RIDGID is the popular name of the Ridge Tool Company of Elyria, OH. Founded in the 1920s as a manufacturer of professional plumbing and HVAC tools, they have relatively recently branched out into more general-purpose hand tools and power tools. They are now a division of Emerson Electric. Image File history File links Ridgid_logo. ... Elyria is a city located in Lorain County, Ohio. ... The plumber wrench for screwing various pipes Plumbing, from the Latin for lead (plumbum), is the skilled trade of working with pipes and tubing for potable water systems and for drainage of waste. ... HVAC (pronounced either H-V-A-C or, occasionally, H-VAK) is an initialism/acronym that stands for heating, ventilating and air-conditioning. This is sometimes referred to as climate control. ... Emerson Electric Company is a global company based in the United States which ranked 144 on the Fortune 500. ...

Smaller and more common tools are readily available at Home Depot, while other RIDGID products are available by special order at Home Depot or local plumbing and HVAC wholesalers. Contrary to a relatively popular belief, they are not a Home Depot house brand. The Home Depot (NYSE: HD) is an American retailer of home improvement and construction products. ... Generic brands of consumer products are distinguished by the absence of a well-known brand name. ...

All Home Depot stores with a pipe threader use a RIDGID auto-chuck machine, usually either the RIDGID 535 or 1822 series. Most Home Depots also use RIDGID wet/dry vacuum cleaners ("shop vacs", to use a genericized trademark) to clean up sawdust in their lumber departments. Threaded pipe and elbow National pipe thread (NPT) is a U.S. standard for tapered threads used around the world to join pipe and fittings. ...

The vast majority of RIDGID products, notably including power tools, carry a lifetime warranty which covers everything except normal consumables (oil, drain cables and cutters, filters, cutting dies). Also notable, RIDGID's lifetime warranty covers wet/dry vacuum cleaners unless they have been used to vacuum drywall dust. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Specialties

• automatic-chuck pipe threading machines.
• RIDGID SeeSnake video sewer and drain inspection systems.
• RIDGID SeekTech utilities locators.

Image File history File links 535A.jpg‎ RIDGID 535A auto-chuck pipe threader, from RIDGIDs website. ...

Hand Tools

• pipe wrenches, including premium lightweight aluminum models and RIDGID RapidGrip spring-loaded self-adjusting pipe wrenches.
• manual pipe threaders.
• manual tubing cutters.
• manual drum augers ("hand spinners") from RIDGID/Kollman.
• basin wrenches and other plumbing speciality tools.
• broad range of hand tools (recent).

new pipe wrench 1869 patent drawing The pipe wrench, or Stillson® wrench is an adjustable wrench used for turning soft iron pipes and fittings with a rounded surface. ... Aluminum is a soft and lightweight metal with a dull silvery appearance, due to a thin layer of oxidation that forms quickly when it is exposed to air. ... A plumbers snake is a flexible auger used to remove clogs in plumbing that cannot be loosened with a plunger. ...

Power Tools

• pipe threaders.
• drum augers and other powered drain snakes.
• utility pumps.
• wet/dry vacuum cleaners (recent).
• common power tools (saws, drills, etc.) (recent).
• air compressors and air tools (recent).

Advertising Slogans

As RIDGID has traditionally been a professional tool company, their advertising has been limited (their equipment stands on reputation in the plumbing trade) and was generally restricted to trade publications in the plumbing and HVAC fields. This author expects the situation to change now that RIDGID has broadened its offerings to more general tools.

• "I love a RIDGID tool" (obviously a double entendre, a bumper sticker seen on plumbing company trucks during the late 1990s).
• "Tools for the Professional" (current slogan).

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Profanity. ...

Trivia

• The mascot for the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Engineering is a 60" (1.5 m) pipe wrench called The TOOL, formerly the RIDGID Tool, as it was donated by the Ridge Tool Company in 1968. Archives of The TOOL's adventures are available.

The University of Waterloo, also known as UW, UWaterloo, or simply, Waterloo is a medium-sized research-intensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. ...

External links

• RIDGID's website (includes product demonstration videos and plumbing discussion forums)