Plumbing-Soldering copper Pipes
By HomeAdditionPlus.com
Hi I am Mark Donavon from HomeAdditionPlus.com and today we will show you how to solder copper pipes.
Most homes have copper supply lines for their plumbing and most of you homeowners can learn to solder or sweat copper joints with just a few minutes training. Today, we are going to go over that.
To begin your copper pipes soldering project, you need the right tools. First of all, you can have some pipe cutters specifically designed to cut out the pipe or you could use a hacksaw if you do not want to spend the money on the pipe cutter tools. Second, you need a propane torch with the torch head. The pros use a soldering torch or MAPP type gas, but a propane torch will work fine for small, do-it-yourself plumbing project. You also need an igniter. You will need solder paste for the copper joint itself. You need solder, lead free of course. Steel wool or emery cloth for cleaning the joints in the fittings prior to soldering them. And you also need a wet rag for wiping down the joint after you complete the solder. And finally, for the safety perspective, you need to take your glasses and you need a pair leather gloves, and you will know what I mean if you pick up a hot pipe after you finish soldering it.
The first step in soldering copper pipes is to cut the pipes to length and test all the fittings with the pipe section that you cut. Make sure the fittings fit on property, smoothly and once you confirm that, we move on to the next step.
Now that we have cut the pipes and tested them with the fittings, we want to clean the pipe using this steel wool or emery cloth. I am going to use this steel wool. What we are trying to do is getting the oxidized material off the end of the pipe so that the solder will flow cleanly and smoothly when we club and we will do the same on the interior of the fitting, sticking the steel wool in and just cleaning the inside of it, removing any oxidized material. It could be the inside that would prevent a clean solder flow.
Now that we have cleaned the pipe and the fitting with a steel wool, we are now going to apply a little flux to the pipe. I am using my finger here but normally, you could use a small brush to do the same. Once we have applied the flux to the pipe and the inside of the fitting, we slip it on, make sure it goes in smoothly. And now we are ready to spot the joint to solder.
Now, you would like to protect your eyes and with leather gloves, we are going to sweat the joint. What I do is take about a 12-inch length of the solder, put a 90-degree bend in it and I take the torch and apply to the fitting, heating the fitting up, looking to the flux. Start flaming the torch onto the pipe. To test, I will try to see if the solder flows, which is not right now so we are going to continue to heat the joint. Once I see the solder begin to flow, I could then take it in a nice speed around the joint, all the way around. I will take my rag and just quickly wipe the joint. And there we go with our soldered joint.
So there you have it. That is the process for soldering your sweated copper pipes. One word of warning, if are doing any soldering around the framing within the home, make sure you have a bottle of water just in case the wood starts to smell, you can squirt the affected area before it turns into a house fire.
So that is it. If you have any other home improvement questions, visit us at HomeAdditionPlus.com today. Thanks.
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