Soldering quality concern

[wrightsonm]

I am new to soldering with a blow torch (I'm much better with small electronics) , and have been replumbing a radiator. Everything was going fine until it came to joining the new pipework to the old.

I thought that a bit of moisture in the pipes may be the issue, so ive blown out as much water as possible. They are pretty much dry. No drips.

The order of soldering was to do all of the joints downstairs, then finally connect to the upstairs existing pipe which i thoroughly cleaned.

Pic 1 is the last two joints before the pipes drop down through the ceiling which i am ok with.

Pic 2 and 3 are the final two joints which i am concerned about. Ive replaced both couplers at least once in my attempts to get a good joint. (Solder wouldnt wick up the joint) l. They appear to have made in that i cannot separate the joint by hand, but that doesnt mean the joint is any good or water tight! Im not convinced with my visual inspection, and theyve been a complete pain to solder at all...!

Any advice would be appreciated!

Radiator joint #1

Angle of the trv pipe is off but there is wiggle room on the radiator, or i may adjust the copper length on the horizontal. (It was fine on dry fit....)

Picture of the working area with the questionable joints. At this height and above the rest of the pipe work is the radiator drops, immersion tank and the header tank. (Cable is going to be moved!)

 

[ianmcd]

When you soldered the drain cock on, did you remove the innards before soldering ? if you didnt it will be fecked

 

[Nozzle]

I'm not seeing any wire wool or any flux in your picture.
There's the problem

Nozzle

 

[Madrab]

The other issue I think you have is too much heat. The flux will boil off before the solder can run properly and once the solder does run then if it's still too hot the solder can boil out of the fitting.

I'd be practicing on a few off cuts to get the heat right, just enough to melt the solder & try and avoid discolouring the pipe so much.

 

[wrightsonm]

Flux has been used on the fitting and the pipe on each joint. I have been using emery paper to prepare the joints. I agree the problem joints do look like they got too warm, but any cooler and the solder wouldn't melt on the copper.

 

[wrightsonm]

Yes the innards were removed before solderimg the drain cock. I learnt about that one when trying to work out the difference between type a and type b drain cocks when trying to buy the corrrect one.

 

[polesapart]

Practice on offcuts, when cool reheat the fitting and draw apart.

If both mating surfaces reveal as shiny tinned then the joint was a good'un.


TBH I think the joints pictured are *probably* ok.

 

[JohnD]

clean with wire wool, not emery, which leaves grit fragments embedded in the metal.

wipe clean with cotton cloth

 

[wrightsonm]

This is the kit that i bought:
Solder, flux & "sand cloth"
https://www.screwfix.com/p/bernzomatic-lead-free-wire-solder-soluble-flux/27758?_requestid=286662

I shall go out and get some wire wool.

Any ideas why the final joint(s) are causing the most difficulty? Steam? Speed of heating? More copper mass due to connected to the rest of the pipe network? User error?

 

[bernardgreen]

Any ideas why the final joint(s) are causing the most difficulty?

User fatique.. Often goes un-noticed until mistakes start to occur

 

[gas112]

too much heat and draincock would have been neater on the other side of rad on the horizontal

 

[Madrab]

Best thing I've ever tried is green scouring pads on new pipe or a little 120 paper then a green scourer on older pipe, cheap as chips and just as good. As long as it's clean and shiny. Not sure about that screwfix kit TBH. I would always recommend buying separate items. Flux is a bit of a subject or here though as everyone likes their own brand.

I like Everflux or Laco but there's loads out there.

 

[wrightsonm]

User fatique.. Often goes un-noticed until mistakes start to occur

Yes i agree. I stopped on Monday evening for that reason and attempted yesterday after work and im still not convinced!

 

[wrightsonm]

too much heat and draincock would have been neater on the other side of rad on the horizontal

Ok less heat. I shall work on that.

I put the drain cock on the same side as the one that was removed. ( removed a radiator on the other side of the wall)

 

[Gasguru]

The draincock should be horizontal...you'll have fun trying to remove the washer when it's stuck on the seating. Just use a cloth backed emery type abrasive for the pipe ends and a proper pipe fittings cleaning brush eg. Monument. Flux and solder.