This one I can answer, as someone who hadn't done it until recently so can
give the novice view. Up till last month I'd only lived in iron piped
houses but moved to a house that had been upgraded to copper.
Your procedure is correct: clean, flux, heat, and wick in the solder. I
bought a length of tubing and a bag of fittings and figured I'd play with
them until I got it right. Well, it was only a few minutes. Its really
quite a bit easier than I'd feared.
You can get fittings with stops in them (the tubing will slide in just so
far) or with 'free' insides. Cut out the correct amount from your existing
tube, clean the ends, and slip on a fitting. If you can't push the tube
ends apart then the free fitting is the easiest way to go.
Good luck.
Mark Miller
> ----------
> From: Mike Lee - Team Banana Racing[SMTP:mikel@ichips.intel.com]
> Sent: Thursday, January 14, 1999 8:51 AM
> To: 'shop-talk@autox.team.net'
> Subject: Soldering copper pipes?
>
>
>
> I want to add a utility sink to my garage; the wife gets cranky when I get
> greasy stains on the doors as I try to make my way to the bathroom sink.
> I've located the water lines to the bathroom sink, and conveniently
> enough,
> can pop through the wall on the other side to hook up the utility sink.
> The problem is that the only soldering I've ever done is electrical....
>
> If I understand the procedure right, I need to take some fine sandpaper or
> steel wool to clean up both the copper fitting and pipe first. Then brush
> a light coat of flux onto both. Fit the pipe and fitting together. Heat
> with a propane torch until I can get the solder to wick into the joint.
> Let
> cool and then clean with a wet rag. Does this sound correct? Is there a
> way
> for me to pressure test the joint other than just opening the water
> supply?
> And finally, (although I guess this is pretty important), how do I slip in
> the tee fittings? Is is simply cutting out a small section of the
> existing
> tubing and bending both ends enough to slip in the fitting, or is there a
> more elegant solution?
>
> Thanks,
> Mike
>
|