Versatile sink-installation tool
Ridgid introduces a new type of faucet wrench
• Manufactured by Ridgid
• 888-743-4333; www.ridgid.com
• Cost: about $23
When I received Ridgid’s new Faucet & Sink Installer, I thought it was going to be just another tool that I use once (maybe), put down, and never pick up again. And that might have been the case if my basin wrench hadn’t broken a spring in its jaw halfway through a kitchen-faucet removal on a Friday afternoon. (When else do you break a tool?) Anybody who has tried to install a faucet without a basin wrench knows what I was thinking: How am I going to get this job done with a pair of ChannelLock pliers?
The Faucet & Sink Installer saved me. The tool looks like the handle of Luke Skywalker’s light saber, but it’s actually a wrench with reversible aluminum fittings designed to fit shutoff valves and sink-strainer baskets as well as the nuts for faucets and supply lines.
Because the plastic tool has a slot on one side, you can use it to loosen supply nuts without climbing all the way under the sink. I also was able to use it in combination with a crescent wrench to unscrew the ever-frustrating anchor nut on the strainer basket.
I’m pleased to say that the tool performed just as well when it came time to put in the new faucet. In fact, my favorite feature was its ability to slide over the handle of the shutoff valves to restore flow to the sink.
It won’t replace my basin wrench, but the Ridgid tool has already earned a permanent place in my toolbox.
Photo by: Justin Fink, except where noted
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