soldering water pipes

[stranger12]

Hi Guys,

I am changing some of my house pipes. I had a quote of 2.5k for changing few pipes and joining them using solder fitting.

I am competent enough to lay the pipes and use yorkshire fitting which has the solder ring in it. All that is needed is heat to release it .

I have managed to spend around £400 to get all pipes needed and changing them now.

Few questions I have are:

1. When a pipe is soldered and it doesn't leak or pop when tab is opened, can it pop or leak at later stage ? I am asking to find out if more instance my joint is dodgy then would I realise straight away ?

2. Would you use solder ring in addition to the the bit that is inside the yorkshire fitting ? I did it on one of the joints and some of it was sucked in and the rest ran down the pipe. I soon learned of the amount needed .


3. Input to my house is led 22m which is then straight away reduced to 15 . that is then fed to boiler and cold water. shouldn't boiler be 22m and cold tab 15m ?

 

[Best]

Welcome to the forum!
Let me get this right, - You got a quote of 2.5k to change a few pipes and you have managed to get all pipes for £400? Therefore you were going to be charged about 2.1k for labour?
I would get a few more quotes to be honest. Remember though that you hopefully will be buying not only the heating engineers labour, but also his experience.
I can't understand why you state you are competent to install pipes and Yorkshire fittings and all they need is "heat to release it" assuming you mean the solder ring, but then ask here if the fittings could leak later?
Clearly you are doubting your ability. Truth is if you can't be certain of every joint you do, then don't waste your time and materials if you know a decent plumber. You really don't want to learn how to solder as you work, trust me, I have had to remove plenty of DIY whole house soldering.
But to answer your questions, - 1. Yes, soldered joints can leak later, even years later if not soldered properly. Turning the water pressure onto the joints proves nothing. They can be barely sealed and hold for some time before weeping slightly or heavily.
2. Yes, personally I would add a little solder to Yorkshire fittings, but they are supposed to have enough in the internal solder ring to solder the joint properly, that is if you don't let the solder run out of fitting. A lot of us plumbers use end feed fittings and solder them with leaded solder wire on heating pipes as it is easier to solder and cheaper (but unleaded solder must be used for potable water joints!)
To solder well you need to have the pipe and fittings clean and keep the joint well fluxed while applying heat from torch.
3. Better to check with your heating/boiler engineer regarding pipe size, as although it might seem sensible to use larger pipe, sometimes it may need flow reduced to boiler or taps. It depends on your boiler and your pressure and flow rates at your house

 

[stranger12]

Thank you for the sound advice

My situation is I need to do it myself as what plumbers have asked for is over my budget. I have spends 10s of Ks on building work and running thin on money

I also need to move in asap so don't have much time

I therefore appreciate any sound advise rather than refering me to get a plumber


If I use yorkshire fitting and can see the solder coming out and around the pipe, what can go wrong?

I also clean it using wire brush, debur inside of the pipe and apply decent amount of flux

Re why I added an extra but of solder is because of some suggestions seen on the internet.

My question is if you heat it up too much , what can happen, would the solder burn, dislocate etc?

 

[Riley]

You seem to have all the answers. That's where we all go, the Internet!! Seems a shame to have spent 10s of k doing the building work then run the risk of knackering it by flooding the place when you don't sound comfortable doing it. If you were as competent as you say you wouldn't be asking. Best has given you excellent "sound" advice and I'd back him up and say get a pro to be sure. It's very easy to turn a nicely heated joint to a burnt leaking mess

 

[stranger12]

Look, I tried to be nice and don't need sh*t

I am not a plumber hence why I am asking on hows of doing it.

If I was I wouldn't have been posting here. Foum is here to get advise and get a plumber and pay him isn't something I can do now


Ones competency cannot be questioned if he is asking a question!

Competency means I am a handy man and done lots of bits before so know how to hold a spanner and do something.

If you can't give anything useful stop posting

 

[Riley]

Come on mate we're not looking for toys out of the pram. Fair play for attempting soldering as most would just go the plastic fantastic route. What Best and I are trying to allude to is that soldering cannot be learned online you need to experience the heating process and the run of the solder on many angles as well the various different types of flux available as most people use different types according to their style. We cannot say do X,y,z and it will definitely work as it would be irresponsible for us to do so as we don't know everyone's ability. Surely you can see why we'd err on the side of caution in this blame culture we live in

 

[stranger12]

I have done a lot of soldering and know the concept

I was thinking I can get pressure reducer and set it to 3 bar so avoid any popping

 

[Riley]

To answer your question your methodology sounds solid but practice

 

[Riley]

3bar mains can still cause a lot of damage if one does go. I'm not trying to put you off just point out the pitfalls. I have no prob with people doing stuff properly is soldering but just know your limits. Not in a negative way, I'm trying to be helpful

 

[jonnyswamp]

All you can do is make sure the fittings and pipe are super clean, the pipe has enough flux on it and the heat you use is adequate to heat the pipe and fitting, but not enough to roast it (excess heat that dries the flux not allowing the pipe/fitting to stay clean and the solder to run)
If you have done all the above, you should be ok......... you may not
Getting arsey with someone with experience just pointing out the pitfalls won't help you
I have flown loads of times and know the concept, still wouldn't want to fly a plane after watching a youtube video

 

[stranger12]

Sure, will you go compression fitting ?

My joints seem sound . I can see the solder all around and did not hold the tourch too long . Around 20 seconds.

It was all compression fitting which is I am replacing

 

[SimonG]

You are a competent handyman who's done loads of soldering but wants to know how to do it.

Is that a fair assessment of where you are coming from?

 

[Dotty]

Don't matter now Si.

He chose to be abusive. He paid the price.