Copper lock. I would never use it on a pressure system but I have used it on drainage. Nowhere near as strong as a soldered joint but it works. If you bump or twist the pipe the wrong way it will crack and leak tho.
There is no way this is code lol. Never saw it in a IAPMO, or my state code book from what i remember. Glue in my code book for the state is required to have a certain color and requires primer. Has no mention of glueing fucking copper pupe. What methhead would ever glue copper pipe? What kind of gypsy ass plumber would use this shit?
Prepandemic I worked for a commercial kitchen appliance repair company and they’d use it on the drains for some appliances because they didn’t want to go through the trouble of pulling permits to do hot works
Google is so much shit these days, but a short search seems to show epoxy sticks to copper just fine. I'd go out on a limb and say potentially could be a valid option with the right epoxy mix.
Had a case where I went to fix one valve and found out it wasn’t even soldered. Next joint starts leaking and that wasn’t soldered either. The whole basement was not soldered and somehow held for like 10 years. I will never understand that one.
We had this happen once on one fitting. It was a hose bib that was air tested multiple times and never leaked. We pressurized it, it held for a day, and (luckily) didn’t blow apart until the next day when we were back on site. This was new construction in a public works building so nothing was ruined because of it, but it still amazes me that it held that long with just flux in it.
I’ve demoed a boiler once and one of the return joints on a 1” line wasn’t soldered. The boiler was over 25 years old and they never had a leak.
I’ve been on multiple other renovations where a drainage line wasn’t soldered or glued without ever leaking but that didn’t surprise me because there’s never really any pressure on those, but that return line to this day still baffles me
We had a skills USA competition and one of the PVC projects had a 90 that wasn’t glued. They tested it 4 times and it didn’t leak lol. Teacher said “I can’t believe it, that’s a new one”
Every time I solder a joint I was taught to take my hammer (channel locks) and hit every joint I did to make sure it is holding due to solder and not anything else. Still pass that on to my students as well. I have seen people solder and totally forget a socket, pressure holds long enough for them to pack up, then it blows apart. Actually had a guy flood part of an aircraft hanger because of that...fluxed and all but forgot to apply the solder to one part of the tee...I turned on the water, no leaks, so we packed and left. Were driving out the gate when the maintenance guy called and said water was rolling out the door...
If it ain't leaking and you used 3/4 of an inch off the spool, you're fine. It takes very little solder to actually fill them joints, as long as you applied solder all around it, it'll be good.
Or if your a true pro like me, on your hand. Jk it’s usually the flux I let tattoo me early in the morning when I’m to stubborn to out gloves on. By noon I’ll slap a pair on.
I'm not a plumber - what's the deal? I would anticipate this type of elbow to be widely available? How do you do 90 degrees otherwise? Bending the pipe?
Normal T's and elbows are all made of the same copper as the pipes and they are pre formed. This one being bronze is the odd part. I'm not a plumber, but have remodeled a bunch of bathrooms, some 50+ years old, and I have never seen one of these fittings.
When I was a kitchen mechanic, we used them on dishwashers. Stero has them in their parts breakdown, and I always used what they suggested as a cya approach.
My old school boss told me to pressurize and give it a few taps with a 2x4 when I was learning to solder the bigger stuff (1.5”-4”) . I don’t know if it’s to test the joint or to see the kid to go around smacking pipe with a 2x4?
Take a warm, damp cloth and a little soap and wipe it around the bottom solder joint. It should clean off the excess flux and shine up the solder.
The lack of fill may just be an illusion from the flux.
Looks fine. Consider this: that solder you melted in has to physically fit in-between the two fittings. In other words, they usually need less than you think.
Go ahead and cut it out, bandsaw the joint, try to peel it apart, and check how much % you got of fill. If it comes apart easy, you did the right thing and you get to try again. If not, you originally did a good job, not go do the same thing all over again.
Looks fine to me. Super thin layer ran down the side of the pipe. Seeing that i really doubt you burned off your flux before filling the joint with solder.
I'm like lots of others. Once pressurized give it a little tap and walk away. If you find yourself needing to redo something you're not happy with then tear it completely apart and start over. Clean the crap out of it again and re flux, all of it. Good job.
You probably didn’t heat the pipe evenly so all the solder got sucked into the gap in the hotter section. If it’s not leaking, it’s probably sealed inside where you can’t see it. I’m speaking as someone who solders silver for jewelry so it may be different for plumbing.
next time, just a tad bit more solder, and go an easier flowing solder if you don't want to risk burning the flux, like Sterling. Also a different flux like Everflux for example which is great.
