valve packing nuts and more tucked away anywhere, even at an angle.

9. Basin wrench

While you may not use it every single day, a basin wrench is an essential plumbing tool to have in the work truck. But when it comes to the must-haves to carry in your plumber’s kit, there’s a tool that can handle most of the jobs the basin wrench does but with less of a learning curve and muscle strain.

The RIDGID® Sink Strainers 16 ½ in. Basin Wrench, also known as the EZ Change Faucet Tool, will take care of the majority of faucet replacements and installations you’ll come across. The body is reinforced for fasteners that are hard to break and easy to grip for leverage.

The versatile tool works for multiple sizes for supply lines and clamp nuts and common faucet designs. Most importantly, you can use it to reach fasteners and pipe in tight places without losing time getting your grip and leverage just right, as you have to with the standard basin wrench.

10. Tape measure

It’s hard to think of a more essential plumber’s tool than the trusty tape measure, used multiple times a day not just to measure pipe length and necessary diameter but also to calculate pressure, drainage, fixture units and so much more.

The MILWAUKEE® 25 ft. Magnetic Tape Measure offers better balance and control with less blade rollover. The low-profile magnet means a better grab, and it’s fully reinforced to resist against impact on the jobsite—plus the belt clip means you can always have it at hand.

The blade remains stiff at 12 feet, and the first six inches have double-sided anti-tear coating for reinforcement.

Essential plumbing tools—honorable mentions

While the list above covers the basic plumbing tools a professional needs, there are a few products, tools and supplies that deserve mention to make your job faster for you and less taxing on your body.

Urinal auger

Negotiating the tight bends of urinals requires something different than a toilet auger. The General Pipe Cleaners Teletube® Urinal Auger™ 4 ft. has a telescoping tube with a 48" spring to clear beyond the urinal and a rubber bumper to protect the fixtures from scratches.

Similar to the General Pipe Cleaners toilet auger listed at no. 3 above, this urinal auger allows you to double your reach after you work the first half of the line into the bowl without the need to remove the urinal from the wall.

Knee pads

While our list of must-have plumbing tools includes options to help keep you from spending too long working in cramped spaces, taking precautions to protect your body and joints from the strain of professional plumbing is still important.

The Armateck® Deluxe Comfort Knee Pads in black fit comfortably while keeping your knees safer, and their anti-slide design means you can focus on finishing your tasks quickly without getting an unwanted thigh workout or pulled muscle.

Reciprocating saw blade

For getting through thick metal, the Diablo Tools Steel Demon™ 9 in. 8 TPI Reciprocating Saw Blade (1-Piece, Pack of 3) carbide can deliver. The blade body is oversized so you get less vibration with straighter cuts, and the Perma-SHIELD® protects the blade against gumming and corrosion to resist heat build-up.

Expansion tools

PEX-A is quickly taking over plumbing systems, and connecting these securely without the right tools can make installation a tedious, time-intensive chore.

The MILWAUKEE® M12™ ProPEX® Expansion Tool Kit includes everything you need to not only reduce your labor time on multiple connections, but also make sure those connections can stand up to pressure over the long term.

The powerful cordless expander tool is made for maximum durability, and its auto-rotating head helps keep your expansions consistently even. The design means you can easily use it one-handed in tight spaces.

The kit includes expander heads in three sizes—½", ¾" and 1"—as well as cone grease to help maintain your investment. And the REDLITHIUM™ CP2.0 batteries and accompanying M12 charger provide a long run time, so that time you need to spend waiting to test connections can be focused on recharging yourself instead of your equipment. The kit can feel a bit on the heavier side but comes with a case for easy carrying.

Ferguson has everything on your plumbing tools list

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