Lead solder

[RF Lighting]

What's the deal with leaded solder these days?

Are you still allowed to use it? It seems to be getting much harder to get hold of, but the lead free stuff is rubbish.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

With regards to plumbing, lead solder cannot be used on mains water pipes but can be used on C/H ones. Not recommended on the plastic stuff though
So still allowed to be used.

 

[RF Lighting]

I was meaning the stuff you use on wires with a soldering iron, what with this being an electrical forum and all

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Oh silly me forgot where I was
Not sure about the electrical word as I tend to use it very occasionally.
I am aware they were trying to phase it out and things were being put in place back in 2006, not sure how that progressed.
I have some old lead waste pipes you can recycle!

 

[RF Lighting]

I do a lot of work in theatres and a lot of the connections are soldered. We can still get lead solder from the likes of RS and CPC, but electrical wholesalers and even maplins now only stock lead free which you have to get much hotter for it to melt and it doesn't flow like leaded solder does.


Get your pipes weighed in quick before some pikey does it for you

 

[ericmark]

Because of the health implications of using lead free I use only lead solder and I have enough stock for what I do. There are some areas it is still allowed for manufacture IT switches etc and failure rate of lead free and organ building.

But in the home it is so hard to arrange the extractor fans to use lead free it would not be what I would want. It seems lead free is better for Joe Public but not for the guy using it as the fumes from the fluxes used with lead free are really toxic. So you have to have the little tubes on the soldering iron and an extractor system to use it.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I do a lot of work in theatres and a lot of the connections are soldered. We can still get lead solder from the likes of RS and CPC, but electrical wholesalers and even maplins now only stock lead free which you have to get much hotter for it to melt and it doesn't flow like leaded solder does.

There was certain legislation in 2006 that prohibited the use/manufacture/addition of lead solder within the industry, may now be starting to become a rarity, don't really know for sure.
But with lead free solder being an alloy of tin/copper/silver the melting point is raised to a higher level than that of lead, that's why more heat and less flow and these metals are worth more than lead, therefore increase in price, but you knew that.

Get your pipes weighed in quick before some pikey does it for you

I was hoping to buy Greece, Spain or even Portugal with them!

 

[Monkeh]

Because of the health implications of using lead free I use only lead solder and I have enough stock for what I do. There are some areas it is still allowed for manufacture IT switches etc and failure rate of lead free and organ building.

But in the home it is so hard to arrange the extractor fans to use lead free it would not be what I would want. It seems lead free is better for Joe Public but not for the guy using it as the fumes from the fluxes used with lead free are really toxic. So you have to have the little tubes on the soldering iron and an extractor system to use it.

The flux fumes have nothing to do with whether it has lead or not. You can choose your flux if you're not buying from the DIY shop round the corner selling finest Chinese solder.

I'm not aware of any serious solder (ie. not stuff from China which doesn't have an MSDS sheet, doesn't list the flux contents, and doesn't come from a reputable dealer) which has toxic fumes. They are, however, all irritants. That does not make them toxic.

 

[Peet]

Because of the health implications of using lead free I use only lead solder and I have enough stock for what I do. There are some areas it is still allowed for manufacture IT switches etc and failure rate of lead free and organ building.

But in the home it is so hard to arrange the extractor fans to use lead free it would not be what I would want. It seems lead free is better for Joe Public but not for the guy using it as the fumes from the fluxes used with lead free are really toxic. So you have to have the little tubes on the soldering iron and an extractor system to use it.

I'm allergic to the flux fumes having been soldering since I was about 7. I used the 'little pipe on the soldering iron' once and quickly found that they were hopeless. Mind you, my allergy to the fumes by that stage was very acute. So in the end I installed a centrifugal fan in one of the unused flues up in the loft with a speed controller and the hearth downstairs became my main work bench for soldering. It works very well indeed. So well that I can't smell the fumes at all, the smoke moves directly away from me. Very useful for adhesives & solvents too.
It had another positive effect too. My exposure declined that much that the acute nature of the problem went away and it takes quite a bit of accidental exposure for it to have any effect on me these days.

What problems does it give you Ericmark?

 

[Peet]

What's the deal with leaded solder these days?

Are you still allowed to use it? It seems to be getting much harder to get hold of, but the lead free stuff is rubbish.

I think I'm correct in saying that you can officially use lead based solder for repair of existing equipment but not for new manufacturing, that has to be RoHS compliant. Unless its military and then it's probably exempt from most things, including the CE mark and EMC regs.

I agree, the lead free stuff is naff. If you want very good solder look at the stuff with a silver content to it. Maybe 1.5% or 2% silver, lead & tin. It's also better for soldering plated connections and a wider variety of metals. But at c£30/roll its a bit £ouch.

I spend a lot of time soldering electronic components for protoypes. Sometimes the components are simply soldered to one another and there's no circuit board. You notice the poorer strength of lead free solder much more using it for this and as a result I haven't used it in years. Under the microscope lead free often looks brittle & crystalline whereas leaded looks smooth and solid. Lead free can do some very nice joints but the process needs to be tighter.

Years ago when I was about to put in my first heating system I was teaching myself to solder copper pipe. I couldn't believe how bad plumbers solder was having used electrical solder before. Okay, plumbers solder probably has a place for doing wiped joints where you need a wider transistion temperature but for end feed joints its a poor cousin to decent solder.

 

[bernardgreen]

Leaded solder can also be used in the manufacturer of some medical equipment where the lower reliability of joints made with lead free solder cannot be accepted.

 

[mattylad]

There are several exemptions to the use of lead free solder although even manufacturers who had exemptions chose to go the LF free route because it helped with sales as everyone was latching onto it.

One thing that matters is if it is for supply to the market, if your doing DIY you do not need to use it and if your repairing an existing installation then you do not need to use it.

Not that anyone is going to know, be able to tell or even care what we use for solder.

I have a lifetimes supply of lead free solder left over from my R&D days and do prefer it as it wets/flows much better.

Simply put - if you can get hold of it then use it (for electrical use) - IMO there will be absolutely no consequences of doing so.

 

[FDJ]

Leaded solder can also be used in the manufacturer of some medical equipment where the lower reliability of joints made with lead free solder cannot be accepted.

Also, nothing that is flying around the earth in any satellites is using lead-free solder.
That says it all.
Frank

 

[Monkeh]

Leaded solder can also be used in the manufacturer of some medical equipment where the lower reliability of joints made with lead free solder cannot be accepted.

Also, nothing that is flying around the earth in any satellites is using lead-free solder.
That says it all.
Frank

Not if it's working, anyway.

 

[Lectrician]

I still have plenty of fluxed lead solder, didn't realise it was being phased out to be honest! May stock up if it is!