homeowner95
New Member
I installed an expansion tank over the weekend and used a brass tee to connect the tank to my water line. It was the first time I ever sweated a joint and the access to the location was not great (overhead in dark tight spot). Although the connection is not leaking (it's been 36 hours without a drop) I did a detailed visual inspection of the connection this evening with a magnifying glass (I'm the paranoid type) and see that the solder did not fully get pulled into one small area on one of the sides of the tee.
I'm guessing that this connection will almost certainly fail in the future. Is this always the case though? I did do a very meticulous job preparing the connection so I'm hoping that some solder from the adjoining areas made its way around via capillary action even though it's not visible externally (otherwise wouldn't it already be leaking?) I know, this is probably wishful thinking. Would it tend fail gradually or more likely suddenly gush? I realize there are many factors that probably make it impossible to answer this but I'm giving it a shot
I view my options as follows:
1) Wait and see.
2) remove the entire tee, try to clean the pipe ends and tee and try again
3) try to 'patch' the small area where the solder is missing.
4) cut it all out, start over with a copper tee (I used brass because it came with a female threaded end instead making for one less joint I had to solder but the brass is a pain with a home-depot bought propane torch I've learned). Anticipating that I might have issues, I bought some extra copper pipe and couplings so I can cut out the previously worked pipe segments.
I'm guessing that this connection will almost certainly fail in the future. Is this always the case though? I did do a very meticulous job preparing the connection so I'm hoping that some solder from the adjoining areas made its way around via capillary action even though it's not visible externally (otherwise wouldn't it already be leaking?) I know, this is probably wishful thinking. Would it tend fail gradually or more likely suddenly gush? I realize there are many factors that probably make it impossible to answer this but I'm giving it a shot
I view my options as follows:
1) Wait and see.
2) remove the entire tee, try to clean the pipe ends and tee and try again
3) try to 'patch' the small area where the solder is missing.
4) cut it all out, start over with a copper tee (I used brass because it came with a female threaded end instead making for one less joint I had to solder but the brass is a pain with a home-depot bought propane torch I've learned). Anticipating that I might have issues, I bought some extra copper pipe and couplings so I can cut out the previously worked pipe segments.