Rant: Old journeyman told me pipe benders are a waste and I should switch to EMT

Had a conversation with an old timer named Dave at the supply house in Phoenix last week. He swore up and down that anyone still using rigid pipe benders is just making extra work for themselves. Said EMT and MC cable are faster and nobody cares about the look anymore. But I've been using rigid for 12 years and I think his way skips too much on durability for commercial jobs. Has anyone else had an old hand try to push you off your go-to method?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_nina26d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah @josephbutler, I've been called a dinosaur for liking rigid so much I might start growing scales.

josephbutler26d ago

Man that Dave guy sounds like a broken record. I ran into a foreman in Tucson last fall who told me the same thing about switching to EMT for everything, but I just think about all the service calls I've had where rigid held up under a concrete pour or next to a loading dock that would have crushed EMT flat. Parking garages especially, you see those EMT runs get dented and look terrible after a couple years, while rigid still looks solid with just a little patina. My first boss taught me on rigid and I still trust it for anything that might take a hit or see weather. You ever have a customer come back and complain about EMT getting banged up on a job?

henrycooper26d agoTop Commenter

Dave in Phoenix gave me the same speech but rigid beats EMT in parking garages every time.