Usually I have no trouble sweating copper pipe, but I don’t have a great deal of experience. I clean thoroughly with a pipe cleaning brush tool or steel wool until the copper shines, apply flux, heat pleanty hot with a propane torch, and when I touch the solder to the joint is sucks right in and leaves a nice shiny little ring of solder wetted nicely and visible around the joint. Last night, though, a couple of joints behaved differently. The flame turned green when I applied the torch to the fittings. The pipe seemed sooty rather than covered with melted flux. The solder sucked in ok, but did not leave a wet, visible ring of solder at the joint, so I don’t have that reassurance that the entire joint was properly filled.
It only happened on a few of the joints. What did I do wrong?
Replies
Different solder or flux?..that's all I can guess without seeing it.
I would recomend switching to mapp gas..for 3/4 pipe it gets ya up to temp faster and I have never seen soot from it. You can over heat 1/2 pipe until ya get the touch. Just a thought.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
Where did you get your fittings? Big box stores put those darn bar code stickers on every piece. You peel them off, but the glue gum stay behind to burn off as soon as the torch get near it. Flux left from a previouse job will also turn green and soot up.
Dave
Thanks for the suggestions. Both the good and bad joints were all done the same afternoon, using the same torch, flux, and solder, with new fittings and pipe. I can see how the things you suggested can be problems sometimes.
Was everything absolutely dry? A little water can mess things up by keeping the temperature down.
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
I learned from a master plumber to sweat pipes and he always told me to pay att. to the color of the flame and if it turned I had the flame on the joint too long. and the sootie look is from it being to hot also. but just the same they might not leak even if it got too hot. you wont know till the water is on . I also use Mapp gas most of the time too. Good luck .............................Dogboy
i always wonder if the guy that decide to put them "sticky labels" on has ever touched a fitting,they drive me nuts. i will drive 15 mins. farther just to buy fittings that don't the stickers to mess with.
Or put the stickers right in the middle of a finished product....
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
It's probably a safe bet they haven't ever followed a moron putting stickers on the surface where glue or solder goes for installation. ABS street fittings are notorious for having the tag on the male end. Do their ears ever get warm? That would assume brain activity where there is suspiciously little...
I'm thinking that maybe on those few joints that didn't behave right for you that you didn't clean and flux quite far back enough (as far as the fiting is deep). I try to make certain I'm a little extra long is this regard.
With safety solder and using a propane torch, I watch the flame "over-run" very closely and when the first hint of green color is seen, I've just arrived at the right temp. Perfect joints every time this way for me and no frustration from offering up the solder too soon. If you pass by the critical temp by very much, you can also get the results you describe even if you are cleaned and fluxed long enough.
I used to do piece work copper/ buy the house. to much heat isn't the end of the world but you don't need to do that. Flux and heat/ run solder on the top cold side of the joint. When the solder runs to the hot side/on both sides joint done. One small drip(solder) indicates joint is full. copper discoloration= to hot, let the pipe tell when it's just right/ full flow/drip/done.
went and visited My dad awhile back and had to fix some 3/4" in the rental. He had a can of old flux, I mean it had been around. Man was I pissed that crap made a good man look bad. Plus it was doing like you said, ugly blue green flame, carbonized surface.
Sounds like the steel wool. Use plumbers cloth instead.
It's a gritted mesh cloth made just for the job.
Might be your flux...
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
Sounds like too much heat .
Tim Mooney