Are they're any plumbers on this site

[ou812pezz]

I recently did a job where I accidentley punctured a copper tube in a home. I cut the tube, sanded it to fit a coupler, fluxed and went to solder it. For the life of me I couldn't get the solder to melt. I would like learn how to solder copper tubing. Is ther anyone who could help?

[carlinsa]

were you able to get all the water out. if you have any water in the line you can have a nightmare of a a time. after you cleaned it did you use flux(acid paste) make sure to try to get the water out.


what kind of torch are you using? that too might be what makes the huge difference.

[caferacermike]

Yeah the type of torch, no soldering irons for this one, and the type of solder can make a big difference. Also don't burn your house down. As Carl mentioned, any water that comes in contact with the joint will compromise it. You can stuff rolled up bread balls intothe pipe to stop th elfow of the water for a few minutes while you make a nice dry joint. The bread will melt away in the water and won't affect the pipe at all.

Cut and clean the ends of the pipe.
sand outside of both pipes, and the inside of the fitting.
flux paste the inside of hte fitting and the outside of the pipe.
fit the pipe into the fitting.
Get fire extinguisher.
Make ready the directions to the extinguisher.
read the directions of the extinguisher.

I mention this as I am a pipefitter and have been for over a decade and can retell numerous stories of prefessional plumbers burning down customers houses or businesses.

fire off torch.
open it until the flame is bright and blue.
Notice that there are 2 tips. Oneis bright blue and small and the larger is see through.
Hold the flame so that the brighter smaller tip is touching the pipe and or fitting.
Basically pick on end and focus on that end.
work the torch back and forth over a small area.
When the flame burns green on the other side of the pipe it is hot enough.
Flow the solder from the end away from the flame.
When the pipe is correctly heated to the right temp the solder will draw into the fitting without using the torch directly on the solder.
then begin to remove the flame and continue flowing solder all the way around the joint until the joint cools enough that the solder doesn't melt anymore.
Wipe a wet rag over the joint and it will shine up and prevent the flux from eating away at the joint over time.
do the same to the other side while the joint is still warm. It won't take as wlong to heat the fitting as it still should be warm from the last joint.

Hope that helps some.

[MattK]

Couldn't explain it any better myself.

[Darth-Tater]

Hey Carl didn't burn down my house and he did a heck of a job.

DT

[ou812pezz]

I was good up to the torch part. It seems I was making a whole lot of mistakes on the torch part. The outside of the pipe was dry but I think there was water inside. I was also in a small space afraid of setting the house on fire. I bought the kit from home depot. Just getting the torch lit was PITA. I need to practice I guess. Thanks all for the advice.