Must be an Oz thing - referring to all 'solders' containing tiny amounts of silver as silver solder. By that, UK lead free solder is also silver solder.
But judging by the apostrophe use in that document English isn't a strong point anyway.
Which would infer the UK is full of leaks caused by soft solder failure on copper pipes. It's not.
Only one I've seen which failed (having been properly made) was caused by a pipe freezing and forcing the joint apart. Rather easier to fix than a much stronger joint which could have caused the pipe to split.
Some of the Oz regs make the EU seem like anarchy.
No one seems to comprehend, silver solder to us is sticks of stuff that take a lot of heat to melt all the others are just solder or soft solder this is in most of the trades metalworking, electrical, plumbing, air con refrigeration etc I was electrical and worked alongside every industrial trade there is and silver solder was wire like sticks of hard stuff to all of them, solder was usually a thick lump of stuff that melted with an iron and in the electrical trade sometimes came on a spool with flux in it usually rosin sometimes acid. In the electronic trades some may call some soft solders silver solder if they contain silver You notice that I am not talking technically, so everyone should understand.
Right. You should have made it clear you didn't understand (or care about) the differences. Rather than tell many here they were wrong.
In a few trades , but we just ignore them all, hardware shops and some supermarkets sell all the materials for all those trades to the general public.
I have never had any trade do any of my work (I have a plumber son but I still do my own plumbing, he is handy to dig holes with the excavator if I need them, I do not use mechanics for bike or car I don't use panel beaters or spray painters except if someone elses insurances does it I fix my own electronics tv etc.If I want a long trailer I make it(showed a pic a while back)
The problem was that the discussion started out as a simple discussion about copper joining in Australia and did UK do the same I was then jumped on from a great height with long dissertations on the various aspects of soft solder which was not anything to do with what I was thinking except as a different method of jointing I think a lot of the friction was because your lot uses different verbiage to my lot I still can not see how anyone would think soft solder is as strong as silver solder If I soldered a copper pipe to a brass fitting using copper phosphor silver alloys and did the same thing using soft solder,Then exposed them to the same forces, as you may get in some extreme wall flexing or expansion contraction for instance, I know which one I think may go first. That may be what differs with UK and Australia, weather variations may be more extreme here and cause more flexing?
So what do you call this?
(62% Tin, 36% Lead, 2% Silver)
and this?
(93.5 Lead, 5% Tin, 1.5% Silver)
Have you got a link to a UK supplier that shows the specifications because all I've ever seen in the UK for plumbing purposes is almost 100% tin and topped off with tiny amount of copper. Like everything mandated by the EU it's shit and does f*ck all to reduce lead levels in drinking water.
As a first approach, I'd call them both solder, or soft solder. the first type is pretty close to a eutectic alloy, the second type is close to what I'd have used to make wiped joints on lead plumbing. Which is a skill I've probably lost over the decades.
I thought it was because what you called silver solder isn't the same as in the UK. And then moved on to other things.
To avoid confusion, this being a UK group, it would be good if we all sang from the same song sheet? That doesn't inhibit discussion on the various ways of doing things. Although, of course,the UK way is always best. ;-)
It's poor practice to expose any joint to unnecessary movement. It should be supported either side if there is likelihood of flexing. If this is very likely, use a flexible coupling.
If there is considerable expansion due to heat (you get temperatures more than the 80C or so found in a central heating system?) you'd add proper means to cope with that expansion.
It could be, of course, that Oz fittings designed to be 'soldered' to copper tube are of a very different design to UK capillary fittings, designed for soft soldering.
I was thinking more environmental variations causing building flexing at a different rate to the copper, from freezing to over 50%C although most of us don't get that. This is not necessarily anything to do with it, just trying to think why we should differ so much in plumbing methods. It is a pity that there does not seem to be any plumbers in this group so we could know for instance what happens in concrete slabs We have to use covered copper to stop the reaction with the cement and any joints have to be silver soldered(brazed)What does your mob do?
That's a brazing material and is not much use ans well as being being very expensive for non critical plumbing.
Plumbers don't use it for DHW and CH useage.
That's also lead free solder. They only charge for the tin and silver content.
I'd find a leak here important. Perhaps not as important as a leak on a space shuttle. Could be you need to tell them how to joint their pipes too.
Not at the instigation of business? Makes a change.
Just by architects with a bee in their bonnet then. Because there is no need for a stronger joint than soft solder can provide. Anything stronger is overkill.
If you are so certain only a brazed joint is satisfactory, please provide the evidence. There are plenty here who can provide evidence that soft soldered ones are just fine.
I don't use Yorkshires. Very expensive way of buying solder - and they don't look as good as ordinary capillary.
Any jointing done poorly can leak. I'm not convinced one is easier than the other to do correctly. I do guess that brazing is considerably more expensive in materials used and tools needed.
Yeh - right. Easy to see which side of the political spectrum you're on.
50 15 mm couplers cost 7.84 capillary, 13.86 yorkshire here. I'd call that an expensive way of buying solder.
Yes, pet.
Doesn't require it to be cleaned at all? If it does need cleaning only takes a couple of seconds to clean new fittings for soft solder. Can't see any lesser cleaning being quicker.
Brazing is never the only viable approach to jointing copper pipes for domestic use. If it were, plumbers in the UK would use it.
It is possible to braze old, tarnished and slightly dirty copper without flux but not soft solder.
soft soldering is never the only viable approach to jointing copper pipes for domestic use. If it were, plumbers in Australia would use it.
You've never used Everflux, then.
Then pray tell what you meant rather than wrote. Not that it makes any difference, as you're wrong anyway.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.