Plumbers solder paste in UK?

[olly_k]

Hey folks the US have this solder / flux paste that I assume is applied to pipes then heated to form a good joint. Never heard of the stuff myself so do UK plumbers use this and is it easily available??

Olly.

 

[muggles]

Do you mean a flux with solder mixed into it or just flux paste? If it's the former i've heard of it but never come across it, the latter is sold in all good plumbers merchants.

 

[olly_k]

Yes it is a solder / flux mix.

 

[muggles]

I would suspect that it's not WRAS approved and that's why you don't really see it anywhere

 

[transam]

We used some of this year's ago (or similar ) total disaster , every joint leaked !!

 

[fidom]

Interesting. I recently moved to Hungary where I'm in the process of installing solid fuel CH. I was running low on flux so I tried to work out the Hungarian name for solder flux and asked for some in a plumbers merchant. They handed over a small plastic pot of stuff with a similar but not identical name to what I asked for, plus a small brush. I tried it this morning and when I opened the pot I noticed the paste is grey, whereas my old tin of flux I've been using since the '80s looks like a stiff yellow grease. I applied the blowlamp and noticed globules of solder forming before I applied my own solder (they don't have Yorkshire fittings here, only end feed). Hopefully it will work OK as long as I add extra solder.