soldering pipes

[andylad303]

when soldering 15mm pipe,roughly how long should I leave the blow lamp on the fitting?Also are there different diameter solders for different size copper pipe or does one do all.If so what diameter solder reel do I need.Thankyou

 

[Soggy_weetabix]

leave it on till solder takes.

386 degrees or 427 degrees aint it?

Probably wrong though.

Im sure the experts can help.

David

 

[keego]

It all depends on the site conditions, if you're in a nice warm house or freezing your nuts off doing first fix on a site in the middle of winter it will all affect the amount of heat required to get the solder to run, a good rule of thumb is to keep the heat on until you see your solder getting shorter.

 

[ollski]

bend over 15mm of solder for 15mm pipe, 22 for 22 etc so you know you've got enough solder in the fitting.

 

[Paul Barker]

Pull the flame back, you will be wrong about where the hottest part is, pull back a touch, when flame at back of copper pipe just turns green it's plenty hot and about to get too hot so get your 15mm of solder in quick and don't hang around with the flame.

Point flame at fitting not pipe.

 

[JPC]

when u pull the flame back and are concentrating on soldering, specially when its being a bit problematic or hard to reach.....

DONT POINT THE FLAME AT THE CURTAINS/CARPET/VINYL WALL PAPER

 

[tinman]

you can get 15 and 22mm piping and joints with solder already in them, these are called yorkshire welds, if u go out to buy them.
plus if ur gonna solder then heres a step by step guide>
1.clean pipe end your going to join with steel wool
2.use your finger to spread some Flux on the join area
3.place the two joints together and heat till the point where when the solder touches the joint it melts freely.(with the ready soldered joints u heat the joint till the solder bubels out.) also if the space is tight use a heat proof mat to shield the surroundings.
4.leave to cool and then wipe off any excess Flux as if its left on it could corrode the joint.

 

[JPC]

finger....?

i dont think so !

how about a flux brush !

 

[Breesey]

1.clean pipe end your going to join with steel wool

You use the solder to join the pipes, not the steel wool

 

[ollski]

finger....?

i dont think so !

how about a flux brush !

I always used to use my finger until all these new boilers with wafer thin, sharp steel panels started ripping my hands to shreds.

 

[gasmarkone]

JPC, nice to hear about real plumbing. I've done the 'oh dear there's a hole in your curtains' thing!! And going on, for years I was a 'finger applicator' with flux. Now, at the risk of much myrth[?] I found that if you were doing loads of soldering like this all day it made your f**ts[ not that I do many] have a certain odour!! Anyone else noticed this, or shall I just log off an cringe with embarrassment now?

 

[Paul Barker]

Must sdmit my wife complains about the odour when I get home from work, can't say I've noticed myself.

Had to clean unblock urinal drain today, now there's an experience!

 

[Expertboy]

you can get 15 and 22mm piping and joints with solder already in them, these are called yorkshire welds, if u go out to buy them.
plus if ur gonna solder then heres a step by step guide>
1.clean pipe end your going to join with steel wool
2.use your finger to spread some Flux on the join area
3.place the two joints together and heat till the point where when the solder touches the joint it melts freely.(with the ready soldered joints u heat the joint till the solder bubels out.) also if the space is tight use a heat proof mat to shield the surroundings.
4.leave to cool and then wipe off any excess Flux as if its left on it could corrode the joint.

why clean new pipe when we now have flux that cleans as it solders?

Yuk ... Spreading flux with fingers.....use a brush mate

 

[andylad303]

so are there different diameter solders or does one do all

 

[JPC]

1 size fits all. lead free for potable water ...about £4.50 for a roll of 500g