Today, we’re going to take the mystery out of soldering copper water lines. Give me a minute and I’ll show you how to do it too.
Some of the supplies and tools you’ll need for this job is a self-cleaning plumbing flux, a flux brush, fitting cleaning brushes, plumbing solder, a tube cutter, a little sand cloth, and torches. I have two here. One is a Map, one is a propane, they both will work. The Map just gets a little hotter faster.
Dirt and tarnish on the copper too can keep the solder from sticking to it. Take your sand cloth and thoroughly clean the outside of the tube. You want this bright and clean before you can solder. With the proper sized cleaning brush, clean the inside cup of each side of your fitting thoroughly. Apply flux to the tube and the fitting. Insert the tube into the fitting making sure the tube is seated firmly in the bottom of the fitting cup.
Now, we’re going to apply the heat to the fitting. We’re going to show this in full time so you get some idea of how long it takes to heat your typical fitting and apply the solder to each side. At this point, you heat the cup of the fitting and you wait until the solder starts rolling. Once the solder starts rolling, it will chase all the way around the fitting and actually suck into the cup following the flux. You don’t want to make it too hot or you’ll boil the solder. As you see, the fitting cup is thoroughly full of solder.
Go out and get you a couple of sample pieces to give it some practice and you too will be able to solder coppers that easy. Have a good day.
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