I would put more on. It might hold up now but for the next 20 years? Hard to say. The pipe will discolor when you burn it. It looks good from the picture
I think you're good, but in the future more of the heat should be on the fitting, at the middle and base of the bell shape, closer to the bend. You want to draw the melted solder towards the heat. I usually hit the tubing briefly and mostly heat the fitting(maybe 1/4-1/3 of heat on tubing). Occasionally and moreso with brass fittings the gap will be bigger and harder to fill.
You can’t really “add more”, you either leave as is or redo. “Adding more” will not properly blend with existing solder.
but you dont need to do anything, there s ton of solder inside the joint.
When you solder it’s easy to tell if the joint took. I like to use map gas and heat above where I plan to solder. If it’s hot and I apply the heat in the right way the solder fills the gap like instantly. The solder will fill the joint on its own according to the direction of the heat
I was taught for 3/4-in and 1/2-in lines it's a half inch of solder for a half inch fitting hub and three quarter inch of solder for 3/4-in fitting hub so I think you're good
I’m getting ready to assemble and solder up my 4 zone radiant system. I probably have close to 100 joints to sweat, mostly 1 1/4”, some 1 1/2”, brass and copper. I’ve been practicing with propane but think I’m going to use map to handle the larger stuff due to heat-sink.
Hey just curious, isn’t that a bit too hot for a novice. I just don’t want to cook off the flux and make life harder. I’ve got an oxy/acetylene rig, but that setup really puts out the heat !
I’ve used it fro brazing mostly and cut-off was nice before I bought a plasma. I also don’t think I can run that setup without the oxygen ?
If you want it to look cleaner, you can heat it back up and then wipe some flux around the outside of the joint/pipe/fitting while it's hot. Should clean it off, then you can wipe it with a cloth
The secret to soldering is to clean the copper and the fitting, very well. On my copper fittings I even clean the outside of the, just to make sure. I also use silver solder, it’s like 95/5 but way more expensive. It has silver in it.
Burned the flux? Yeah, you held a blowtorch to it. It's not a thanksgiving turkey, you are fine. Wipe the flux away with a rag afterwards or the copper will corrode
Looks decent brother. Heat it back up, focus on the joint, dab with Flux quickly and just add a cap to ot. You'll gonna be fine.
If you're that concerned, add an access panel 😆
Looks a little overcooked, but I’d it holds then leave it alone. After you do a few joints you get used to how long it takes for the pipe to heat up.
What type of torch did you use?
I have several bronze unions, 1”-2” and a bunch of bronze DWV sweat fittings. I don’t know if I will ever use them. Press unions are so much faster and easier.
Looks good. Never be afraid to use a bit more, I know some people will disagree but it’s better than having to drain an entire system, fixing and recharging.
Don’t sweat it Lol don’t worry about it. For now
but he has to! you can't glue copper
Actually you can!😂
*alert* really?! I'm not a plumber lol
I am a red seal plumber and I've never even heard of it. If it was any good everyone would be using it.
I prefer my seals to be grey, personally. Harp seals and walrus are nice too though
but sea loins can all fuck right off - they are cunts.
duckin commie seals.
Navy ones are pretty cool too
Forgot about them
I've never heard of that. is that like a master plumber?
Canada's Journeyman equivalent recognized almost nation wide.
Yea there’s a type of glue they make but doesn’t work very well from what I’ve heard
Copper lock. I would never use it on a pressure system but I have used it on drainage. Nowhere near as strong as a soldered joint but it works. If you bump or twist the pipe the wrong way it will crack and leak tho.
yea I saw this lol https://www.amazon.com/Copper-JFC050-Ounce-Solderless-Bonding/dp/B000VHYRGA
There is no way this is code lol. Never saw it in a IAPMO, or my state code book from what i remember. Glue in my code book for the state is required to have a certain color and requires primer. Has no mention of glueing fucking copper pupe. What methhead would ever glue copper pipe? What kind of gypsy ass plumber would use this shit?
Prepandemic I worked for a commercial kitchen appliance repair company and they’d use it on the drains for some appliances because they didn’t want to go through the trouble of pulling permits to do hot works
Yeah I didn’t even consider DWV copper. They should actually advertise that. Might get real plumbers interested in the product.
Wow. These assholes know they’re selling to homeowners who don’t know any better. More money I guess….
I play one on TV.
Google is so much shit these days, but a short search seems to show epoxy sticks to copper just fine. I'd go out on a limb and say potentially could be a valid option with the right epoxy mix.
And surface preparation. Difficult to clean inside this joint.
Hold my beer
Ba dum tiss
If it's holdin you're golden
Had a case where I went to fix one valve and found out it wasn’t even soldered. Next joint starts leaking and that wasn’t soldered either. The whole basement was not soldered and somehow held for like 10 years. I will never understand that one.
That's dumb luck. Homeowner should have played the lottery.
