Sweat soldering tips/tricks

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SteveW

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I took the liberty of putting together some sweat soldering tips and tricks from a recent thread, and thought it might be a good thing to have as a tutorial or "sticky" somewhere:

1. The joint must be 100% dry.
2. Wiping the soldered joint with a rag is a good practice.
3. Keeping a bottle of water or a small extinguisher handy in case of fire.
4. Using a heat shield when soldering around flammable materials.
5. Use a small mirror, for tight spaces where you can't see behind the joint.
6. If you mess it up on first try, use brand new fittings on second try.
7. Use tinning flux for best results.
8. Make sure that the system being soldered is open to the atmosphere, to prevent heated air in the pipes from pushing out a newly-soldered joint and creating a leak.
9. Heat the joint, not the pipe.
10. Heat the joint for a few seconds, and then touch the solder to the side of the joint opposite from the torch to see if it melts. If not, heat for another few seconds and retry. When the temperature is right, the solder will melt and flow into the joint. Keep feeding in solder until the entire joint is filled.
11. Ream the pipe to prevent future turbulence downstream in the pipe.
12. If you don't have much room to spread two pipe ends apart, you can use a "slip coupling," which resembles a regular coupling fitting but without the ridge in the middle. This allows it to be moved freely along one of the pipes and then centered between the two pipe ends. If it slips too much and won't stay in place while being soldered, you can carefully crimp it with pliers to keep it in place.
13. MAP-Pro torches burn hotter than propane torches and are suitable for larger joints.
 

Jadnashua

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I was taught if u ding the end of the pipe rather then squeeze the fitting you get an even amount of solder all around.
If you ream the end of the pipe to round it out so you don't end up with turbulence and eroded pipe down the road, why would you intentionally ding the end of the pipe?
 

Asktom

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Clean the pipe well using sand cloth or equal and the inside of the fitting with a fitting brush.
 

FullySprinklered

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I will often pinch up a spur on the pipe to keep it from falling off while soldering a vertical joint, using angle cutters if I can find them.
 
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