solder join not joining

Hi all,

I thought I'd try refitting my bathroom, which I knew was going to be a big challenge as I've never really done any plumbing before but researched and planned for a couple of days then took a trip to the plumbing world shop to pick up all the bits.

So after removing all the old bathroom suite (walk-in shower, basin and loo) I then removed all the unwanted pipe work.

I'd bought pre-soldered copper joints and so carefully put all the new pipe work in place. Before attaching the new bathroom suite I capped off each of the pipe ends and turned on the mains...

Out of 14 joints 2 were leaking.

I was quickly able to remove and replace one of them as it was a corner joint that connected to the end pipe for the cold water bath tap.

However I am left with one joint that I don't think I can remove without having to remove pretty much everything! It's a T joint on the cold water pipe that comes directly from the mains pipe (into the bathroom)

As far as I can tell, it is only leaking from one of the 3 openings. I have tried soldering (flux n all) it but the solder just falls off and it is very difficult to get to.

The leak is quite substantial and I was hoping someone could offer some advice that doesn't require me to remove all the work I've done.

Thanks in advance

cut it out and redo with compression m8. prob cos there is water sitting in the pipe the solder isnt running very well.

I have tried soldering (flux n all) it but the solder just falls off and it is very difficult to get to.

Click to expand...

theres still water in the pipe

remove the pipework and use straight connectors after you repair the tee

cheers, guys.

there shouldn't be water in the pipes as I've drained both hot n cold from the kitchen? will there still be traces of water that's causing the prob with the solder?

also I'm just trying to solder directly onto the outside of the pipes, is this right?

it is looking like I'm gonna have to redo it all though

Try connecting a vacuum cleaner on blow to an open tap upstairs so it can move the water past the tee down to another open tap. Worth a try.
Don't overheat it.

Nasty active flux like Everflux works best for this sort of thing. It's always the joints which were hard to get at in the first place which give trouble.

Well I fixed the T join that was the problem without having to remove everything! phew..............in the process though I now have another join that's leaking (so taking a break) hopefully this will be pretty straight forward now and fixing this one will sort out ALL the leaks! I'll post the outcome shortly

I think it's all sorted! I had to remove 3 joints and replace a little bit of pipe that got damaged but it's looking good. I've wrapped paper tissue around all the joints and I'm leaving the mains on while I sleep but it's looking good.

If you've had such problems, best to get a hydraulic test done at around 10 bar. The joints may not leak now, but if there's a problem lurking, it will rear its head in a few weeks, months or years. Probably while you're on holiday for a couple of weeks. It would have been better to use the end feed joints as you can make a better joint.