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Posted by on April 20, 2008, 10:27 pm
> Look up annealing copper
>
>
>
> >I installed a heating =A0oil line recently. =A0Code required type L or M
> > (not refrigeration) tubing, and flare or soldered fittings. =A0I used
> > some 1/2" OD Type L, and in one place I used a flare fitting. =A0I've
> > done flares on soft tubing before, but doing this tubing was hard as
> > heck. =A0It took a lot of torque to get a flare, and the flare was prone=
> > to crack or come out off-kilter. =A0It took several tries to get a
> > halfway decent flare. =A0Unfortunately, halfway decent was not enough,
> > and the fitting has developed a slow leak.
> > Am I doing something wrong? =A0Can type L be flared? =A0Does it need to =
be
> > annealed somehow first? =A0Do I need a better tool (the one I have is a
> > fairly cheap tool)? =A0Or should I solder on a short piece of soft tube
> > and flare that?
>
> > Thanks,
>
> > Kelly
You have to do what ever an inspector says, but, refrigeration copper
is the same as type L. The only difference is it is filled with dry
nitrogen and capped, and listed by it's outer dimension rather than
the inside (or nominal) dimension like just about all other types of
plumbing piping) . The refrigeration tubing will be marked with "ACR"
and usually also "Type L" listed on it. What you are having a problem
with is the difference between hard and soft copper. You should not
try to flare hard copper. To turn hard copper into soft copper is
pretty easy, though, especially if just doing a small section of it on
small sized tubing. Just heat it up with a torch until it turns dull
red then let it cool down. I think It is best if you let it air cool
but I have dipped copper in water to cool it quickly at times and it
still turned out ok.
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