True or False? If sweated joints don't leak right away, they won't ever leak.

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petrie

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Thus far in my limited soldering experience I have only had one leaky joint. And it was a major screw up on my part. I had soldered a 3/4 tee on the hot water line leaving the Water heater. 1st dumb thing was I forgot to open the outdoor spigots so water would stop draining , and then the vaccum in the pipe would let loose a little and more water would come. I did the bread trick without realizeing I need to open the outside valves. Furthermore I had been in a hurry and forgot to clean the fitting.


Anyways I soldered the rest of it and put water too it and no leak. until 20 min later I notice a drop on the floor. Anyways if was slow, like a drop every two minutes, I decided to ignore it as it was dripping on an unfinished basement floor. Eventually it stopped. And it stayed stopped for about 2-3 weeks. Then it started again.. about a drop every 5-10 seconds. So I made plans to fix it on the weekend.

Anyways I get home at 9 pm from work the next night and I've got water spraying out of the joint on the top and a pencil stream out the bottom. Luckly I had all the stuff for a repair and by 12 I had fixed my leaks. This time I opened ALL faucets and water drained out fast and I was able to work with a completely dry joint...no bread necessary.
 
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Dj2

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True or False? If sweated joints don't leak right away, they won't ever leak.

False.
 

Jadnashua

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A cold solder joint might hold for years, then, one inopportune bump, and it fails catastrophically - Terry has reported that at least once, and I'd expect most pros have seen it at least once.

Water in a solder joint during the process of making it is a recipe for disaster.
 
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hj

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quote; I'd expect most pros have seen it at least once.

My most memorable one was a 22 year old joint inside a cabinet. The homeowner dropped a can of peas and it hit the elbow, which fell off the tubing and flooded the kitchen before they could get the water turned off.
 

Terry

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And I've seen joints that weren't even soldered that held for a while until things were drywalled and painted.
And when they start leaking, it's a mess. I think sometimes it's just the flux holding things up. When that washes out, all bets are off.

This joint below was soldered. It looked like a poor repair of a previous leak.

starbuck_pipe2.jpg



starbuck_pipe5.jpg


The homeowner was away, so the 1/2" pipe in the garage was running down the driveway and down the street, causing a sheet of ice before someone finally call the water district, who came out and turned the water off at the meter.
 
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