DIYitright
New Member
Not a joke, an experiment.
A single propane torch was not enough to solder 1/2" copper tube to the large brass shower valve. The hunk of brass was a big heat sink. I mentioned this to DW and she said: "So? Put it on the grill."
It could work. Other industries assemble parts and place them in ovens to solder the pieces all at once. Unwilling to trash a whole valve if it went wrong, I worked up to it. Yes, the valve has no plastic pieces. I checked. It is all machined brass.
Experiment 1 with copper tubing:
I fired up the gas grill until it read 600F
Two scrap pieces of tubing and a straight union, cleaned and fluxed, were laid on the grill for 5 minutes with the lid closed. opened the lid, applied solder and it did not melt. Moved the pieces into a visible flame and the solder flowed right into the joint. It worked.
Experiment 2 with an old shower valve:
Again at 600F
I used the old shower valve that was removed and had various bits soldered to it.
Waited 20 minutes.
The parts were still firm
I move it into the flame and after a few minutes was able to disassemble everything. It worked.
This could never be a suggested practice and you could trash an expensive valve. It made for interesting experiments.
A single propane torch was not enough to solder 1/2" copper tube to the large brass shower valve. The hunk of brass was a big heat sink. I mentioned this to DW and she said: "So? Put it on the grill."
It could work. Other industries assemble parts and place them in ovens to solder the pieces all at once. Unwilling to trash a whole valve if it went wrong, I worked up to it. Yes, the valve has no plastic pieces. I checked. It is all machined brass.
Experiment 1 with copper tubing:
I fired up the gas grill until it read 600F
Two scrap pieces of tubing and a straight union, cleaned and fluxed, were laid on the grill for 5 minutes with the lid closed. opened the lid, applied solder and it did not melt. Moved the pieces into a visible flame and the solder flowed right into the joint. It worked.
Experiment 2 with an old shower valve:
Again at 600F
I used the old shower valve that was removed and had various bits soldered to it.
Waited 20 minutes.
The parts were still firm
I move it into the flame and after a few minutes was able to disassemble everything. It worked.
This could never be a suggested practice and you could trash an expensive valve. It made for interesting experiments.