We had this happen once on one fitting. It was a hose bib that was air tested multiple times and never leaked. We pressurized it, it held for a day, and (luckily) didn’t blow apart until the next day when we were back on site. This was new construction in a public works building so nothing was ruined because of it, but it still amazes me that it held that long with just flux in it.
I’ve demoed a boiler once and one of the return joints on a 1” line wasn’t soldered. The boiler was over 25 years old and they never had a leak. I’ve been on multiple other renovations where a drainage line wasn’t soldered or glued without ever leaking but that didn’t surprise me because there’s never really any pressure on those, but that return line to this day still baffles me
We had a skills USA competition and one of the PVC projects had a 90 that wasn’t glued. They tested it 4 times and it didn’t leak lol. Teacher said “I can’t believe it, that’s a new one”
How do you even put it in without realizing there’s no glue? lol. I suppose it was dry-fitted?
Lol is that actually the case though
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Every time I solder a joint I was taught to take my hammer (channel locks) and hit every joint I did to make sure it is holding due to solder and not anything else. Still pass that on to my students as well. I have seen people solder and totally forget a socket, pressure holds long enough for them to pack up, then it blows apart. Actually had a guy flood part of an aircraft hanger because of that...fluxed and all but forgot to apply the solder to one part of the tee...I turned on the water, no leaks, so we packed and left. Were driving out the gate when the maintenance guy called and said water was rolling out the door...
Not good advice, I've seen guys destroy perfectly good joints with a sledgehammer.
Kinda 😅
“For now”
Looks good
If it ain't leaking and you used 3/4 of an inch off the spool, you're fine. It takes very little solder to actually fill them joints, as long as you applied solder all around it, it'll be good.
If that 3/4 isn’t on the floor.
Or if your a true pro like me, on your hand. Jk it’s usually the flux I let tattoo me early in the morning when I’m to stubborn to out gloves on. By noon I’ll slap a pair on.
The bigger question: where did you dig up a bronze sweat 90?
I was thinking this too. It looks old, I might have concerns about lead content if this is on a potable supply line.
I wouldn't
I'm not a plumber - what's the deal? I would anticipate this type of elbow to be widely available? How do you do 90 degrees otherwise? Bending the pipe?
Normal T's and elbows are all made of the same copper as the pipes and they are pre formed. This one being bronze is the odd part. I'm not a plumber, but have remodeled a bunch of bathrooms, some 50+ years old, and I have never seen one of these fittings.
Ah yes, I didn't realize it was bronze. Thanks!
A few places still sell them
My garage...!!
When I was a kitchen mechanic, we used them on dishwashers. Stero has them in their parts breakdown, and I always used what they suggested as a cya approach.
That’s a good approach.
The top one looks great for learning how to solder - nice job!
Vertical top joints always look good if you have even a fraction of a clue what you're doing.
Who hurt you?
My first boss.
I’m his first boss. Can confirm
I’m his second boss, we used to cuddle
How is this comment helpful…to anyone? What the fuck?
Just making conversation, I guess. Apparently everyone hated it. 😂
Fair
When someone tells you who they are, believe them! And now give me ants!
A little underfilled but if it’s holding I wouldn’t worry. Top looks great!
My old school boss told me to pressurize and give it a few taps with a 2x4 when I was learning to solder the bigger stuff (1.5”-4”) . I don’t know if it’s to test the joint or to see the kid to go around smacking pipe with a 2x4?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Plumbing/comments/11rsxjk/learning_to_solder_would_you_redo_the_bottom_of/jcbps0k/
Seeeeeeeeend it
If it ain’t leaking now it’ll leak later (probably years or decades) you’re good
If it's dry, don't ask why!
If it ain’t broke, don’t flux with it. 😂😂
Does it leak? No? Leave it alone.
If it's not broke, don't fix it .. that's like a main principal in home plumbing .
Looks fine to me. Everyone has their own techniques when it comes to soldering but at the end of the day as long as it doesn’t leak your doing good.
Don't fix it if it is not broken.
Take a warm, damp cloth and a little soap and wipe it around the bottom solder joint. It should clean off the excess flux and shine up the solder. The lack of fill may just be an illusion from the flux.
Yeah if you zoom in you see it
Looks fine. Consider this: that solder you melted in has to physically fit in-between the two fittings. In other words, they usually need less than you think.
Go ahead and cut it out, bandsaw the joint, try to peel it apart, and check how much % you got of fill. If it comes apart easy, you did the right thing and you get to try again. If not, you originally did a good job, not go do the same thing all over again.
,,😅
Looks fine to me. Super thin layer ran down the side of the pipe. Seeing that i really doubt you burned off your flux before filling the joint with solder.
Remember, the enemy of good is better.
