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Posted by 46erjoe on February 2, 2007, 1:04 pm
In doing some recent plumbing work, I had to sweat a particularly
difficult and oddly shaped joint in the bathroom wall. I was surprised
when I turned on the water valve and it actually held! (I've never
been good at soldering copper tubing,)
Anyway, a week later, it developed a pinprick leak. In the past, I've
tried to re-sweat joints to no avail. But maybe I'm overlooking a
special technique or product.
Any help would be appreciated. I used tin/antimony solder. For now it
looks like I will have to disassemble the whole thing and that will be
a real mess because I will have to tear part of the wall apart.
Thanks.
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Posted by jim on February 2, 2007, 1:08 pm
> In doing some recent plumbing work, I had to sweat a particularly
> difficult and oddly shaped joint in the bathroom wall. I was surprised
> when I turned on the water valve and it actually held! (I've never
> been good at soldering copper tubing,)
>
> Anyway, a week later, it developed a pinprick leak. In the past, I've
> tried to re-sweat joints to no avail. But maybe I'm overlooking a
> special technique or product.
>
> Any help would be appreciated. I used tin/antimony solder. For now it
> looks like I will have to disassemble the whole thing and that will be
> a real mess because I will have to tear part of the wall apart.
>
> Thanks.
Try cleaning and redoing as you shouldn,t go over solder sounds like
you didn,t have it really clean and enough flux
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Posted by dpb on February 2, 2007, 1:48 pm
>
> > In doing some recent plumbing work, I had to sweat a particularly
> > difficult and oddly shaped joint in the bathroom wall. I was surprised
> > when I turned on the water valve and it actually held! (I've never
> > been good at soldering copper tubing,)
>
> > Anyway, a week later, it developed a pinprick leak. In the past, I've
> > tried to re-sweat joints to no avail. But maybe I'm overlooking a
> > special technique or product.
>
> > Any help would be appreciated. I used tin/antimony solder. For now it
> > looks like I will have to disassemble the whole thing and that will be
> > a real mess because I will have to tear part of the wall apart.
>
> > Thanks.
>
> Try cleaning and redoing as you shouldn,t go over solder ...
Have to agree it's unlikely to get a better joint after the water has
been on and it developed a leak.
> ... sounds like you didn,t have it really clean and enough flux
Or, even more likely if it was new work, I'd suspect not evenly or
enough heat to get full solder flow into the joint. What are you
using for the heat source and how do you apply heat to the joint?
Need enough heat _above_ the joint itself (back into the fitting
direction) to melt the solder all-way-'round the joint w/o the flame
itself being the heating source. Then, apply the solder so it wicks
in--if it's hot enough, it will almost magically just seem to suck it
up into the joint.
If it's an enclosed location, a heat shield behind to avoid direct
flame on flammable is a good idea and can alleviate some of the
concern. Key is to have enough heat to heat the joint quickly and
then get it hot enough before oxidize the flux and it loses its
effectiveness and to get even heat. If access is limited, may need a
longer torch or other aid to get to location. Sometimes it is more
effective to make this difficult joint in the open, then do the final
connection at some other location that is more accessible.
On rework like this, be sure to get all water out to make it simpler.
If there's a problem, there's always the bread sopper trick if all
else fails in getting the last few drops from continuing to get in the
way...
HTH.
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Posted by Toller on February 2, 2007, 1:38 pm
> In doing some recent plumbing work, I had to sweat a particularly
> difficult and oddly shaped joint in the bathroom wall. I was surprised
> when I turned on the water valve and it actually held! (I've never
> been good at soldering copper tubing,)
>
> Anyway, a week later, it developed a pinprick leak. In the past, I've
> tried to re-sweat joints to no avail. But maybe I'm overlooking a
> special technique or product.
>
> Any help would be appreciated. I used tin/antimony solder. For now it
> looks like I will have to disassemble the whole thing and that will be
> a real mess because I will have to tear part of the wall apart.
>
Resweating is a waste of time.
I had a pinhole leak clog and stop once; you might get as lucky.
Otherwise, do it all again!
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Posted by bdeditch on February 2, 2007, 1:44 pm
> In doing some recent plumbing work, I had to sweat a particularly
> difficult and oddly shaped joint in the bathroom wall. I was surprised
> when I turned on the water valve and it actually held! (I've never
> been good at soldering copper tubing,)
>
> Anyway, a week later, it developed a pinprick leak. In the past, I've
> tried to re-sweat joints to no avail. But maybe I'm overlooking a
> special technique or product.
>
> Any help would be appreciated. I used tin/antimony solder. For now it
> looks like I will have to disassemble the whole thing and that will be
> a real mess because I will have to tear part of the wall apart.
>
> Thanks.
Make sure there is NO water in the pipe. Sometimes it will sit right
at the joint after you take the connector off. The water will act like
a heat sink and make it a lot harder to sweat together. Find the
lowest point in the home to drain the water back.
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