Are these solder joints okay?

[Jon c]

Hi all,

Putting in a new kitchen yesterday which meant altering some pipe work, I'm not a plumber but I do have a bit of experience with soldering, I was putting some end feed 22 x 15 x 22mm tees on yesterday. I did think the 22mm sides felt a bit loose on the pipe, they were brand new fittings (endex brand) and the pipe was brand new 22mm Wednesbury pipe, they had quite a bit of play/wobble on the pipe, I happened to have some other 22mm x 15mm tees in my box think they were toolstation own brand and they weren't much better still a fair bit of play, so thought I'll just go ahead and solder them up hope for the best!

Well all the joints are watertight and have been overnight, but they have these gaps at the top of the joints on two of the 22mm sides of the tees, I'll attach pics, but just wanted your thoughts is this anything to really worry about if they're holding water no issues? Its just not the nice ring of solder you usually see, no doubt this is due to the fittings and pipe being a bit of a loose fit but as I say I tried two different brands of 22mm tees and two different lengths of 22mm Wednesbury pipe from different stores and every combination was looser than I'd have liked! Appreciate your thoughts please

 

[Wayners]

I'm guessing you added more heat when it wasn't needed and it ran out or you bubbled solder a bit.

I would not worry. It's worked. No leaks. Don't mess with it.

 

[Madrab]

The rule of thumb we were taught - length of solder to use = the size of fitting - i.e. ~ 22mm of solder for a 22mm end feed fitting.

The other thing we were taught was pressure test - once a run is installed then pressure test it - Copper pipework = maintain 1.5 x max working pressure for 30mins then leave it for an hour and a half.

If it's not leaking but you still have concerns then just keep an eye on it over the next few days, if it stays dry then it should be fine.

 

[Jon c]

The rule of thumb we were taught - length of solder to use = the size of fitting - i.e. ~ 22mm of solder for a 22mm end feed fitting.

The other thing we were taught was pressure test - once a run is installed then pressure test it - Copper pipework = maintain 1.5 x max working pressure for 30mins then leave it for an hour and a half.

If it's not leaking but you still have concerns then just keep an eye on it over the next few days, if it stays dry then it should be fine.

I definitely used enough solder haha I am sure I always use too much cause I do often get a bit of solder snot which ain't the prettiest but especially on the ones that'll be hidden i rather put too much and not have a leak, in all honesty I have genuinely never had a leak on a solder fitting out of the probably few hundred I have done, thought this may be my first but appears to be okay so far... not been properly pressure tested just filled with mains which I think is around 2 bar round here, when all my plumbing is done I will get it all fully pressure tested. I'm guessing the general idea is it it doesn't leak now it won't just start at some point by itself??

 

[Madrab]

I'm guessing the general idea is it it doesn't leak now it won't just start at some point by itself??

Usually not no - have I seen it - yes but it's very rare.

The trouble with using too much solder is avoiding it being drawn internally and then causing a restriction to the flow. Hence the reason to only flux the pipe and not the fitting, that avoids flux being pushed into the fitting and then drawing the solder inwards rather than just into the gap between the mating faces.

 

[denso13]

Well all the joints are watertight and have been overnight

That's the main thing, nothing to worry about.