Ace Hardware

[o1marc]

I quit shopping at Ace decades ago due to the high "convenience" charge added on. But lately I have been quite surprised. I bought a shower stall from Home Depot online and posted it here. Another member told me he had the same one bought at Ace. I checked to see how more it would have been than HD. Turns out the Ace one was $200 cheaper. As soon as the HD one was delivered I loaded it in the truck headed to HD to do a return and then headed to Ace to pick up the new one.
So now I'm plumbing the mini-split and need 4-5' of 1/2"OD copper coil. I grab a 10' roll from HD ($27) only to get home and realize it is 1/2ID and won't fit the flares. I was ticked I had to buy more then I needed. I take it back and look for 1/2"OD, there it is, 50' rolls only. Not paying that for 5'. They say try the Ace. It's on the way home so I pull in and ask if they carry 1/2" copper coil? He says Ya we have a little bit. Get to the rack and find 10' of 1/2"OD is $17.99. Then he tells me if I don't need the whole roll, I can get it by the foot. Great, how much a foot? $1.80. Give me 5', made my day.

[HazMatt]

"Ace is the place..."

[Johnny Mullet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwnqr4eY_1U

[cadillackid]

just remember refrigeration lines work in OD and the flares for them are 45 degrees and not 37 degrees like hydraulics... I have a Yellow Jacket flare tool made specifically for doing R-410A lines... pressures of 450+ PSI are common in R410A systems..
-Christopher

[HazMatt]

That is psome pserious psi!
https://youtu.be/a01QQZyl-_I

[musigenesis]

My old parking spot was 1/4 mile from a Lowe's and a Home Depot which was very convenient and almost made up for the neighborhood's crime statistics. My new spot is 200 feet from a tiny Ace Hardware and somehow, despite having like 1/100th of the floor space of the big box stores, they have a much better selection of all the stuff I need to get on a regular basis (like paint, drill bits, screws, grinder disks etc.) and the prices are about the same. Ace is the Place with the Helpful Hardware ... well it's actually staffed with clueless teenagers, but you can't have everything I guess.

[brokedown]

I had the local Ace fill up my propane tank yesterday, saved 35% over doing an exchange. They also carry Craftsman tools although I won't vouch for the quality of that brand these days.

[HazMatt]

As long as you can still swap out a busted tool for new..
Agreed, the quality ain't what it once was.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

As long as you can still swap out a busted tool for new..
Agreed, the quality ain't what it once was.

They quit replacing busted tools years ago, at best they will now rebuild them in store. You have to leave them and pick them up later, well at least when I went in with 8 broken ratchet wrenches. They have all since broken again in a 1/10th of how long the original lasted

[HazMatt]

Well, that's no fun.
Guess there's no hurry in discovering where I squirreled away my bust breaker bar...