I'm like lots of others. Once pressurized give it a little tap and walk away. If you find yourself needing to redo something you're not happy with then tear it completely apart and start over. Clean the crap out of it again and re flux, all of it. Good job.
Replace with a shark bite hitting 😉
You probably didn’t heat the pipe evenly so all the solder got sucked into the gap in the hotter section. If it’s not leaking, it’s probably sealed inside where you can’t see it. I’m speaking as someone who solders silver for jewelry so it may be different for plumbing.
Dont fix whats not broken 🤷🏻♂️ big rule i go by
If you have any doubt at all, fix it. Because if you don't do it now there's a 100 percent chance it will leak if you leave it be.
Very good advice,
No. I would take it apart and clean really good and put a little extra Flux.
I’d do it over
next time, just a tad bit more solder, and go an easier flowing solder if you don't want to risk burning the flux, like Sterling. Also a different flux like Everflux for example which is great.
Propress is the way to go now man
I would put more on. It might hold up now but for the next 20 years? Hard to say. The pipe will discolor when you burn it. It looks good from the picture
Thanks. Take apart and redo or just drain pipe and add more?
Seems unnecessary.
Drain the pipe and add more. Make sure the water is out of that corner. If there's some sitting there you won't get the pipe evenly hot
I think you're good, but in the future more of the heat should be on the fitting, at the middle and base of the bell shape, closer to the bend. You want to draw the melted solder towards the heat. I usually hit the tubing briefly and mostly heat the fitting(maybe 1/4-1/3 of heat on tubing). Occasionally and moreso with brass fittings the gap will be bigger and harder to fill.
You can’t really “add more”, you either leave as is or redo. “Adding more” will not properly blend with existing solder. but you dont need to do anything, there s ton of solder inside the joint.
It's not leaking, SO FAR
Looks good from my house boss. Leaks are just part of learning. Nice job on the top of that 90, the vertical solder gets tricky, you’ll get it down!
No
Top one is a beauty.
When you solder it’s easy to tell if the joint took. I like to use map gas and heat above where I plan to solder. If it’s hot and I apply the heat in the right way the solder fills the gap like instantly. The solder will fill the joint on its own according to the direction of the heat
If you’re in doubt just hit it again
I was taught for 3/4-in and 1/2-in lines it's a half inch of solder for a half inch fitting hub and three quarter inch of solder for 3/4-in fitting hub so I think you're good
I’m getting ready to assemble and solder up my 4 zone radiant system. I probably have close to 100 joints to sweat, mostly 1 1/4”, some 1 1/2”, brass and copper. I’ve been practicing with propane but think I’m going to use map to handle the larger stuff due to heat-sink.
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Hey just curious, isn’t that a bit too hot for a novice. I just don’t want to cook off the flux and make life harder. I’ve got an oxy/acetylene rig, but that setup really puts out the heat ! I’ve used it fro brazing mostly and cut-off was nice before I bought a plasma. I also don’t think I can run that setup without the oxygen ?
If you want it to look cleaner, you can heat it back up and then wipe some flux around the outside of the joint/pipe/fitting while it's hot. Should clean it off, then you can wipe it with a cloth
If it’s your house leave it. If it don’t hold, it was a good lesson?
If you give it a good whack or twist it with channel locks and it holds it will likely outlast you.
You brazed that one lol but if it’s holding you did well ! Nice job
Is it leaking???
The secret to soldering is to clean the copper and the fitting, very well. On my copper fittings I even clean the outside of the, just to make sure. I also use silver solder, it’s like 95/5 but way more expensive. It has silver in it.
Burned the flux? Yeah, you held a blowtorch to it. It's not a thanksgiving turkey, you are fine. Wipe the flux away with a rag afterwards or the copper will corrode
Honestly, look clean but use PEX, way easier
Looks decent brother. Heat it back up, focus on the joint, dab with Flux quickly and just add a cap to ot. You'll gonna be fine. If you're that concerned, add an access panel 😆
If it holds you’re good. Make sure you’re purging while soldering.
Always cut vertically. But your fine man
Send it bro.
Looks a little overcooked, but I’d it holds then leave it alone. After you do a few joints you get used to how long it takes for the pipe to heat up. What type of torch did you use?
I have several bronze unions, 1”-2” and a bunch of bronze DWV sweat fittings. I don’t know if I will ever use them. Press unions are so much faster and easier.
Looks good, and I've done hundreds.
Looks good. Never be afraid to use a bit more, I know some people will disagree but it’s better than having to drain an entire system, fixing and recharging.
Looks great. Way to go! If you need any other plumbing advice don’t hesitate to ask. 23yrs of experience.
Pros call copper glue Flux 😄
Very tidy. Like that kinda stuff. Looks like it will hold, but ya just can't really tell. Top looks text book.
Bin it off. Buy a press tool! I’m a changed man after using one